The actor Johnny Depp called “a walking poem”
If you were to go back to the 1990s or the start of the new millennium, you would largely not be able to move for Johnny Depp merchandise and general fan adulation. A pin-up Hollywood star and genuine acting talent, Depp collaborated with the likes of John Waters, Tim Burton, Jim Jarmusch and Terry Gilliam before he took to the studio franchise Pirates of the Caribbean in the early 2000s and became an international superstar.
But Depp wasn’t the only one in his ascendency at the tail-end of the 20th century, with the likes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie also climbing the industry ladder. Quickly seeing the potential in collaborating with these talents, Depp worked with DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Ryder in Edward Scissorhands, but working with one such rising star evaded him for many years.
It took a while to bring Depp and Jolie together, with The Tourist in 2010 marking the first (and only time to date) that the pair worked together. Undergoing several revisions and casting combinations before it eventually reached the screen with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck at the helm, the status of its two leads eventually helped propel the film to a solid $278million at the global box office before it netted a trio of Golden Globe nominations.
As two of the most popular and desirable stars in the industry, the main selling point of the romantic thriller was seeing Depp and Jolie sharing the screen. Despite audiences expecting sizzling chemistry, whispers indicated the dynamic between the pair was falling flat when the cameras were rolling, yet this was quickly dispelled by both stars who couldn’t stop promoting each others’ work ethic and acting capability.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Pirates of the Caribbean star roundly praised Jolie. “She’s everything. She’s kind of a walking poem, Angelina is,” he said, “She’s this perfect beauty but at the same time very deep, very smart, very quick, very clever, very funny, and also has a very perverse sense of humour”.
Echoing that glowing appraisal, the Academy Award winner had similarly high praise for Depp. “He’s just such a nice guy. He’s so funny and so fun to hang out with,” Jolie offered, “He’s just that friend you’re so happy to come to work and do scenes with. Plus, he’s such a brilliant actor”.
Obviously, Hollywood is the exact sort of place where somebody would smile directly to another person’s face and then bad-mouth them the second their back was turned. Still, it seems as though Depp thought Jolie was quite the Hollywood talent.