If you frequent the films of the enigmatic and fantastical director in Tim Burton and first debuted on film as the inaugural victim of slasher icon Freddy Kreuger, it actually isn’t so surprising if your career winds up looking like Johnny Depp’s does.  

A constant enactor of weird characters amid weird conflicts, Johnny Depp’s roles are known to both raise expectations and eyebrows.  With a cavalcade of hits and misses, the eccentric nature of his characters is pretty darned consistent.  It seems that for every Gilbert Grape, there’s five Mordecai’s.  For every movie that comes out starring Depp like Public Enemies, there’s a Dark Shadows right around the corner to balance it out again.

 Let’s count the bodies below.

Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd

Yes, Depp’s turn as the coveted role of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton’s film adaptation of the smash hit macabre musical earned him an Academy Award nomination.  However, that does not mean that it was a self serious and grounded character like the Academy often is fond of.  Rather, Depp’s Sweeney was a nostril flaring, smokey voiced barber with hellbent on cosmetic based revenge.

Willy Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Another Tim Burton effort, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory offered a more book-loyal adaptation of Roald Dahl than the Gene Wilder vehicle from decade’s past.  Wonka, played by Johnny Depp, was a more out-right creep than the hot-head Wilder and kind of was reminiscent of Michael Jackson at the peak of his “Wacko Jacko” phase (when this film came out).  

Ed Wood, Ed Wood

The third straight Burton installment on this list comes in the form of Ed Wood.  The best part about the oddity nature of this character, of course, comes from the fact that he actually existed.  In one of Depp’s and Burton’s most critically acclaimed collaborations, Ed Wood and all his eccentricities are done justice by Johnny Depp the actor.

Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S. Thompson was already such a drug-endorsing wild man in real life, imagine that possibilities of weird when you’re playing a fictionalized version of him on the big screen!  Johnny Depp did, and in addition to a friendship between Depp and Thompson, the result was this crazy performance of a man on fire.  On a multitude of substances within the script, and a real life brotherhood between Depp and Thompson as a reference, this performance is particularly jolting because the events in the film are based on real life recollections.

 

Edward in Edward Scissorhands

A weird film with a weird performance that started it all, Edward Scissorhands is the weirdest role Depp has ever played.  With a strange history, a strange look, and barely any defense of his own, Edward’s sweetness is in his silence – but that’s where his weirdness is too.  It was the success of Edward’s out-there fashion among audiences that seemed to spur the type-casting of Depp that this article focuses on.  The movie and performance is so beautiful, it seems like very much a gift and a curse in hindsight. It was the success of Edward’s out-there fashion among audiences that seemed to spur the type-casting of Depp that this article focuses on.  The movie and performance is so beautiful, it seems like very much a gift and a curse in hindsight.