Johnny Depp turns 60: the many faces of the Hollywood star
To describe Johnny Depp’s life and career as “dazzling” would be an understatement. The Golden Globe winner has been nominated several times for an Academy Award and has worked with internationally acclaimed film directors: from John Waters to Tim Burton, from Emir Kusturica to Lasse Halström.
Depp is one of the best-known actors of his generation, and yet, in recent years, he’s become increasingly known for his actions off the big screen – and he’s been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Where his desire for provocation comes from is not clear. But what is certain is that the rock fan, born in Kentucky on June 9, 1963, seems to have internalized the role of eccentric rebel. Here are five phases of Johnny Depp’s career:
Phase 1: poster boy and teen heartthrob
After small supporting roles in “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Platoon”, it was a TV series on the American Fox channel that really kick-started Johnny Depp’s acting career. In “21 Jump Street”, Depp helped propel the series to become a huge hit in the United States in the late 1980s. The previously little-known Depp played the role of an unassimilated undercover cop and became the teen idol of a generation.
However, Depp was not comfortable as a poster boy, and years later he spoke in interviews about having burned out. However, he was unable to leave the series because of its massive success.
Further enhancing his image as the young rebel, Depp appeared in Tom Petty’s hit 1993 music video “Into The Great Wide Open” – wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorcycle.
Phase 2: From TV to Serious Film Actor
To avoid another experience like the one he had with “21 Jump Street”, Depp began to choose his roles more carefully in the following years. He wasn’t interested in whether or not a movie was successful; he wanted to take on exciting roles and not be typecast.
His calculations paid off, with the 1990s becoming the golden age of Depp’s career. “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) marked the beginning of his extremely fruitful and creative collaboration with director Tim Burton, who seemed to create the absolutely perfect roles for Depp. “Sleepy Hollow” (1999) and “Sweeney Todd” (2007) were other examples of the delightful collaboration between the two Hollywood eccentrics.
But Depp also proved his versatility in films like Jim Jarmusch’s Western masterpiece “Dead Man.” With great humor and depth, he portrayed the seemingly disoriented William Blake, who finds his destiny as a “white man killer” led by a no less insane Native American named Nobody.
Depp was then at the height of his creative powers. He had two children with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, bought an entire villa near St. Tropez, France in 2001, and the world seemed to be his oyster. Though there were often tabloid reports of Depp’s drinking problems, fans forgave him for his lapses. However, some film critics lamented that Depp no longer had much to offer other than eccentricity.
Phase 3: A decade of peaks, but cracks have appeared
With “Pirates of the Caribbean” (2003), Depp finally achieved great success.
After all, her expensive lifestyle with luxury cars, a large yacht, 40 employees and all the other trimmings could only be funded courtesy of her roles in multi-million box office movies.
It is true that the way in which Depp embodied the figure of the crazy pirate captain Captain Jack Sparrow was both new and ingenious. But with each sequel, Captain Jack’s brand eroded more and more, and it no longer generated the storm of enthusiasm among critical audiences.
Critics also started saying that Depp had lost his bite. However, with his performance as Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton’s film of the same name, Depp refuted his critics – winning a Golden Globe for his performance in 2008.
Phase 4: Throwing Mud in the Tabloids
The years 2018 to 2022 marked a low point in Johnny Depp’s career. With his ex-wife Amber Heard, he was involved in a smear battle, fought in front of the international press. First in the tabloids and finally in court. It centers on marital violence, verbal assaults, and unsavory details of the couple’s lives. Some of the accusations against Depp were quite serious. In the end, he was acquitted on all three counts and the two agreed to a settlement.
But a great uneasiness remained. Depp has lost roles including Captain Jack and Gellert Grindelwald in the successful “Fantastic Beasts” film series.
During the trial, the insults and verbal-viral abuse towards Amber Heard reached an unfortunate level. The anti-MeToo faction also seemed pretty pleased with Depp’s victory in court.
Depp, of all people – who repeatedly portrayed men in touch with their feminine side and in his roles developed enormous appeal and resilience precisely because of his otherness and delicacy – ended up becoming an icon of old-fashioned machismo.
Source: DW
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