The Underseen & Undercelebrated Roles Of Johnny Depp’s Career

“The Ninth Gate” (1999)
Johnny Depp, venerable director Roman Polanski and a mid-sized studio with a moderate budget ($38 million), that included European funds—this is no Hollywood project. And yet, it might as well be. While slightly more remarkable than the other films on this list, it’s not by much. In this mystery thriller (Depp’s kryptonite genre), Depp plays Dean Corso, an unscrupulous rare book dealer motivated by pure financial gain who is hired by a wealthy book collector (Frank Langella) to track down and authenticate all three copies of an ancient book that purportedly contains the secret to summoning the Devil. While seeking out the last two copies of this text, Corso gets drawn into a conspiracy that possesses supernatural overtones. Co-starring Polanski’s wife Emmanuelle Seigner (naturally) as a mysterious woman who comes to Corso’s aide, and Lena Olin, James Russo and American horror actor Jack Taylor, “The Ninth Gate” obviously comes shrouded in layers of the occult, but the backbone of the story is definitely in the noir-esque tradition of the patsy detective hired to do the dirty work for an immoral, shady and mysterious employer. And this is what gives “The Ninth Gate” its most interesting, if very familiar, notes. Aesthetically, it also has an appealing atmosphere as well thanks to cinematographer Darius Khondji and Polish composer Wojciech Kilar (“The Pianist” and “We Own The Night“). Ultimately, however, you can only knock out your protagonist so many times before the audience gets annoyed at this contrived manipulation and “The Ninth Gate” travels down a pretty predictable path before it gets to its melodramatic, flame-soaked conclusion. While Depp has slightly more to do—his character is a disheveled, ne’er-do-well who doesn’t really give a damn for anyone but himself—it’s not the most exciting character or performance of his career either. Ironically, it was Depp who evidently reined himself in. “He [Depp] decided to play it rather flat which wasn’t how I envisioned it,” Polanski told an interview candidly about his disappointment in the performance. “And I didn’t tell him it wasn’t how I saw it.” Depp hinted at the friction by saying, “It’s the director’s job to push, to provoke things out of an actor” (though it should be noted that Polanski has nothing but praise for the “brilliant” actor in this interview). “The Ninth Gate” received sub-par reviews and only grossed $18 million domestically off a $38 million dollar budget. It’s often cited on the web of being a bad movie by a good director (we’ve got 20 such examples of that here), but clearly those writers have never seen Polanski’s “Pirates” (or “What?” for that matter) which makes “The Ninth Gate” look like a masterwork in comparison. [B-]

“The Man Who Cried” (2000)
The conventional wisdom says that Johnny Depp could not open a movie to great success until he became a worldwide megastar in the wake of 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” While that may be true, studios still loved the guy’s beautiful face and tried to put him front and center at all costs. See Sally Potter’s emigree drama “The Man Who Cried,” which however, is not a Johnny Depp film in the least. Starring Christina Ricci, Potter’s film centers on a displaced young Jewish girl (Ricci) who grows up in England after being separated from her father in Soviet Russia. As a young adult, she moves to Paris shortly  before the beginning of World War II to try and fulfill her lifelong dream of being a singer. And yet the poster for “The Man Who Cried” has Depp’s face front and center next to Ricci even though his role as a gypsy that she falls in love with is even smaller than the supporting roles of Cate Blanchett and John Turturro (Harry Dean Stanton might even have more lines than Depp’s largely taciturn character). Cesar the Gypsy is the rare character for Depp these days: the bit part. Apart from bedding Ricci, being quiet and being fond of horses, Depp’s definitely not an integral part of this movie, but we include it for your edification since it only made $747,000 in the U.S. for Universal/Focus and you’ve likely not seen it (unless you run a fansite for Depp, Ricci or Potter). It’s a decent, deliberately paced drama (read: a little bit slow), but it’s Potter so it’s at least marginally engaging, if not her best work. [C+]