Johnny Depp Talks About Future Roles

Posted by Robin Ruinsky (robin@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 24, 2009

Johnny Depp can’t say he fears unemployment. The actor who just opened as John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies has a roster of projects ready to be released or in line to be produced. As reported on Hitfix, Depp spoke to reporters at a press junket for Public Enemies and talked about upcoming roles as well as the differences in his approach in portraying John Dillinger as opposed to The Mad Hatter:

“After doing something like John Dillinger, a performance where it’s so restrained because of the responsibility you have to that guy, the Mad Hatter was like being fired out of a cannon. The Hatter was great fun and, again, it’s one of those things where you’re just amazed that that I’m not fired. I truly am.”

Having just seen a photo of Depp as the Mad Hatter it’s clear his portrayal in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland belongs on the list of characters that includes Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, and Sweeney Todd.  It’s another chance for Depp to push the envelope.

Also on the horizon is an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s early novel “The Rum Diary”. The novel, written by the 22 year old Thompson wasn’t published until 1998.  Then there’s an animated film Rango with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski in which his role is described as a “household pet” and the rather bizarre possibility that Depp would play Tonto in a Lone Ranger film. What’s scary is I can picture him as Tonto. Now who will play the Lone Ranger?

But  first it looks like Depp is poised to revive his big money maker, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 4:

“Obviously virtually no cinema’s perfect so Pirates One had its own thing, “Two” and “Three,” I suppose, had their own thing and it got a little confusing here and there in the story, not that I’ve seen the movies, but I hear tell,” Depp says. “I think, for me, because I love the character so much and I enjoy playing the character so much and people seem to like it, if there’s an opportunity to try again, you know, it’s like going up to bat. You want to get back out there and try and try and try and see what you can do. I enjoy playing Captain Jack very much.”

And finally there’s the film that eluded director Terry Gilliam, Don Quixote. The documentary Lost in La Mancha followed Gilliam’s first doomed attempt at the tale. He wants to revisit it with Depp, but Depp isn’t so sure.

“I mean, I love Terry and I’d do, personally, anything the guy wants to do. The thing is, with ‘Quixote,’ first, you know, my dance card is pretty nutty for the next couple of years, so I’d hate to have to put him in a position or ask him to be in a position to wait for me. That would be wrong. But, also, I don’t know, in a way. I feel like we went there and we tried something and whatever it was, the elements and all the things that got up underneath us were there and happened and were documented well and were documented well in the film “Lost in La Mancha,” so I don’t know if it’s, I hope it’s right for me to go back there. I don’t know if it’s right for Terry to, but if he wants to…”

Whatever Depp chooses to it’s hard to imagine he’ll be boring.

So, Jack Sparrow? Tonto? Mad Hatter? John Dillinger? What character are you most interested in seeing Depp portray?

Read more articles by Robin Ruinsky