I passed a poster for the iminent Pirates3 release, and started thinking about Johnny Depp. (What a very, very pleasant way that is to wile away a long commute!) He’s had an interesting career – started out as a prettyboy in a Grade B cop show, and has become a major star, mostly by blowing off Hollywood and making a string of movies that has alternated between the seriously quirky (all the Tim Burton stuff, The Libertine, Cry-Baby), drama (Donny Brasco), family-friendly fare (Finding Neverland), and even musicals (the upcoming Sweeney Todd). Who else has had a career like that, I mused.
Well – Brando.
Quirky, drama – I don’t need to list them. Family-friendly: Superman, Mutiny on the Bounty. Musicals: my beloved Guys and Dolls.
Plus, both men are named after their father.
And, not entirely irrelevantly, both of them are (or, in Brando’s case, was in his prime) omigodkillmenow sexy.
Whaddya think?
Dang, missed my editing window:
Wanted to add, I’m obviously going to need to re-see Don Juan DeMarco in order to develop this theory further.
The recent TCM biography of Brando included some comments by Depp and it would appear, whether true or not, that Johnny thinks Brando meant a lot to him and he to Brando. He gives the impression that he wouldn’t toss aside your sentiments as far as acting goes.
I don’t think we have seen the “Brando of the 21st Century” yet, because even Johnny Depp is following in the path established by Brando. As is everybody else. Brando did for acting what amounted to a redefinition of how to become the part. Olivier had already shown how to work the words so as to own them, but it took Brando to show that there’s more than words involved in acting.
I have yet to see a performer of either gender display the movement beyond the boundaries that Brando approached. I feel fairly certain that whenever that performer arrives, the acting world will be as blown away as they were with Brando in the early 50’s. I just don’t believe that moment (or actor) has arrived. It’s about time for it to happen, but a big problem with the whole idea is that movies and TV are less about acting and more about technical gimmicks. It’s going to take somebody who brings acting back into focus in a big (and new) way. Johnny is merely a very competent actor, not a pacesetter for a new generation of actors.
My opinion, at any rate.
I remember seeing Depp on Inside the Actors Studio talk about how he is a huge admirer of Brando, and was of course influenced by him when he got the chance to work with him on Don Juan Demarco. Depp is a modest guy though, and he would probably deem it silly to call himself the next Brando. I don’t think he’s consciously trying to copycat anyone, he’s just doing his thing.
I agree he’s just doing his thang. I do not see the Brando in him though. I’m trying, I’m trying really hard to see it. Depp has panache and chesterfieldian qualities that separate him from the rest. But the next, or current Brando? No.
I loved him in Fear and Loathing, I know he and Hunter were very good pals, and I feel Depp identified with Hunter’s individualness, and verve for doing whatever the hell he pleased. I think when asked, Depp coulde be likened to HST more than anyone.
Here come random generalizations. If I were in GD I’d probably be set on fire. But here goes.
Brando and Depp don’t really project the same image. The biggest difference is that, in his best roles, Brando projected an undercurrent of danger. Depp largely projects sensitivity and vulnerability. If Depp’s characters crack, they’re likely to end up in a mental institution; if Brando’s crack, hide the women and children.
Leaving that aside, they both are A-list leads who can act. That’s fairly uncommon. Most leads play themselves, with maybe a few nuances, and leave actual acting to the character roles. This is not a bad thing, but when an actor comes along who can inhabit a character and still completely own the screen, well, that’s rare. Brando and Depp have that quality in common.
Brando has an advantage over Depp in that his best roles are stagy, often being adaptations of stage plays. As such, they tend to focus more intensely on the actor than most of today’s films. Depp doesn’t really get to stretch out the way Brando, and other 50s actors, could.
Brando didn’t completely have the field to himself, BTW. Paul Newman, in particular, was just as effective an actor as Brando. Newman in “The Hustler,” “Cool Hand Luke,” and “The Glass Menagerie” is every bit the match for Brando in “On the Waterfront” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”