Johnny Depp Retrospective

Johnny Depp: A Brief Retrospective by Roxanne McDonald

It’s a little soon for a lifetime achievement survey, but looking back at Johnny Depp’s first roles surely reveals how far this gorgeous talent has come.

Almost every time I see Johnny Depp, I think of 21 “Jump Street,” wherein Depp plays the sexy albeit orally fixated gum-chewing, toothpick-biting, poker chip-sucking Officer Tom Hanson.

Reportedly, Depp hated working on “21 Jump Street,” so reminders of his five-year stint may be less than welcome. Still, the show launched his career and made him a new tweenie poster face for thousands. (According to Tiscali Film & TV, Depp was receiving 10,000 fan letters a month!)

Hell with the tweens: I met a colleague at the community college where I worked who would have given up her job for a day with Johnny Depp—though for some reason this 40-something artist and photographer never wanted it advertised that she was gaga.

If I had less than idolizing thoughts about Depp as a sex symbol, they changed when I saw Chocolat: Depp’s understated presence as gypsy Roux reinstates his gift for performing in quiet speech, subtle movement, and under-exaggerated facial expression, combined with his characters feral, earthy essence.

While I have yet to see his bizarre Captain Jack (which seems to defy Depp’s earlier wishes to remain a performance artiste and avoid selling out to mainstream cinema), I have appreciated his eccentric and idiosyncratic Ed Wood and Willy Wonka, his eerie and quirky Edward Scissorhands, and his felonious, driven, and depraved George Jung.

Along with, again, thousands, I am glad Depp took that first role on “21 Jump Street.” We might have missing a fantastic talent had he passed.

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