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Hooray
For Hollywood
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The
years 1990-1993 chronicle Johnny Depp’s breakthrough from
small-screen
heartthrob, as Officer Tom Hanson on 21
Jump Street, to mesmerizing movie protagonist—a
feat often attempted but
seldom achieved.
Johnny
served notice that he was more than a pretty face with leading roles in
two
1990 films. As Wade Walker in John Waters’ musical satire Cry-Baby,
Johnny mocked celebrity-mania
(and his own recent past),
yet brought unmistakable movie-star charisma to the role.
Even
more impressive was his work as the outcast hero of Tim
Burton’s fantasy Edward Scissorhands;
deprived of the use
of his hands (which were replaced by metal blades) and his voice
(Edward utters
only 169 words in the film), Johnny relies on his eyes to make
Edward’s
emotions transparent. The film garnered tremendous critical acclaim and
won
Johnny his first Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor in a Comedy or
Musical.
It also marked the beginning of his long collaboration with Tim Burton.
Johnny
turned down conventional Hollywood fare—he didn’t
want to be “the guy with the
gun”—to portray a series of damaged innocents in
small films with strong
ensembles: Axel Blackmar in Emir Kusturica’s surrealistic
coming-of-age tale, Arizona Dream;
the gentle, barely
literate Sam in the offbeat romance Benny
& Joon (1993); and the unappreciated Gilbert in Lasse
Hallstrom’s What’s Eating
Gilbert Grape (1993), who
sacrifices his own dreams to try to hold his dysfunctional family
together.
Although
Johnny’s brilliance as an actor does not go unnoticed, during
this period the
media displays just as much interest in Johnny’s off-screen
life, especially
his engagement to Edward Scissorhands
co-star Winona Ryder. Also, since Johnny despised the way the 21
Jump Street publicity machine
advertised him as being exactly like Officer Tom Hanson, he takes
pains, in
these interviews, to demonstrate all the ways he is not like the role
that made
him famous.
--Part-Time
Poet
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