Johnny Depp 'secretly tested' Captain Jack Sparrow on his children after it went against Disney's vision
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Johnny Depp has apparently voiced his displeasure in working for Disney despite speculation about his return to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise which could earn him up to $20 million. According to Daily Mail, a source told the outlet that "Depp is done with Disney once and for all", on the eve of his 60th birthday. The bad blood between Depp and Disney mainly stemmed after the latter decided to drop him after Amber Heard accused him of abuse in a widely televised court trial.
This comes as a major heartbreak for fans of Jack Sparrow - an iconic characters in Hollywood, with all credit to Depp and his sublime acting. The Golden Globe award winner said that he had several other plans for the popular character which even went against the studio’s vision of the role. Depp revealed that the original plans for Jack Sparrow contradicted with his own while speaking to Collider.
'Captain Jack was written as a swashbuckler'
“In the original screenplay Captain Jack was written as a swashbuckler, a pirate who swings in, sort of fights a little bit and then swings out, grabs a girl and that’s it. I had different ideas for him,” he said. The actor shared that he first came up with his own vision of the character when he went to a sauna. “My sauna. I was looking at various aspects of the character and I figured this guy has been on the high seas for the majority of his life and therefore has dealt with inescapable heat to the brain,” Depp said. “So I cranked the sauna up to about 1000 degrees and sat in there as long as I could until it started to affect me mentally. It was very, very hot, as was my brain.”
Depp started 'secretly testing characters on' his kids
Depp previously revealed his plans for Jack Sparrow in an interview with New York Post. He said that his kids served as a source of inspiration and he would assess his performance through them initially. “I started out secretly testing characters on [my kids] to see how their reactions would be,” Depp said. “With my daughter we’d be playing Barbies and I’d try out these voices on her and she’d just say ‘stop,’” he said.
Depp's kids eventually liked his portrayal of the character in the movie, which didn't sit well with studio executives. “They came to see the movie and I can tell by their reaction if I did alright. I haven’t been fired from my kids,” he said. The executives were however upset with the fact that the character had changed from its original concept.
'Is he mentally just gone....or is he gay?'
“The executives made some comments at film tests for hair make-up and wardrobe when I presented the character,” Depp recalled. “They were like, ‘What’s he doing?’ Then I got phone calls: ‘You’ve got to lose the dangly things and what’s that sore on your face?’ ‘What’s going on? Is he mentally just gone, left the building a long time ago, or is he just incredibly drunk or is he gay?’” Some people even considered that Depp's dialogue delivery was not understandable which made the situation even worse on the set.
“The next thing, Michal Eisner, the head of Disney at the time was screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘Depp is ruining the film! We’re going to have to subtitle it. Nobody can understand what he’s saying. What is he doing?’ I can understand where they were coming from because their previous movie was Country Bear Jamboree, which I was not part of,” he said. However, Depp was extremely confident in his portrayal of the character, even to the point that he was prepared to leave the film for his beliefs.
"They were uncomfortable and I put it to them that they were welcome to fire me or replace me if they wanted, because I wasn’t going to change what I had built. I believed in what I’d built, I believed in the character wholeheartedly and I felt I was onto something,” Depp said.
How does Depp prepare for his characters?
Depp has successfully played a large number of varied characters over the years. The actor first established himself as a talented performer in the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movie. In 2015, while appearing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' with his daughter Lily-Rose Depp, who was 15 at the time, Depp revealed that he used barbies to prepare for his film roles. “I think the closest thing was playing Barbies with me,” Depp revealed according to Vanity Fair. “I used to test characters on her (Depp's daughter) [by] playing Barbies.”
“One day we were playing Barbies and then she decided to just go, “Daddy, just do normal. Cut out the voices.” After a pause, Depp added, “And that was the day I stopped playing Barbies.” The Hollywood legend also shared a valuable advice on performing while speaking to Modern Luxury, in which he said, "Acting is reacting." According to Cinemablend, he said, "The most important thing that an actor needs to do is not to act, but to react. That's what it is all about, and you do one of the most difficult things in the world, which is to just be - to be in the state of being."
The actor is also known for using the Michael Chekhov technique in acting, the same method which was once used by Ingrid Bergman and even Clint Eastwood. According to michalcheckhoactingstudio.com, "Michael Chekhov developed an acting technique, a ‘psycho-physical approach’, in which transformation, working with impulse, imagination and inner and outer gesture are central. It offers clear and practical tools in working with imagination, feelings and atmosphere."
"Chekhov's technique is a completely imaginative approach to experiencing the truth of the moment. According to Chekhov, the work of the actor is to create an inner event which is an actual experience occurring in real time within the actor," it adds.
Depp's most trashed character till now
Movie reviewers were very critical of Depp's performance in the 2015 action comedy movie 'Mortdecai' which only has an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The actor played the character Lord Charlie Mortdecai who originated in the novel series by Kyril Bonfiglioli. The film was based on 'Don't Point That Thing at Me', where Mortdecai crossed the wrong man and found himself offering to help a local police inspector for a reward to pay off his debt. His over-the-top performance in the movie was termed as unfunny and misguided by the critics at the time.
