Monday, July 03, 2006
Truly, madly, Depply
Arts & Books
01 Jul 2006
Once, Johnny Depp spurned stardom — now he’s one of the best-paid screen actors in the world, thanks to his role as the eccentric rogue Jack Sparrow in PiratesoftheCaribbean.
With the second instalment imminent, he talks to John Hiscock
With the second instalment imminent, he talks to John Hiscock
Johnny Depp absent-mindedly runs his tongue over the gold tooth gleaming in his mouth as he struggles to explain how, after a career spent mostly dodging fame, he has ended up as one of the biggest stars in the world. “It doesn’t make sense,” he confesses. “Nothing has changed from my point of view.”
His 22-year career in film has certainly been a strange and unpredictable ride. An actor who insists he has never craved stardom, Depp has, despite himself, become one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars.
This is the man who, when he became a reluctant teenage idol though his role in the US television series 21 Jump Street, trashed his trailer, caused trouble on the set and did everything possible to free himself from the show. “It was out of control,” he recalls. “They created this image, this monster, and they were selling it to the world.”
For a while after that, whenever a star-making role beckoned, he turned it down: Lestat in Interview with the Vampire (it went to Tom Cruise), Jack in Speed (Keanu Reeves), and the Brad Pitt role in Legends of the Fall. His explanation: “I’m not Blockbuster Boy.”
But now, aged 43, that’s exactly what he has become. His leading role in the Pirates of the Caribbean... read more...
