TV tip
Arte documentary about Johnny Depp
Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in Tokyo in 2006. photo
© Robert Gilhooly/epa/dpa
Johnny Depp wanted to be a punk rocker and became one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. In recent years, he has made headlines mainly with cinema flops and private scandals. An Arte documentary shows the ups and downs of Johnny Depp.
He played the misfits, the anti-heroes. And he played Jack Sparrow, the most famous pirate in recent film history. Actor Johnny Depp, who recently turned 60, is undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and one who’s seen scandals along with his fame.
In the Arte documentary “In the Eyes of Johnny Depp”, director Régis Brochier tries to look behind the facade of the multifaceted actor and at the same time reviews his career. You can see the post on Sunday at 10:05 p.m.
What makes the documentary particularly worth seeing are old interview excerpts. The archive footage lets Johnny Depp have his say at the various stages of his career. And he himself looks back on his beginnings as an actor.
He had actually been on stage as a guitarist in a punk band when his buddy Nicolas Cage accidentally got him into acting in the early 1980s. He just had to pay his rent, he justified at the time.
After a few smaller roles, he became a youth idol in 1987 with the series “21 Jump Street”. A role that he himself found strange. In a 2013 interview, he said he felt his life had taken a radical turn, but that he was not in control. Being a teenage star and a hunk of beauty was ultimately a role for Depp – one he didn’t want to play.
In 1990 he starred in the musical parody “Cry-Baby” by John Waters for the first time in front of the camera. A film that focuses on outsiders. This was followed by the first collaboration with director Tim Burton in the poetic tragicomedy “Edward Scissorhands”. From there it went in quick succession: “Gilbert Grape – Somewhere in Iowa”, “Ed Wood”, “Dead Man”, “Donnie Brasco”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Depp was inspired by Hollywood great Marlon Brando.
With the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, he also landed commercially in Hollywood Olympus. With the overwhelming success of the pirate films, Johnny Depp was left with no other cinema successes. The star’s private life also got more and more out of joint. After a long-term relationship with Frenchwoman Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children, he married his colleague Amber Heard. The divorce turned into a public mud fight. Where will Johnny Depp go? Recently he has been on stage more often as a musician.