*Disclaimer: Johnny Depp was one of my favorite
actors once upon a time. I thought he was fantastically-interesting and
creative. Even though it had been a while since I’d really loved any recent
work of his when I wrote this post, and it was even later that I heard the
allegations against him, it was still a rough one. I don’t know whether he was
doing the same shit back in the day or if it was only in recent years, but it
both makes me mad and saddens me that some truly great roles have been tainted
for me.*
Lately,
I haven’t seen much from Johnny Depp that really excites me. I have no great love for Dark Shadows or Public
Enemies, and I haven’t seen many of his most recent movies. At his best, however, he’s an incredibly fine
actor who can bring a really inventive presence to a well-written role. These are my favorites.
Edward, Edward
Scissorhands
The
first time someone described this movie to me, I was sure they were pulling my
leg. That it works as well as it does is
insane, and lot of that is down to
Depp’s weird, sweet performance as Edward.
Plenty of films have been made about artificially-created life or
sentient robots, but none quite like this.
Edward is artistic, curious, shy, intrepid, naïve, and above all,
entirely new. Just a terrific character.
Sam, Benny
& Joon
Sam! I
raved about him in my Benny & Joon
review, and I’ll gladly do it again here.
A twist on a familiar archetype, Sam is what I’d call a Manic Pixie
Dream Boy, but, as with Edward, his quirkiness is entirely his own. Obviously, I love his devotion to cinema,
especially silent comedies, I love his
ironed grilled cheese, and I like that he’s so guileless and
un-self-conscious. Sam knows exactly who
he is and honestly doesn’t mind what others may think of that.
Ed Wood, Ed
Wood
Depp is
perfectly cast in this movie. Ed is
completely hopeless, but he’s also wholly unaware of that fact, and that’s what
makes him so engaging. Just like every
villain is a hero in his own mind, so every awful filmmaker is an auteur, and
in Ed’s mind, he’s an Orson Welles. He
approaches his terrible movies with ardent relish, reveling in every ludicrous
frame with an enthusiasm that’s infectious to behold.
Ichabod Crane, Sleepy Hollow
Do you
see the pattern? Over time, Depp’s
collaborations with Tim Burton devolve into too-muchness, but I love their
first three movies. Not to confused with
the one from the supernatural TV drama, this Ichabod is an intelligent but
obstinate skeptic, only believing the fantastical with the most irrefutable of
evidence. He’s priggish, squeamish, and kind
of a scaredy-cat. In other words, I love
that he’s the leading man in this
supernatural horror film. You do you,
Ichabod.
Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean
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