Johnny Depp Zone Interview Archive

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The Virtuoso

With the tremendous success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp vaulted to the top of Hollywood’s A-list, and his name, as well as that of his most famous character, Captain Jack Sparrow, became a household word.

Early 2004 brought Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Johnny, and recognition as Best Actor by his colleagues in the Screen Actors Guild.

Riding a wave of acclaim, Johnny added pitch-perfect portrayals of three very different writers to his filmography: the depressed Mort Rainey in Secret Window, whose life is unraveling faster than his ratty bathrobe; the compassionate J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, in Finding Neverland, which garnered Johnny his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; and the reckless, insatiable second Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot, in The Libertine.

Johnny balanced these dramatic roles with two comic turns in 2005 for his good friend Tim Burton, who directed Johnny as eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and as the voice of confused bridegroom Victor Van Dort in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. Then Johnny returned to hijinks on the high seas as Captain Jack Sparrow in the sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean. Dead Man’s Chest sailed into theaters on July 7, 2006, and promptly began toppling box-office records around the world, including biggest opening day and opening weekend, and fastest movie to earn $100 million, $200 million, and $300 million domestically. The top-grossing movie of 2006, Dead Man’s Chest eventually earned more than $1 billion worldwide (yes, billion with a B), becoming only the third film in movie history to do so.

Pirate, candymaker, Restoration rake, earnest playwright/surrogate father: Johnny Depp’s most recent work displays extraordinary range and confirms his position as the most original and versatile film actor of his generation.

--Part-Time Poet