Johnny Deppin ehkä tunnetuin hahmo on Pirates of the Caribbean -elokuvien Captain Jack Sparrow. Tällä hetkellä näyttelijä käy rumaa oikeussoppaa entistä vaimoaan Amber Heardia vastaan. Samassa yhteydessä selvisi, että alun perin Disney ja tuottaja Jerry Bruckheimer eivät pitäneet Deppin versiosta, vaan olisivat halunneet paljon perinteisemmän sankarin. Disneyn edustajat luulivat, että Deppin luoma hahmo oli homoseksuaali ja juoppo.
Syystä tai toisesta Depp lopulta sai tahtonsa läpi, ja loppu on niin sanotusti historiaa.
"It had all the hallmarks of a Disney film, that is to say, a predictable three-act structure, and the character of Captain Jack was more of a swashbuckler type that would swing in shirtless and be the hero. I had quite different ideas about the character, so I incorporated my notes into the character, and brought that character to life, much to the chagrin of Disney initially.
I got a call from the upper echelon at Disney who were courageous enough to ask me, 'What the fuck are you doing?' And again, the questions came up, 'Is it drunk? Is it gay?' All I could say was, cause they set me up with a great line, I said, 'Well don't you know all my characters are gay?' I really expected to be fired, but I wasn't for some reason. They were actually gonna put subtitles under my character, they couldn't understand Captain Jack."
Kiitokset, Slash Film