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Disney's First Matey Doesn't
Johnny Depp know anything? Doesn't he know that there are two types of
performers -- actors and stars -- and that he belongs to the former category?
Actors appear in independent, impenetrable movies as dark, tortured geniuses.
They are adored by critics and shunned by audiences. They live in France.
They do not -- repeat, do not -- show up in movies with the name
''Bruckheimer'' in the credits. Especially not if that movie is based on a
Disney theme-park ride.
And yet
there Johnny Depp was, starring in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of
the Black Pearl'' -- and, almost as bizarre, he seemed to be having the time
of his life. Depp's previous performances had a certain remoteness, but in
''Pirates'' he let audiences in on the fun. His blurry, slurry Jack Sparrow
was an effeminate, self-dramatizing lush, but Depp played him with a wink, as
if to say, ''Can you believe they're letting me get away with this?'' They
almost didn't, of course: Some Disney executives tried to rein in his
performance. Those same executives called to thank him as the film blew past
$300 million at the domestic box office, becoming the year's most unexpected
hit. ''I've felt for years that the moviegoing audience has been
underestimated,'' Depp says. ''So with 'Pirates,' it felt good to get letters
and phone calls from certain Disney executives who said, 'You were right, I
was wrong.''' --by Tim Carvell , with reporting by Chris
Nashawaty
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