As a “Pirates of the Caribbean” pirate, Johnny Depp made it into Hollywood’s top ranks. The mud fight with ex-wife Amber Heard scratched his image a lot. At 60, Depp revs up again, also as a rocker.
The countdown to the milestone birthday could hardly have gone any better. Johnny Depp, who turns 60 on Friday (June 9), had a big party in Cannes a few weeks ago. The costume drama “Jeanne du Barry”, in which he portrays the French King Louis XV. plays, had opened the film festival on the Croisette in mid-May. The film is about the king’s scandalous relationship with his mistress Marie-Jeanne Bécu.
Depp strolled down the red carpet alongside director and leading actress Maïwenn, signing autographs and taking selfies with fans. It was his first premiere party after the headline-grabbing US court battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard a year ago.
Mud fight in court
After a six-week defamation lawsuit, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star won a broad victory in June 2022. The jury gave little credence to Heard’s allegations of abuse and she had to pay him large damages.
But neither of the two will completely shake off the described scenes of a marriage. The mud fight, with violent hostilities, was broadcast live from court cameras around the world. It was about allegations of sexual abuse, physical violence, lies and drug excesses.
Two years earlier, Depp had suffered a defeat in the long-standing dispute between the ex-partners. In London he had sued the British tabloid “Sun”, which had described him in an article as a woman beater. In the end, a judge found most of the allegations in the article to be true.
Depp and Heard met while filming The Rum Diary in 2009. Their romance began in 2011 following Depp’s split from his longtime partner, French actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has children Lily-Rose, 24, and Jack, 21. Depp and Heard married in 2015, but after just 15 months of marriage, the “Aquaman” actress filed for divorce following allegations of domestic violence.
career collapses
Depp’s career collapsed at times due to the long court battle with his ex-wife. In 2020 he was replaced by the Dane Mads Mikkelsen in “Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets”. In the same year he presented the social drama “Minamata” at the Berlinale. In it he played the legendary US photographer W. Eugene Smith, who documented mass poisoning by mercury near the Japanese city of Minamata in the 1950s. The theatrical release was postponed several times, and the film grossed less than two million dollars worldwide.
Depp, who was once one of Hollywood’s top earners, went on the offensive at a press conference in Cannes in May. “I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t need Hollywood,” Depp said.
The actor could now prove that with “Modi”. Depp wants to shoot his second directorial project after “The Brave” (1997) in autumn with his own European production company IN.2 in Budapest. For the biopic about the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, he brought Riccardo Scamarcio and Al Pacino in front of the camera, among others.
He wanted to be a musician
Depp’s first love was not film, but music. In his testimony in court last year, he recounted his difficult childhood in rural Kentucky, fearing his mother’s frequent outbursts of violence. Even as a teenager he tried drugs to escape this reality. He dropped out of school and wanted to be a musician. As a guitarist, he toured Los Angeles and ended up as an extra, then with TV roles in front of the camera.
The breakthrough to teenage stardom came in 1987 as an undercover agent in the TV series “21 Jump Street”. “The dumbest job I’ve ever done,” he complained a few years later in a dpa interview when he presented the film “Gilbert Grape – Somewhere in Iowa” (1994). In Lasse Hallstrom’s family drama, he played the eldest son who takes care of his disabled brother (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Tim Burton and Jack Sparrow
Independent director John Waters cast him in 1990’s “Cry Baby” as a 1950s rocker. Tim Burton cast him as Edward Scissorhands alongside Depp’s then-girlfriend Winona Ryder. Burton gave Depp some of his best roles in films like Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland.
But he owes millions and mega fame to Captain Jack Sparrow. With gleaming gold teeth and wild shaggy hair, Depp played the iconic pirate five times in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. He got his first Oscar nomination in 2004, more followed for the Peter Pan story “When Dreams Learn to Fly” (2005) and for “Sweeney Todd” (2008).
Supergroup Hollywood Vampires
Depp is now more often in the limelight as a rocker. He founded the supergroup Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, which released their first album in 2015. In June last year, right after the end of the trial, he jetted to Europe for concert appearances with rock guitarist Jeff Beck, and they also performed in Germany. Their joint album “18” came out in July. It was the last studio album by guitar virtuoso Beck, who died in January at the age of 78.
Immediately after appearing at the Cannes Festival in mid-May, Depp was back on stage alongside rock legends such as Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton in honor of Beck at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
A drop of bitterness shortly before his milestone birthday: due to Depp’s painful ankle injury, they had to postpone three concerts in the USA, the Hollywood Vampires announced at the end of May. The doctors had advised against traveling. He will now rest for the tour of Europe. The day before his 60th birthday there is a concert in Bucharest, the day after in Istanbul. Depp also wants to rock in seven German cities by the end of July.