Okay, I have to see Pirates of the Caribbean now!
[Johnny Depp’s character Jack Sparrow] wears a red bandana and black eye makeup. His hair is beaded and he has three braids dangling from his chin. And his teeth are gold. Depp loved the idea of giving this 18th-century buccaneer a Rastafarian look. But he says the main inspiration for this character was Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards with a bit of everybody’s favourite cartoon skunk, Pepe Le Pew, thrown in for good measure.
“I was trying to figure the pirates of the 18th century and what it was all about. Initially you think money and all that. But I think it also had much more to do with freedom and to be out there moving forward. I sort of thought that pirates would be the rock ‘n’ roll stars of the 18th century. The greatest rock ‘n’ roll star of all time, the coolest rock ‘n’ roll star of all time, is Keith Richards — hands down. And Keith is very — I mean, you spend time with him and he’s very much a pirate.”
But when it came to conveying Jack Sparrow’s romantic nature, Depp immediately thought of Pepe Le Pew.
\”What I love about Pepe Le Pew is that this guy is absolutely convinced that he’s a great lady’s man. And he’s a skunk! You’re watching those cartoons and this guy falls deeply in love with this cat, and the cat clearly despises him.
“But Pepe Le Pew takes it that she’s playing hard to get — that she’s shy, poor thing. I loved that character’s blindness — no matter what the actual reality is, this guy sees only what he wants to see.”
Depp considers Pepe Le Pew the sort of character who was able “to run between the raindrops.” And that, he says, is how he envisaged Jack Sparrow.
(from Pirate’s Gold, via Anita)
I read this on another blog as well. You really should see the movie. Now that I think about it (post-movie), it’s actually quite true. I’m still trying to pinpoint his character as someone I’ve seen before but can’t seem to do it.
And now that he’s moving to paris… Well, how much more french can you get? Pepe + Paris…