Johnny Depp Goes From Movie Villain to Real-Life Hero
Although Johnny Depp was on the set of his latest film, a crime drama called Public Enemies, his recent quick-thinking heroic action was more akin to his 1994 movie Nick of Time. The actor saved the lives of several extras while risking his own.
Johnny Depp was working on a film production under the direction of Michael Mann, when a stunt driver in a 1933 Ford sped onto an icy patch and lost control. The car was headed right toward a group of extras, who had their backs to the oncoming vehicle, unaware of the imminent accident. But Depp did see the danger and acted quickly.
An eyewitness said, “Johnny slammed into the group with arms outspread, shoving them all back.”
In Public Enemies, Johnny Depp will star as Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger. Christian Bale plays a federal agent assigned by J. Edgar Hoover to chase down Dillinger. Billy Crudup plays former FBI head Hoover. Marion Cotillard fresh off her La Vie en Rose Oscar win brings her vocal talents back to the screen as Dillinger’s torch singer girlfriend.
Dillinger was a legendary figure, considered by some to be a folk hero like fellow contemporaries Bonnie and Clyde. Others saw him a dangerous criminal and a public enemy who indirectly caused the creation of the FBI.
It’s that kind of ambiguity that Johnny Depp has been known to embody in his movie roles. He played a drug dealer in Blow and a cop in Donnie Brasco. Academy Award nominations came his way when he starred as the murderous anti-hero of Sweeney Todd, the complex creator of Peter Pan in Finding Neverland, and of course, the crafty Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.
In reality, however, the 44-year-old actor is nothing short of a real-life hero. - source
