The director Johnny Depp labelled a genius: “One of the last true auteurs”
The career of Johnny Depp has been a wild ride to say the least, with the actor experiencing the highest peaks and lowest valleys the business has to offer during his 40-year stretch that began with heartthrob status and currently exists with him being placed in Hollywood exile.
Seminal slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street and Academy Award-winning classic Platoon were among his earliest roles to start him out on solid footing, before the success of 21 Jump Street left Depp so disillusioned with the notion of fame he freed himself from his contract on the hit TV series and vowed never to make the same mistake again.
From there, he became one of American independent cinema’s leading lights and most popular talents, before cracking the A-list in a major way when Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl didn’t only give him the biggest box office win of his career by far and turn Captain Jack Sparrow into an overnight icon, but earned him the first Academy Award nomination of his career for ‘Best Actor’.
He’s currently on the outside looking in after his days as the highest-paid star in all of Tinseltown came to an ignominious end following his high-profile exits from both Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter prequels Fantastic Beasts, never mind the tabloid frenzy that surrounded his legal battles.
His recent collaboration with filmmaker Maïwenn on French period drama Jeanne du Barry and self-directed biographical drama Modì mark the first steps in his latest evolution, which could see Depp immerse himself even deeper in international cinema as he forges ahead outside of the United States.
Serbia’s Emir Kusturica is one of the continent’s leading lights in that regard, with Depp calling him a “genius” in conversation with Entertainment Weekly, while naming the director’s 1988 coming-of-age fantasy Time of the Gypsies and Palme d’Or-winning dramatic comedy Underground as personal favourites of his.
“This is visual poetry, with a healthy portion of both magic and the absurd,” Depp explained. “One of the last true auteurs, alongside Tim Burton and Jim Jarmusch, keeping the art alive in cinema.” Just like Burton and Jarmusch, the star has worked directly with Kusturica, fittingly enough on the film he made in between those two aforementioned classics.
1993’s surrealist Arizona Dream finds Depp’s Axel meeting an eccentric stranger and offbeat stepdaughter, leading them on an intertwined journey of romance, dreams, and death. It may have been over 30 years since they worked together, but Kusturica remains active in the industry despite not having helmed a feature since 2018, and if the respect is mutual then it can’t be ruled out they could end up crossing paths again somewhere down the line.