We reviewed Paul McCartney's latest album Kisses on the Bottom in conjunction with its release back in February, and our regular readers may recall that we gave Paul's foray into the standards genre the thumbs up. The album has since gone on to number one on the Billboard Jazz Chart, and has made the top five in charts worldwide.
Now, Paul has released three videos of one of the album's two original McCartney compositions, "My Valentine". Shot in black-and-write on 35mm by Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight, The Italian Job, Moneyball) and directed by Paul, the videos feature Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp, interpreting the song in sign language. There are two videos of Depp and Portman by themselves, and a third — the main video — which merges their performances into a single presentation. Depp plays the guitar solo live on the video, with Paul mixing Depp's performance over the original solo on the record, which was performed by Eric Clapton.
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If you're jonesin' for more, here are the individual performances, first of Natalie Portman, and then of Johnny Depp, each offering distinctly different interpretations of the song.
Paul premiered these videos last night at daughter Stella McCartney's store in Los Angeles (for those of you who haven't been keeping up, Stella has made quite a name for herself in her own right as fashion designer). The idea for interpreting My Valentine in sign language was apparently hers, and Paul ran with it.
Paul's guest list for the premiere included such notables as Orlando Bloom, Jordana Brewster, Julie Delpy, Zooey Deschanel, Jane Fonda, Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters, Woody Harrelson, Joan Jett, Quincy Jones, Miranda Kerr, Jason Lewis, Lykke Li, Chris Martin, Jayma Mays, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Perry, James Ransone, Amy Smart, Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal of No Doubt, Kristen Stewart, Rumer Willis and Reese Witherspoon.
A splendid time was guaranteed for all, as Sgt. Pepper might have observed.
