With his new film Transcendence opening nationwide this week, our Movie Poster REDUX series takes a look at several alternate movie posters of the films of Johnny Depp. Depp, who was born John Christopher Depp II in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1963, moved around a lot as a child to accomodate his father’s job as a civil engineer. The family finally settled down in Miramar, Florida (a mere 10 minutes from where I presently live) when Depp was 7. His parents divorced in 1978 and Depp dropped out of high school to join a garage band (which actually opened for The B-52’s and Iggy Pop) all the while living in a friend’s ’67 Chevy Impala.
After getting married to his first wife in 1983, Depp moved to Los Angeles and began taking acting classes at the Loft Studio. He landed a small role in Wes Craven’s classic 1984 horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, after his wife introduced him to her ex-boyfriend, actor Nicolas Cage, who then introduced Depp to a Hollywood agent. Depp then landed the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the popular TV series 21 Jump Street and became an overnight star. His first starring role in a film was the John Waters 50’s rock musical Cry-Baby and he’s gone on to become one of his generation’s most unique actors.
Surprisingly, Johnny Depp has only been nominated for an Academy Award 3 times(!) and has only one Golden Globe win for Best Actor in 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It’s typical of Hollywood and the Academy, however, to overlook those actors who can expertly play the more unusual characters in films (Gary Oldman, anyone?) and Depp has proven he can do “weird” just about better than anyone. Enjoy the posters…
