--- description: The poorly-received comedy hauled in a disastrous $4 million in its opening weekend title: 5 Directors Who Could Help Johnny Depp Recover From 'Mortdecai' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb765e4af253c5a/69877bcacd6848067c09951f/mortdecai.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 5 Directors Who Could Help Johnny Depp Recover From _Mortdecai_ by [Jeff Labrecque / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jeff Labrecque / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 25, 2015 7:13 PM CUT  'Mortdecai' 'Mortdecai'David Appleby—Lionsgate by [Jeff Labrecque / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jeff Labrecque / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 25, 2015 7:13 PM CUT The saddest part of _Mortdecai_‘s abysmal debut this weekend was how expected it seemed to be. Johnny Depp’s latest starring vehicle, in which he plays a daffy British bon-vivant jetting around the world to find a stolen masterpiece, aimed to be a kind of _Pink_ _Panther_\-esque caper, but American audiences stayed away in droves, and the critics unloaded. “In the end, we must lay the badness of _Mortdecai_ at the feet of its star,” [wrote _New York_‘s David Edelstein](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2015/01/23/ohnny-depps-mortdecai-reviews/ "undefined"). “I envy Depp’s capacity for self-amusement, but it’s a pity he’s so rich and enbubbled that no one dares say to say to him, ‘Er, Johnny… this is, er, really very bad.’” _Mortdecai_ is expected to barely crack $4 million this weekend, making it Depp’s worst wide debut since 1999’s _The Astronaut’s Wife_. But most everyone saw this debacle coming: the comedy opened in less than 2,700 theaters—indicating a startling amount of indifference from the exhibitors towards a major Hollywood superstar—and many of the nation’s leading film critics couldn’t be bothered to review it. (Those who did chime in pilloried the film with [a 12 percent rating](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortdecai/ "undefined") on Rotten Tomatoes.) Though Depp currently has a hit in theaters, with a supporting role as the Wolf in _Into the Woods_, _Mortdecai_ is his fifth consecutive stinker as the film’s star, following in the wake of _Transcendence_, _The Lone Ranger_, _Dark Shadows_, and _The Rum Diary_. His last real blockbuster was the fourth _Pirates of the Caribbean_ film, _On Stranger Tides_, cashing in again as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Recall that Depp spent the bulk of his 30s thrashing against Hollywood’s square-peg efforts to make him the billon-dollar star he looked like on the poster, and that it eventually happened only after his cockeyed portrayal of Capt. Jack is a delightfully ironic gag that pleased him to no end. But Depp used the success of the _Pirates_ franchise as an endorsement of a tic—his “aria of weirdness” that requires him to hide behind characters rather than disappear into them. Since Capt. Jack gave him _carte blanche_, there’s been _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_, _Sweeney Todd_, _Alice in Wonderland_, _Dark Shadows_, _The Lone Ranger_,_Transcendence_, _Into the Woods_, and now, _Mortdecai_. Some of these characters were pretty fabulous concoctions, but together, they mask something else: For an actor who can literally make any movie he chooses, Depp has fallen into the type of creative rut that would’ve made 1995 Johnny Depp roll his eyes. Depp is a kindred spirit with Marlon Brando, a mentor who became a close friend after they worked together on _Don Juan de Marco_. Brando set the standard for ambivalence towards his own creative profession, and Depp seems to have picked up the master’s baton. “What is really satisfying is, like Marlon, getting to that place where he just didn’t give a f-ck,” Depp recently told [_Details_](http://www.details.com/culture-trends/movies-tv/201412/johnny-depp-hollywood-mavericks "undefined") magazine. “First, I reached a point where I cared so much and was so diligent in terms of approaching the work. Then you get to where you care so f-cking much that it gets goddamn beleaguering, you know? But then a great thing happens. Suddenly you care enough to not give a f-ck, because not giving a f-ck, that’s the total liberation. Being game to try anything.” Who am I interpret what both men really mean by this, but I will posit that Brando’s best work didn’t necessarily happen when he attained that acting nirvana. For all Brando’s brilliance, it’s not difficult to recognize the films where he clearly didn’t give a f-ck. (Hint: It’s not _Waterfront_ or _Streetcar_.) An argument can be made that many of Brando’s heralded later roles, from _The Godfather_ to _Last Tango_ to _Apocalypse_, took place during his total-liberation, just-winging-it-off-the-cue-cards phase, but those films had something that Depp currently lacks: a brilliant and driven director who had a vision and refused to let Brando coast. Not to diss David Koepp, Wally Pfister, Gore Verbinski, or Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (_The Tourist_), but they’re not exactly Coppola or Bertolucci or Kazan. In September, Depp will star as Boston mobster Whitey Bulger in Scott Cooper’s _Black Mass_. It’s the first Depp role to really be excited about since Michael Mann’s _Public Enemies_, in part because Depp isn’t playing a cartoon character and also because Cooper (_Crazy Heart_) is the kind of director who might just be brave and dumb enough to tell Depp when he sucks. Depp, like Brando and other actors who can afford to own their own island, needs a director who’s at least two of the following: visionary, obsessive, tyrannical, and insane. Someone who very much gives a f-ck, and will raise holy hell when Depp doesn’t. Depp is only 51, and he can still play characters much younger. [He’s admitted contemplating retirement,](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/07/29/johnny-depp-quit-acting/ "undefined") but he’s got decades of great work ahead of him, if he chooses. But that might require a certain amount of submission to a director instead of the total liberation ideal to which he currently aspires. Currently, in addition to Cooper, he’s lined up to work with Kevin Smith, James Bobin, and music-video newcomer Matthew Cullen. Here are five other filmmakers who might be able to help Depp get back on top—at the box-office and in the hearts of film lovers. **Quentin Tarantino** This is a no-brainer, and apparently, the two men agree. “We would love to work together,” Tarantino told Charlie Rose in 2012\. “We’ve talked about it for years … I just need to write the right character that I think Johnny would be the guy to do it with. And if he agrees, then we’ll do it. And then it will be magical.” Tarantino truly understands and appreciates the power and meaning of stars, in the Old Hollywood sense. He famously crafted a role around the very essence of John Travolta in _Pulp Fiction_, and he’s worked wonders with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio as well. He has a way of locating the original allure of an actor before it was lacquered in fame—while simultaneously using that accumulated celebrity to the character and story’s advantage. **The Coen brothers** The Coens also have a soft spot for the eccentric types that Depp worships, so it’s not difficult to imagine Depp as the George Clooney character in some version of _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ or the Brad Pitt character in _Burn After Reading_. Even a film like _Lebowski_ is in Depp’s neighborhood. In fact, in an alternate universe, the Coens could’ve been Depp’s Tim Burton—though obviously with a much lighter makeup budget. I have high hopes for an eventual collaboration. **Darren Aronofsky** The director of _The Wrestler_ and _Black Swan_ has a way of pushing his actors physically and emotionally out of their comfort zones. Depp hasn’t been out of his comfort zone since… _Sweeney Todd_? And that was primarily because of the musical demands of the role. Aronofsky, if absolutely nothing else, has a singular vision for his films and he isn’t one to be easily intimidated by a star. He’s also pals with Paul Bettany, Depp’s three-time co-star, so an introduction could surely be arranged. **Gus Van Sant** Sweet and sensitive. They’re qualities that describe many of Depp’s most popular earlier roles, as well as the air he still projects today in television interviews. Van Sant’s best movies, like _Milk_ or _To Die For_, are thoughtful and precise, and it’s easy to imagine the two men hitting it off personally and artistically. Johnny Depp in a Gus Van Sant joint sounds and feels like such a more promising proposition to me than Depp trying to be something he’s not for a more adrenalized director like David Fincher or Paul Greengrass. **Alejandro G. Iñárritu** One can’t help but listen to Michael Keaton and his co-stars marvel at the experience of making _Birdman_, which was high-wire, no-net acting that required extremely long takes, and not think how Depp might be invigorated by such a process. It’s one thing to be “game to try anything,” it’s another to be so totally prepared that when that opportunity arrives, an actor knows exactly what to do with the moment. Of course, Iñárritu isn’t structuring all his movies like _Birdman_, but he’s the perfect filmmaker to help an actor fall back in love with his craft. [ _This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://popwatch.ew.com/2015/01/25/johnny-depp-mortdecai-aftermath/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3681700/johnny-depp-mortdecai-directors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3681700/johnny-depp-mortdecai-directors/"},"headline":"5 Directors Who Could Help Johnny Depp Recover From Mortdecai","datePublished":"2015-01-25T19:13:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:51:30.394Z","description":"The poorly-received comedy hauled in a disastrous $4 million in its opening weekend","url":"https://time.com/3681700/johnny-depp-mortdecai-directors/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb765e4af253c5a/69877bcacd6848067c09951f/mortdecai.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeff Labrecque / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb765e4af253c5a/69877bcacd6848067c09951f/mortdecai.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"MO_D01_00075.NEF","caption":"MO_D01_00075.NEF","creditText":"David Appleby—Lionsgate","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3681700/johnny-depp-mortdecai-directors/","name":"5 Directors Who Could Help Johnny Depp Recover From Mortdecai"}}]}] ```