That old proverb about "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy" could never be attributed to our eponymously titled, middle-aged thespian, i.e., the remarkably adept Mr. John Christopher Depp II, aka Johnny Depp.
With a rich bevy of diverse acting assignments before him, many as varied and sundry as stars half his age would absolutely die for, Depp remained at the forefront of the most-sought-after-screen-personalities category from the New Millennium onward.
Not all of Johnny's cinematic endeavors were paved with gold, mind you. In spite of ever increasing budgets, exhaustive work schedules, stratospheric salary demands and critical brickbats, the still-popular film actor continued to impress reviewers and fans alike with his versatility and wide-ranging choice of projects.
Indeed, the time he spent in Western Europe, directly and indirectly correlated to his live-in relationship with the French-born Vanessa Paradis, certainly had a pervasive effect on how, where and when Depp would put in his next big-screen appearance.
Many of his choices were, for lack of a better word, "odd" and/or bordering on cameo and "supporting player" status. Still, nothing could stop the ever-striving JD from seeking out more satisfying challenges - something that would continue to occupy his hyperactive imagination for years to come and ensure a prominent spot on his expanding curriculum vitae.
'Lasse, Come Home!' - Chocolat (2000)One of Depp's better-than-average characterizations occurred in his next international film foray. Swedish movie director Lars Sven Hallström, more commonly known as Lasse Hallström, tapped Johnny Depp to appear in the whimsically themed Chocolat (2000), based on the novel by English author Joanne Harris. Lasse and Johnny had formerly worked together on What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, which had also placed an ensemble cast in quirky yet tantalizing situations.
Filmed on location in both France and England, Chocolat stars the amiable French actress Juliette Binoche as chocolatier Vianne Rocher, a sort of modern-day fairy godmother but without the magic wand and pixie dust. Instead of those standard accoutrements, Vianne uses sweets to charm her customers. In Binoche's words, "Vianne sells small dreams and little comforts through chocolates."
Featured as well are some familiar names as repressed village types, among them a dour-faced Alfred Molina as the killjoy mayor Comte de Reynaud, the fabulous Judi Dench as the resentful landlady Armande, and Matrix alumnus Carrie-Anne Moss as her straight-arrow daughter Catherine. Rachel Portman ( The Cider House Rules), one of the few female film composers under-utilized by Hollywood at the time, wrote the starry-eyed music score.
Others in the cast include Lena Olin (reuniting with Ms. Binoche since their joint appearance in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being) as the abused wife Josephine, hulking Peter Stormare as her menacing husband Serge, veteran actress Leslie Caron as a lonely widow, John Wood as the old geezer secretly infatuated with her, and America's own charmer, Mr. J.C. Depp, as an accommodating barge owner named Roux with a faux Irish brogue.
Despite a misleading ad campaign showing Binoche feeding Johnny a bite-sized morsel of chocolat (which implied a much larger part in the picture than he actually had), Depp's short-lived contribution as Juliette's gypsy lover is fleeting but significant enough to merit our consideration.
By the way, Johnny's guitar playing is for real and, according to director Hallström, it was the first time he played the instrument on screen. In addition, his little dance with Dame Judi is an absolute delight and rekindles fond memories of the Brando-Dunaway partnership in Depp's Don Juan DeMarco.
In a 2015 interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Binoche admitted that neither Johnny Depp nor Alfred Molina liked the dark, tasty treat very much. In fact, Depp spat out his portion of chocolates after each of their takes, which goes against the spirit of the script's premise. Ah, but that's real life for you.
Indeed, this fanciful tale, billed as a "sinfully delicious comedy" (wink, wink!) of a stagnant French village frozen in time, abounds in intimate side-stories. But over the "main course" of the feature, Binoche manages to change even the humorless mayor's mind through her delectable confections. Which goes to show that sweetness and light make everything right.
Since the story takes place at Easter time (as close to Merry Christmas as you're going to get), Vianne can be seen as the unseen angel Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life, or at best one of Charles Dickens' three ghosts. Which ghost? Take your pick! Then ask yourself this question: Who can know the mysterious ways of whimsy?
From the unbearable lightness of dark chocolate, we plunge to the darkest recesses of the human mind. From Hell, a thriller loosely based on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's graphic-novel take on the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper, was Johnny's next venture.
Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes, collectively known as the Hughes Brothers ( Menace II Society, Dead Presidents), From Hell stands as the official start of what we like to refer to as Johnny's "British period," wherein the actor displayed an ersatz (yet perfectly respectable) English affectation in several big-budget pictures.
Prior to From Hell, Johnny participated in two minor features, specifically The Man Who Cried (directed by Sally Potter) and Before Night Falls (under Julian Schnabel's direction, the fellow who befriended street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and who made a motion picture about him - see my review of that film: https://josmarlopes.wordpress.com/2019/04/21/an-artists-life-for-me-ten-motion-pictures-that-ask-the-question-does-life-imitate-art-part-three/).
Another Anglo-French flick, The Man Who Cried is an operatically-themed work that reunited Johnny (fourth-billed from the top) with Christina Ricci, his co-star in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Sleepy Hollow. For yours truly (opera lover that I am), to hear actor John Turturro emoting as the tenor Dante and singing Nadir's aria from The Pearl Fishers (voiced by true-life tenor Salvatore Licitra) is a bit hard to swallow.
In the biopic Before Night Falls, Johnny forgoes his heartthrob status to take on dual character parts: that of the transvestite Bon Bon (an unintended reference to Chocolat, no doubt) with that of Lt. Victor; opposite the Spanish Javier Bardem, who portrays gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. Viewers may be reminded of Depp's wacky assumption of famed Golden Turkey Award winner Ed Wood (if you see the movie, you'll know what we mean).
Depp's skill at vocal mimicry came in handy in the above features, in that he successfully undertook a Romanian accent in The Man Who Cried, as well as a Cuban one in Before Night Falls. Beyond that, both films slipped off the radar as far as box-office was concerned. But the one that got them all talking again came direct From Hell (um, quite literally in fact).
You might call this a "slasher fest" or body horror-cum-murder mystery. However you see it, From Hell will curdle your hair. Depp takes the part of Police Inspector Frederick Abberline, an opium addict who spends his off hours in a den of haze and smoke, with horrid "visions" of the killings dancing in his head. He takes a personal interest (a little too personal, it turns out) in investigating what became known as "the Ripper murders," due mostly to the brutal way the homicides of Whitechapel prostitutes were committed.
True to form, the inspector falls in love with, and tries to protect, one of the targeted streetwalkers, Mary Kelly (played by a much-too-wholesome Heather Graham). And why are the Whitechapel hookers being targeted for execution? Well, if you believe the cockamamie theories put forth, they were all unwitting participants in a coverup perpetrated by Freemasons (what, those guys again?) to protect the libidinous Prince Albert, heir to the English throne and Queen Victoria's randy grandson, from being caught with his breeches down. Shame, shame, shame, Uncle Bertie!
Robbie Coltrane (the giant groundskeeper Hagrid from the Harry Potter series) plays Abberline's assistant, Sergeant Peter Godley, in good-natured, friendly-banter fashion. Mr. Coltrane uses his large frame to buttress Johnny's slenderer figure. They come across as squabbling combatants à la Laurel and Hardy. Ian Holm ( The Fifth Element, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) invests the role of Dr. William Gull, a former surgeon and physician to Her Royal Highness, with just the right amount of highborn reserve. Ian Richardson ( Dark City) as Abberline's superior officer is impatience personified, and perfectly capable of cutting anyone down to size with a mere look.
Much of the thunder was taken out of this newest screen version of old Jack's tawdry tale. Mostly, in our view, due to a previous trip down this same rabbit hole via the much better Murder by Decree from 1979. In that earlier incarnation, Sherlock Holmes (a perfectly cast Christopher Plummer) and Dr. Watson (a fumbling yet pensive James Mason) are assigned to investigate the Ripper murders and wind up implicating the usual suspects (Freemasons, Royal Family hijinks, etc.).
In the Hughes Brothers' grislier adaptation, which author Moore vehemently distanced himself from with claims of their having turned the inspector into an "absinthe-swilling dandy," the blood and gore quotient was turned up to 11. Somehow and despite the distasteful aspects to the story, both Depp and Ms. Graham managed to avoid the temptation of a tagged-on "happy ending" by a parting of the ways (oh, what sweet sorrow). Inspector Abberline closes out his police career in a bathtub.
Any resemblance to Johnny's deadly serious Inspector Abberline with his deft comic portrayal of the bumbling Constable Ichabod Crane is sheer coincidence. The two investigators are worlds apart in temperament and tone, as are Depp's love interests in each. Incidentally, Depp uses a mild Cockney accent to underscore Abberline's humbler background to that of the supercilious blue-blooded twits populating the upper-echelons of British society.
What came out From Hell, and what many critics and reviewers drew from Johnny Depp's performance, was his affinity for and attraction to ensemble work. Similar to actor Denzel Washington (an older star whom we've also written about), but unlike his contemporary Tom Cruise, Depp much preferred to share the limelight with his fellow practitioners.
You can interpret that decision as either claiming the glory or spreading the blame, but Johnny was serious about taking a backseat to fame and stardom. He already had it, to put it plain. Let others have their turn.
This led to his next assignment, one most leading men would either give their right arm for or refuse to touch with a ten-foot pole. Directed by Ted Demme (filmmaker Jonathan Demme's nephew), the movie Blow (also from 2001) sported an unusually unlikeable and unglamorized central figure for Johnny (in blond tresses, no less); that is, of 1970s cocaine dealer and drug smuggler George Jung.
One thing about this production that stood front-and-center from the rest was that Johnny would no longer need to hide his American speech patterns underneath a foreign accent. That would be left to the Latin participants, namely Penélope Cruz, Jordi Molla, Miguel Sandoval, Jennifer Gimenez, and others. Cruz, however, proved especially egregious in the part of Jung's Colombian wife Mirtha, a shrill-toned shrew that, as the story progressed, became impossible to tame.
On the other hand, reliable and complimentary support would come from the likes of the excellent Paul Reubens (the former Peewee Herman) as Derek Foreal (no, really, for real!), Jung's middleman in La-La-Land; Cliff Curtis as Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the head of the Medellin cartel; a sullen Ray Liotta ( GoodFellas) as Jung's old man; and young Emma Roberts (Julia Roberts' niece) as Jung's daughter Kristina Sunshine. This was a "reel" family affair (no pun intended).
Another, more important discovery was Johnny's apparent concern for the downtrodden, i.e., the lowlifes, the miscreants, the so-called "scum of the earth" - people best left to wallow in their own misdeeds. This "empathy" for the down and out, for lack of a better word, would manifest itself on-and-off the screen in future portrayals that would bring the restless actor low box-office receipts but much professional satisfaction.
(End of Part Five)
To be continued....
Copyright © 2019 by Josmar F. Lopes
