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The
Virtuoso
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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
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