Johnny Depp: Man of many styles

By Elizabeth Snead,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

There's a lot of great larger-than-life actors playing superheroes in theaters this summer: Christian Bale's Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr.'s Ironman, Edward Norton's Incredible Hulk, even Heath Ledger's not-so-serious psychotic villain, the Joker.

But we still miss Johnny Depp as good old Capt. Jack Sparrow, that swaggering, swashbuckling pirate who's been a summer movie regular for the last few years (2003, 2006, 2007) in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.

This summer? Zilch. Nada. Zip. No Depp.

Sure, sure, Johnny's starring as John Dillinger in "Public Enemies" and that may be out in July 2009. And word is that he may play the Mad Hatter in yet another Tim Burton adaptation of a classic tale, "Alice in Wonderland," due out in 2010.

Can we make it until next July -- not to mention through the long, dry summer -- without our annual Depp Fix?

I think not.

So let's take a look back at the loves ( Winona Ryder, Ellen Barkin [?], Kate Moss, Vanessa Paradis), the lads ( Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson) and the looks (Edwardian, Victorian, rock star, pirate, French gangster, homeless dude) of the eternally quirky Johnny Depp.