5) Pirates of the Caribbean
While his career had been progressing steadily since the 1980s, Depp finally skyrocketed to cinematic superstardom in 2003 thanks to the Disney-theme-park-ride-turned-Bruckheimer-blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. The subsequent Pirates movies were monstrous in their box office takings but it’s worth remembering that Captain Jack Sparrow was a pretty novel character, in large part to his physicality and bizarre antics augmented by Johnny Depp’s work.
It speaks to the way Depp (or many actors) can seemingly take a tidbit of inspiration and turn it into sheer brilliance. Matthew McConaughey has said that his performance in Magic Mike was informed by director Steven Soderbergh telling him his character believed in alien life. Similarly, Depp’s decision to base his depiction of Jack Sparrow on rock legend Keith Richards seems like a simple touch that drew out all these little physical tics of the character that helped make him so memorable and endlessly fun to watch. The film was one of those surprising and resounding successes thanks to Depp stealing the show.