As every film fan knows, Johnny Depp got his big break – not to mention first great death sequence – thanks to Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, in which Depp played Glen, belly shirt enthusiast and all around nice guy until his untimely, gooey demise. While we’ve heard tributes to Wes from several of his past collaborators in the weeks after his passing, we hadn’t heard anything from Jack Sparrow himself. Until now.
Depp was speaking after a screening of his latest drama BLACK MASS at TIFF when a fan asked about the legendary horror helmer. To his credit, Depp had a heartfelt response to a fan’s query.
Wes Craven was the guy who gave me my start, from my perspective, for almost no reason in particular. I read scenes with his daughter when I auditioned for the part. At the time, I was a musician. I wasn’t really acting. It was not anything very near to my brain or my heart, which is pretty much how it remains to this day.”
But Wes Craven was brave enough to give me the gig based on his daughter’s opinion. I guess she had read with a bunch of actors, and after the casting sessions, she said, ‘No, that’s the guy.’ I always think of her for putting me in this mess, and certainly Wes Craven for being very brave to give me this gig. But he was a good man — so rest in peace, old Wes.”
Indeed, Wes had said in the past that it was his daughter’s call to give Depp the role of Nancy Thompson’s ill-fated boyfriend in the 1984 classic. The movie world might be a different place if she hadn’t been so smitten with the unknown rocker-turned-thespian.
To echo Depp’s sentiment, RIP Wes.