14 DAY TRIAL // Johnny Depp has fallen out of favor with the critics: after 3 consecutive box office bombs and too many “Pirates” films and the realization that he was basically playing the same character over and over again (or variations on it), they ruled him out from that exclusive category where they place true talent.
He’s welcome anytime he wants to come back, by proving that he can still carry off a movie in which he doesn’t play some sort of caricature, but a real character.
It could be that Johnny doesn’t want to come back. He doesn’t care what critics have to say, he’s not interested in playing the fame game, and he’s past the point of caring what people have to say about his work, he reveals in a new interview with Details magazine.
Newfound freedom comes with not caring
It’s not that critics hate-hate Johnny, even though they’ve turned on him. They’ve done so out of a conviction that he can do much better than what he’s doing right now, while also thinking that he’s choosing the easy way out by hiding behind makeup and prosthetics instead of doing real, solid acting.
Obviously, the critics aren’t considering the possibility that maybe this is the kind of work that Depp loves to do. His performances might seem repetitive, but this is the role that appeals to him the most and maybe, just maybe, he’s not interested in showing off his acting rage – not when he still has roles coming his way that allow him to do just the kind of characters he likes.
Luckily for Johnny, he no longer cares about all that. Speaking very candidly with Details magazine (and dropping the name of Marlon Brando several times), the actor says that he got to a point where he cared so much what people had to say about his work that it got “goddamn beleaguering,” he felt like there was no way he could win no matter what he did.
He’s past that point now because he stopped caring. And it’s goddamn liberating, he says, but with much more F-bombs, adding that such newfound freedom also makes him “game to try anything.”
He’s an actor, not a celebrity
Fans know that Johnny Depp hates being a celebrity. After all, the man has his own private island because he hates being in the spotlight so much, so he can retreat there whenever he wants to be left alone.
He tells Details this much, adding that he’s “[expletive]-ing shy” and doesn’t like being famous. Neither does he like what the acting profession has become because, these days, an actor has to do more than just act in front of a camera: he or she must also promote the film through countless appearances, which bugs the hell out of Depp.
This wasn’t what he signed up for, he says, adding that he doesn’t know how much more he can take living his life as a “fugitive,” because that’s what he feels he is when he’s trying to evade unwanted attention from the paparazzi and the glossies.
Here’s what’s ironic: no one is questioning Depp’s feelings on this issue or their authenticity, but the fact that he’s saying these things while promoting not one but two movies shows that he’s not ready yet to give it all up, he’s not as sick of playing the fame game as he tries to appear.
On the plus side, if he really was, we’d no longer get amazing videos and photoshoots like this one. This video (and especially the wink at the end) goes out to all Johnny Depp fans out there.
