Johnny Depp: The Evolution Of Capt. Jack Sparrow

(July 12, 2006) — If you want to talk about what?s hot in Hollywood, it?s a one-word answer: ?Pirates!?

Just look at the numbers for ?Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest? ? the film made $136 million after its first weekend. Another $18 million on Monday. And then another $15.5 million on Tuesday. That?s a five-day total of just under $170 million (and counting).

With that success, it looks like Johnny Depp can make all his teeth gold.

But who knew those karats in Johnny?s mouth would be such an on-screen gold mine, making ?Pirates? a cultural phenomenon and a billion dollar franchise in the process.

Access Hollywood?s Maria Menounos sat down with Depp to talk about transforming into the one-of-a-kind Capt. Jack Sparrow.

?You go from playing an eccentric filmmaker to a pirate ? a fruity pirate, by the way ? to Don Juan, where you have women drooling over you,? Maria said. ?You tell me, who do you think could do that??

?Um? um,? Johnny hesitated.

?It?s tough,? Maria said.

?I don?t know. Everybody just sort of? they do what they do and they do it to the best of their ability and that?s kind of what I?ve always ever done. I?ve just tried to do the things that made sense to me,? Johnny explained.

From ?Edward Scissorhands? to ?Ed Wood? to Willy Wonka, Capt. Jack Sparrow was the one character that Johnny has really been able to sink his teeth into, making the character all his own. But, as Maria found out, not without ruffling some feathers along the way because of his flamboyant and questionably exaggerated expressions.

?Even with Jack Sparrow, the studios were apprehensive about your portrayal,? Maria noted.

?Apprehensive is a very nice word for that,? Johnny grinned. ?Yeah, they almost invented a new language at that point.?

?You followed your vision for him and we fell in love with him. The walk, the swagger ? it?s a huge international success because of what you did with him,? Maria said.

?Ultimately, everything that we do becomes a product. Not that we approach it that way, but ultimately it?s geared for them to be a product. They understood the product, they understood how to see it and that?s I think what happened,? Johnny concluded.