The next year, Depp starred in three films.

He played opposite Marlon Brando in the box-office hit Don

Juan DeMarco, as a man who believes he is Don Juan, the world's greatest lover. He starred in Jim
Jarmusch's Dead Man, a Western shot entirely in black-and-white; it was not a commercial success and
had mixed critical reviews. And in the financial and critical failure Nick of Time, Depp played an
accountant who is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.

In 1997, Depp and Al Pacino starred in the crime drama Donnie Brasco, directed by Mike Newell. Depp
played Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI agent who assumes the name Donnie Brasco to infiltrate the
Mafia in New York City. To prepare, Depp spent time with Pistone, on whose memoirs the film was
based. Donnie Brasco was a commercial and critical success, and is considered one of Depp's finest
performances.[59][60] Also in 1997, Depp debuted as a director and screenwriter with The Brave. He
starred in it as a poor Native American man who accepts a proposal from a wealthy man, played by
Marlon Brando, to appear in a snuff film in exchange for money for his family. It premiered at the 1997
Cannes Film Festival to generally negative reviews.[61] Variety called it "a turgid and unbelievable neo-
western",[62] and Time Out wrote that "besides the implausibilities, the direction has two fatal flaws: it's
both tediously slow and hugely narcissistic as the camera focuses repeatedly on Depp's bandana'd head
and rippling torso".[63] Due to the reviews, Depp did not release The Brave in the U.S.[64][65]

Depp was a fan and friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, and played his alter ego Raoul Duke in Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Terry Gilliam's film adaptation of Thompson's pseudo-biographical novel of
the same name.[a] It was a box-office failure[68] and polarized critics.[69] Later that year, Depp made a
brief cameo in Mika Kaurismäki's L.A. Without a Map (1998).

Depp appeared in three films in 1999. The first was the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife, co-starring
Charlize Theron, which was not a commercial or critical success. The second, Roman Polanski's The Ninth
Gate, starred Depp as a seller of old books who becomes entangled in a mystery. It was moderately more
successful with audiences but received mixed reviews. The third was Burton's adaptation of The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow, where Depp played Ichabod Crane opposite Christina Ricci and Christopher Walken.
For his performance, Depp took inspiration from Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall and Basil Rathbone,
saying he "always thought of Ichabod as a very delicate, fragile person who was maybe a little too in
touch with his feminine side, like a frightened little girl".[70][71] Sleepy Hollow was a commercial and
critical success.

Depp's first film release of the new millennium was British-French drama The Man Who Cried (2000),
directed by Sally Potter and starring him as a Roma horseman opposite Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett,
and John Turturro. It was not a critical success. Depp also had a supporting role in Julian Schnabel's
critically acclaimed Before Night Falls (2000). His final film of 2000 was Hallström's critically and
commercially successful Chocolat, in which he played a Roma man and the love interest of the main
character, Juliette Binoche. Depp's next roles were both based on historical persons. In Blow (2001), he
starred as cocaine smuggler George Jung, who was part of the Medellín Cartel in the 1980s. The film
underperformed at the box office[72] and received mixed reviews.[73][74] In the comic book adaptation
From Hell (2001), Depp portrayed inspector Frederick Abberline, who investigated the Jack the Ripper
murders in the 1880s London. The film also received mixed reviews[75] but was a moderate commercial
success.[76]

2003–2011: Pirates of the Caribbean and box office success

Depp in costume as Captain Jack Sparrow. He is pictured here on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2015.

In 2003, Depp starred in the Walt Disney Pictures adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of
the Black Pearl, which was a major box office success.[47] He earned widespread acclaim for his comic
performance as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, and received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA
nominations and won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Actor as well as an MTV Movie Award. Depp
has said that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me",[77] and that he modeled the character after The
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards[78] and cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew.[79] Studio executives had at
first been ambivalent about Depp's portrayal,[80] but the character became popular with audiences.[47]
In his other film release in 2003, Robert Rodriguez' action film Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Depp played
a corrupt CIA agent. A moderate box-office success,[81] it received average to good reviews, with Depp's
performance in particular receiving praise.[82][83]

Depp next starred as an author with writer's block in the thriller Secret Window (2004), based on a short
story by Stephen King. It was a moderate commercial success but received mixed reviews.[84][85]
Released around the same time, the British-Australian independent film The Libertine (2004) saw Depp
portray the seventeenth-century poet and rake, the Earl of Rochester. It had only limited release, and
received mainly negative reviews. Depp's third film of 2004, Finding Neverland, was more positively
received by the critics, and earned him his second Academy Award nomination as well as Golden Globe,
BAFTA, and SAG nominations for his performance as Scottish author J. M. Barrie. Depp also made a brief
cameo appearance in the French film Happily Ever After (2004), and founded his own film production
company, Infinitum Nihil, under Warner Bros. Pictures.[86]

Depp continued his box-office success with a starring role as Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's adaptation of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). It also had a positive critical reception,[87][88] with Depp
being nominated again for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.[78][89] Chocolate
Factory was followed by another Burton project, stop-motion animation Corpse Bride (2005), in which
Depp voiced the main character, Victor Van Dort.[90] Depp reprised the role of Jack Sparrow in the
Pirates sequels Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007), both of which were major box office
successes.[91] He also voiced the character in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of
Jack Sparrow.[92] According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp in the role of Jack Sparrow was the
main reason for many cinema-goers to see a Pirates film.[93]
In 2007, Depp collaborated with Burton for their sixth film together, this time playing murderous barber
Sweeney Todd in the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Depp cited Peter
Lorre's performance in Mad Love (1935), in which Lorre played a "creepy but sympathetic" surgeon, as
his main influence for the role.[94] Sweeney Todd was the first film in which Depp had been required to
sing. Instead of hiring a qualified vocal coach, he prepared for the role by recording demos with his old
bandmate Bruce Witkin. The film was a commercial and critical success. Entertainment Weekly's Chris
Nashawaty stated that "Depp's soaring voice makes you wonder what other tricks he's been hiding ...
Watching Depp's barber wield his razors ... it's hard not to be reminded of Edward Scissorhands
frantically shaping hedges into animal topiaries 18 years ago ... and all of the twisted beauty we would've
missed out on had [Burton and Depp] never met".[95] Depp won the Golden Globe for Best Musical or
Comedy Actor for the role, and was nominated for the third time for an Academy Award.

Depp at the Paris premiere of Public Enemies in 2009

In 2009, Depp portrayed real-life gangster John Dillinger in Michael Mann's 1930s crime film Public
Enemies.[96] It was commercially successful[97] and gained moderately positive reviews.[98][99] Roger
Ebert stated in his review that "This Johnny Depp performance is something else. For once an actor
playing a gangster does not seem to base his performance on movies he has seen. He starts cold. He
plays Dillinger as a fact".[100] Depp's second film of 2009, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,
reunited him with director Terry Gilliam. Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell each played the character
initially portrayed by their friend Heath Ledger, who had died before the film was completed. All three
actors gave their salaries to Ledger's daughter, Matilda.[101]

Depp began the 2010s with another collaboration with Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland (2010), in which
he played the Mad Hatter opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Alan Rickman. Despite
mixed reviews, it earned US$1.025 billion in the box office, thus becoming the second-highest-grossing
film of 2010[102] and one of the highest-grossing films of all time.[103] Depp's second film release of
2010 was the romantic thriller The Tourist, in which he starred opposite Angelina Jolie. It was
commercially successful, although panned by critics.[104] Regardless, he received Best Actor in a Musical
or Comedy Golden Globe nominations for both films.