My auteur project is on Johnny Depp. I chose Johnny Depp because I feel that he is a very versatile actor. He plays the characters that have a "troubled" personality. Such as Sweeney Todd in the film "Sweeney Todd", Ichobod Crane in "Sleepy Hollow" and Frederick Aberline in "From Hell".
I think that Johnny Depp is an Auteur because of the way, that he can go from one character to the next but still make that character different in a way. Lately he has portrayed the london "troubled hero" I use the word hero lightly because I don't know whether you would count the character of Sweeney Todd the hero of the film. I mean although he goes aound slitting peoples throats driven by this mad obsession to get revenge, he also see's the error of his ways and feels remorse.
In all of the films listed above the character Johnny Depp portrays all have problems.
I will be looking at some fansites, magazine articles, interviews with the man himself =) and i will be looking at the behind the scenes footage of the films that I have chosen.
Johnny Depps first film role was in "nightmare on elm street" just thought I'd add that little note hehe.
In "Sleepy Hollow" Johnny plays a timid but smart inspector. Who has a very traumatic past. He thinks that the horseman is of the flesh but, as he gets to know the people of the village, he finds that the horseman is not of this world.
In "From Hell" Johnny plays an ispector who is addicted to opium and who has visions while he is high on the drug, those visions tend to help him with solving the case.
In "Sweeney Todd" Johnny plays a demented barber hell bent on revenge.
Johnny Depps characers usually have a love interest. In "Sleepy Hollow" there is Katrina Van Tassel.
In "From Hell" he falls in love with Mary Kelly a prostitute that he has to protect from the ripper.
In "Sweeney Todd" he was married to a woman named lucy who he thought died. And then he pretends to be in love with Mrs Lovett so that she will help him dispose of the bodies.
Johnny's character Frederick Abberline in "from hell" and ichabod crane in "sleepy hollow" share a few traits. Such as they are both inspectors.
"Depp assures the public that despite what the trailers show, the characters are completely different."
a direct quote from Depp: "it's similar territory in a way, but from my point of view, the characters are so different that I think that Abberline would have despised crane"
from :http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/red_carpet_reviews/86146
In an interview I found with Johnny on youtube, he thought that the character Sweeney Todd was a hyper sensitive person. Because something dark and traumatic happened in Sweeney's life. He also see's Sweeney as the victim of the film. Depp thinks that "anyone who can be victimised like Sweeney has been and becomes a murderer can't be all bad"
In my opinion i think Depp likes to do "period" films, as "Sweeney Todd" is in Victorian Britain "Sleepy Hollow" was also set in the victorian Britain. And "From Hell" is set in Victorian Britain also.
