Would Lone Ranger exist if he'd been given the boot?
Pirates of The Caribbean is Johnny Depp’s biggest role, but it nearly turned out very differently for the 50-year-old actor, who has revealed that Disney nearly axed him from the film entirely back when they were making the very first film.
The last straw? Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger
“They couldn't understand what I was doing. You know? To the point where Disney wanted to – wanted to fire me. They didn't understand the character. They were actually contemplating subtitling the film," Depp said, in an upcoming interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I was probably as close to getting fired as anyone could be. I spoke to one of the execs at the time and said, 'You're right, you should fire me – but you'll have to pay me for my time'." And that time would have cost a lot of money. Luckily for Disney, they decided to keep him on, and four films later, a fifth one is in production, set for release in 2015.
The films as a whole have managed to gross over $3.7b for Disney at the box office, which compared to a budget that doesn’t exceed $1b for all four, is pretty good going. Now, though, the tables have turned, and Depp is contemplating quitting acting.
Don't quit, Johnny, just do something good?
He’ll still do Pirates 5 – he’s contracted to do that – and another Alice in Wonderland film could be his last. "I wouldn't say I'm dropping out any second, but I would say it's probably not too far away. When you add up the amount of dialogue that you say per year and you realise that you've said written words more than you've had a chance to say your own words, you start thinking about that as an insane option for a human being," he told The BBC.
Perhaps it isn’t time for Depp to stop acting, but rather time for him to start. He’s dedicated himself to the mainstream recently, working with studios and people striving only for profit, which can have a negative effect on the artistic integrity of a film. A return to the Ed Wood/Edward Scissorhands days would be a most welcome turn of events.
What do you do when you feel like your garden ornaments are in grave danger?...
The latest adaptation of Agatha Christie's 83-year-old classic whodunit, this lavish, star-studded film is old-style...
It's the 1930s and a group of strangers from different walks of life board a...
Subtitled Salazar's Revenge in the UK, this fifth film in the long-running series never quite...
It seems Captain Jack Sparrow has been sailing the seas as a pirate for many,...
Forget Davy Jones' Locker and the Fountain of Youth, Captain Jack Sparrow is on an...
It's been five years since the last Harry Potter movie, and J.K. Rowling has been...
Jack Sparrow finds himself in constant trouble with the law; not only is his name...
This much more light-hearted sequel reinvigorates the franchise after Disney's quirky but murky 2010 reboot...
As Alice is once again taken into the magical and mysterious world that she's somehow...
For a biopic of a real-life person, this feels like an oddly standard mob thriller....
Alice once again returns to Wonderland and meets a lot of familiar faces. This time...
Edward Scissorhands is no ordinary boy, as his name may tell. Created by a genius...