Between Handsome Devil and Deep Blue Sea
Johnny Depp was, by his own admission, born to play a pirate. A mutineer of Hollywood, Depp plotted a different course from one that could be expected of a wannabe rocker who first stole attention as a 1980s TV heart-throb.
The perennial pretty-boy actor has achieved, instead of magazine-cover stardom, a treasure trove of critical acclaim for edgy performances in fringe movies and a reputation for sneering at roles offered by the big studios.
Now 40, a family man and resident of France, Depp is equally known for his years of cutting a drunken, drugged-out path through the celebrity party world. Hardly the typical leading man of a Disney movie.
But Depp was the first choice of Jerry Bruckheimer as Captain Jack Sparrow to head the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and revive the swashbuckling adventure.
Pirates has become one of the biggest box-office hits of the US summer. And much of it has to do with the performance of Depp.
Bruckheimer, the most successful producer in Hollywood history, says it was difficult to convince the studio bosses to risk the $US140 million ($A216 million) high-seas romp, based on a Disney theme-park ride, on the actor. But he had no doubts Depp would steal the show.
Depp delivers a tongue-in-cheek, campy performance as Sparrow that rivals Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He admits that despite his usual suspicion about big studio movies, he knew the role of the swashbuckler was made for him.
"When Lee Marvin was asked how he prepared for his [Oscar-winning] role in Cat Ballou as the drunken gunfighter, he said: 'I've been preparing for this role for 40 years' and I kind of feel the same," he says.
The involvement of Shrek writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and the wish to please his two children gave Depp incentive.
However, the match between Depp and Disney was almost sunk after the studios panicked over the first few scenes shot of Sparrow, who, according to the actor, appeared to them as "a little funny, a little happy". It was intentional. Depp says his muses for the eccentric pirate was a "cross between [Rolling Stones guitarist] Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew".
"Keith Richards was one because I thought that pirates were the rock'n'roll stars of the 18th century. Not like an imitation of Keith or a character study . . . but the way he carries himself has such a beautiful confidence and a graceful quality and an elegance and wisdom that I wanted the character to have."
Depp gave Disney an ultimatum: "Let me do what you hired me to do, and if you're not happy than you gotta replace me.
Just as well they didn't or he'd be looking for a new career.
"My little girl, Lilly-Rose [four years old], was asked by someone at a restaurant what her parents did and she said her mother was a singer and her father was a pirate," he says. For that reason, he says, it would be hard to turn down doing a sequel