The delicate-featured Johnny Depp played with over 15 rock bands before turning to acting. While he could have been a conventional leading man, the charismatic actor has, instead, often chosen unusual and odd roles. Although he did not initially prove to be "big box office" for these quirky choices, Depp nevertheless won the respect of Hollywood and the critics as a serious and dedicated artistsindeed, he was an "actor's actor." He would eventually emerge as an audience favorite as well, as his reputation for delivering fine, unpredictable performances grew with each new role. Debuting as the heroine's doomed boyfriend in Wes Craven's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), he next starred alongside Rob Morrow in the teen romp "Private Resort" (1985) and appeared as the translator Lerner in Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning "Platoon" (1986).
With his chiseled looks, thick hair and sleepy-smoky voice, Depp achieved teen idol status as Officer Tom Hanson in Stephen J Cannell's "21 Jump Street" (Fox, 1987-90). His character, established in the pilot as the son of a cop, looked too young to intimidate street thugs, despite being over 21 and an honors graduate of the Academy. Instead, he was assigned to a unit of undercover cops who infiltrates a seemingly never-ending supply of high schools where ne'er-do-wells want to keep the good kids from learning. After four seasons of the foolishness, Depp wanted out and the show did not survive his withdrawal. Hoping to make the transition to the big screen, he eschewed offers of conventional young leading man roles and returned to features with two memorable, offbeat characterizations: John Waters' "Cry-Baby" and Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (both 1990). His physical grace and expressive features proved apt for the Chaplinesque Edward and the nimble Elvis-inspired Cry-Baby.
Depp's subsequent film career has exhibited an unwillingness to settle for standard heartthrob roles and a predilection for distinctive filmmakers and material. In Emir Kusturica's cult film "Arizona Dream" (1992), Depp, portrayed a young man unwillingly called to Arizona by his uncle (Jerry Lewis) who wants him to take over the family car dealership, anchoring the uneven feature which veered from slapstick to bathos. "Benny & Joon" (1993) presented Depp as a modern-day circus performer who, in the course of romancing a mentally disturbed woman (Mary Stuart Masterston), performs set pieces that recall the silent clowns (i.e., Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd). That same year, he lent gravity to the title role in Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a Midwesterner trapped in a small town by familial obligations. He went on to win considerable critical acclaim in a reunion with Burton, "Ed Wood" (1994), a biopic that cast him as the famed cult director whose fondness for cross-dressing doesn't prevent him from creating delightfully bad films.
Finally capitalizing on his good looks, Depp donned a mask and Castilian accent for the title role in the contemporary fairy tale "Don Juan DeMarco" (1995), playing a modern incarnation of the famous lover opposite fellow risk takers Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway. Following his foray to action features in John Badham's "Nick of Time" (also 1995), he turned up in Jim Jarmusch's quirky Western "Dead Man" (1996), as a mild-mannered accountant named William Blake who finds himself branded as an outlaw. Adding to his cast of outsiders, Depp essayed the title role in Mike Newell's "Donnie Brasco" (1997), an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates a crime family and befriends its volatile leader. Well cast in his first truly adult role and more appealing than in some of his previous efforts, Depp won much praise for his layered portrayal and especially for his interplay with co-star Al Pacino, who also served as Depps mentor. Their surrogate father-son relationship drove the film and brought humanity to a story that could have devolved into standard Hollywood cliché.
Depp made his feature directorial debut with "The Brave" (1997), a film he also co-wrote (with his older brother D P Depp and Paul McCudden) and in which he starred as a father who agrees to play the victim in a snuff film to earn money for his family's well-being. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Brave, which also featured Brando and Clarence Williams III, earned mostly negative reviews, with most faulting its weak script. He suffered another box office disappointment as gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson's drug-crazed alter ego Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998). Always looking to step away from his pretty boy persona, Depp shocked some fans by sporting a bald pate, but his clipped staccato delivery and unusual body language could not bring substance to the essentially one-dimensional characterbesides, Bill Murray had done a better impression of the Good Doctor in Where the Buffalo Roam (1980). Despite being a near-literal translation of Thompsons novel, the movie failed to bring to life his rambling and often hilarious prose.
Depp may have chosen "The Astronaut's Wife" (the first of his three 1999 thrillers) for its opportunity to play good boy-gone wrong under alien influence, but the result was another one-note performance in a film that was not as bad as the studio's failure to screen it for critics had suggested. From one movie resembling Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby, he moved to "The Ninth Gate" (2000), another supernatural thriller, this one actually directed by Polanski. As a rumpled, bespectacled book dealer in search of a 17th-century volume allegedly co-authored by Satan, Depp was the soft, unassertive core of a film thought by mostbut not allto be a journey to nowhere. His last movie that year, "Sleepy Hollow, based on the Washington Irving legend, matched him again with the imaginative vision of friend Burton and officially ended his losing streak. The studio nixed his notion of playing Ichabod Crane with a long pointy nose, so he appeared looking quite beautiful for most of his biggest commercial hit yet, though he did go against the heroic type with his prissy, neurotic and not very courageous characterization.
The success of "Sleepy Hollow" did not make Depp pursue more mainstream fare. Desperately afraid of complacency, he continued to make movies at breakneck speed. He and friend Sean Penn acted in Julian Schnabel's anything-but-commercial "Before Night Falls" (2000), the story of Cuban poet-novelist Reinaldo Arenas, and he also donned gold teeth for his role as Christina Ricci's gypsy love interest in Sally Potter's World War II drama "The Man Who Cried" (2001). He returned to the world of drugs for Ted Demme's "Blow" (2001), playing George Jung, an American who became one of the major traffickers of cocaine for Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar. Depp next took on the role of Inspector Frederick Abberline, a London detective and opium addict embroiled in the Jack the Ripper murders of the 1880s in the Hughes brothers' adaptation of writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell's well-researched comic book series "From Hell" (2001). Although the movie was stylish but superficial, Depp was outstanding as the haunted policeman who comes alive and learns to love again amid the Whitechapel horrors.
Equally dazzling was his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, the hero of "The Pirates of the Caribbean" (2003), a movie derived from the beloved Disney theme park attraction. Capping his teeth with gold and basing his performance on the swaggering, dissipated rock star Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Depp was a lively tour de force in the adventure film which was a surprise hit during the sequel-heavy summer of 2003. The actor's performance was so appreciated, he later found himself in the rare position of being nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for a comedic performance in a commercially-minded blockbuster. That same year, Depp had a turn as Sands, the corrupt CIA agent who lures El Mariachi out of seclusion for a dangerous mission in director Robert Rodriguez's third film in the successful series, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."
In 2004 his turn as an author caught up in accusations of plagiarism and stalked by his accuser in the Stephen King-adapted horror/thriller "Secret Window" (2004) drew little attention, but later that year the actor mesmerized critics and audiences with his turn as "Peter Pan" scribe J.M. Barrie in the highly praised "Finding Neverland" Depp delivered a subtle but deeply emotional performance as the adult playwright who, despite his age and wisdom, wishes to never grow up. His plutonic relationship with the mother of four young boys (Kate Winslet) provided the films more poignant and honest moments, as the two shared a love devoid of any sexual tensions. Depp earned his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance.
Then it was on to another more outrageous characterization, this time the magical candy maker Willie Wonka for Depp's frequent collaborator Burton's version of author Roald Dahl's "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory," which had also inspired the 1971 children's favorite "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Burton's interpretation hewed closer to the book, and was thus darker, while Depp's Wonka was both inspired and a bit more off-puttingmany viewers found shades of pop singer Michael Jackson in the performance, and while Depp admitted he saw the connection, parodying the singer wasn't his intention: instead he was thinking of Captain Kangaroo or Mr. Rogers, with a dash of another Rolling Stone, Brian Jones. That same year he provided the voice of Victor Van Dort, a Victorian lad whisked away to the underworld to wed a mysterious undead woman in his frequent collaborator Burton's stop-motion animated feature film "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride."
He squeezed in one more film in 2005, "The Libertine," a rare all-out misfire in which he played the second Earl of Rochester, a 17th-century hedonist whose decadent life dissolves into self-destructive chaos and debaucheryhe ultimately loses his nose. But as the Los Angeles Times opined "that a major lure for the venturesome Depp was the chance to play a grotesque...there's more in that role for the actor, however, than there is for us." Depp revived Captain Jack Sparrow for the inevitable sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest (2006), a harrowing, energetic and worthy addition to the swashbuckling franchise. Adopting the same swagger as beforealbeit with a more effete touchDepp again outweighed costar Orlando Bloom and displayed fine chemistry with a game Keira Knightley in a story that pitted the three against undead pirate Davy Jonesand sometimes themselvesin a quest to find a valued treasure that will allow its possessor to control supernatural forces.
Dead Mans Chest went on to break several box office records, including biggest single-day gross and biggest opening weekend ever, paving the way for the third installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End which was shot simultaneously with its predecessor. Released in late May 2007, At Worlds End focused on the desperate quest undertaken by heroes Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley)both allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush reprising his role from the first Pirates)to rescue Sparrow from the trap of Davy Jones Locker, while the feared ghost ship The Flying Dutchmanunder the control of the East India Trading Companywreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. In a summer where two other blockbuster third-parters broke records (Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third), At Worlds End stood in good stead to earn a large share of box office bounty.
Copyright © Baseline 2007.