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Anyone who knows me will know that I love Johnny Depp. A lot.
Having seen many of his movies, unfortunately not all - but I have a feeling that will change as I begin obsessing over him again. Even though I find many of them to to be a bit crap (Secret Window, From Hell) he always remains the best thing about them.
It all started with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, of course I had seen others before then, namely Edward Scissorhands, though I was too young to realise/care who he was. It was only when I was 16/17 that I was told it was him in Fear and Loathing - finding it hard to believe and always forgetting due to the baldness.
Having watched it at least once a week for many months back then, each time seeing something that I had missed before, eventually grasping what the second half is all about - when things go really downhill. Filled with so many great lines and Johnny’s junkie-like stagger and voice of a deranged crazy-man from all those drugs:
DUKE (V/O)
We had two bags of grass, seventy-
five pellets of mescaline, five
sheets of high powered blotter
acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine,
a whole galaxy of multi-colored
uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…
Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum,
a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and
two dozen amyls.
============================
DUKE (V/O)
No point mentioning these bats.
I thought. The poor bastard will see
them soon enough.============================
DUKE (V/O)
Not that we needed all that for the
trip, but once you get locked into
a serious drug collection, the tendency
is to push it as far as you can.============================
GONZO
Oh, Jesus! Did you see what god
just did to us?DUKE
God didn’t do that! You did it!
You’re a fucking narcotics agent,
that was our cocaine, you pig!
The next Depp movie I saw was Benny and Joon - immediately falling in love with it. In this, Johnny plays Sam an eccentric character who basis himself on Buster Keaton, he is in his element. This is just another of his films where he has few lines and so much of the performance is through his eyes and body language; playing the very visual and eccentric character of Sam, who imitates Buster Keaton through both behaviour and fashion.
Between perching himself on a mail box, playing with the bread sticks and, most memorably, the scene in the bath - fully clothed - its all in the eyes.
Last year whilst reading his biography ‘A kind of Illusion‘ and learning of his early years in Kentucky where he was born in 1963. His family moved a lot until settling in Florida when he was 7. His parents divorced when he was 15.
Before meeting Nicolas Cage and getting a role in a cop drama called 21 Jump Street which ran for five years from 1987, he was a rock star. His first film role was in A Nightmare on Elm Street playing the character of Glen who gets swalowed by the bed which then spews out his blood in great style.
After I saw Donnie Brasco I was in love. This man is a genius. He can do anything. Around this time I also watched Blow, which I watch every few months so as not to forget any of the lines.
The unfortunate thing I have found with Johnny Depp is that, in my personal opinion, he has been a part of some terrible films, though he has always remained the best part of them, often the only good thing about them. Such notable examples include From Hell, Once Upon a Time in Mexico - even when he loses his eyes he still remains cool, and why Antonio Banderas has to occasionally strum his spanish guitar at speratic moments throughout the movie is beyond my understanding.
For me, Sleepy Hollow and The Ninth Gate are the worst. Both awful films. I don’t want to just leave it at that, I could elaborate. Though I hardly feel that there is much point. It hardly matters really, for Johnny has been in some of the best films also. After I saw Donnie Brasco I knew I was in love. This man is a genius. He can do anything. It was around this time that I watched Blow, which I watch every few months so as not to forget any of the lines.
Secret window is a good one. I saw this movie in the cinema, and am still very undecided. I’m not so sure about the lack of originality in the story line, though he does a convincing job at playing the troubled writer.
Then came along Pirates of the Caribbean, the first of the three-part series; The Curse of the Black Pearl. The first time Jack Sparrow is seen at the top of his sinking ship, looking into the distance, it just adds a whole new sense of ‘hell yeah!’ than it would have been without him.
His drunken stagger, slurred speech, crazy attitude, open sense of humour, this character brings out all the good of Depp’s performance. The two sequels weren’t able to match the first, but in a similar vein to the Arcade Fire’s first album, they just weren’t going to top it.
The Tim Burton -Johnny Depp relationship goes back quite a while, beginning in 1990 with Edward Scissor Hands, followed by Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hallow (1999) and Corpse Bride (2005). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also released in 2005, was an obvious match for the two, though I found it almost too weird to enjoy as much as I would have liked.
Released late last year in the States, and only a few weeks ago in the UK and Ireland, Sweeney Todd, the latest collaboration with Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter looks great, and I’ve been looking forward to watching it. Today at 6:40pm I will be sitting comfortably with my popcorn feasting my eyes and ears on what I hope will live up to the reviews I have avoided reading, but who’s ratings I have glanced at.
Although he does have his trademark “iconic loner” character, his character has a broad range. The deep and pensive, to drunkenly foolish, yet always in control and one step ahead.
2 Comments
I have seen Finding Neverland actually, forgot to mention it. I really liked it. He does a great job of the accent.
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