Back in 1984, it was director Wes Craven who gave Johnny Depp his big start as an actor. The horror legend chose Depp to play the part of Glen Lantz in A Nightmare On Elm Street. It wasn’t exactly the lead, but it became the first in what would become a career of starring in some of the biggest movies of all time. As you might have guessed, Depp is thankful for the opportunity that Craven gave him – and now that the great filmmaker has passed away, the actor has paid tribute to him.
Depp was up at the Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend to promote his new movie, Black Mass, and it was during a Q&A session after a public screening that the actor discussed his relationship with Wes Craven. Rambling a bit, and getting laughs from the crowd, the A-lister said (according to Variety):
Wes Craven was the guy who gave me my start, from my perspective, for almost no reason in particular. I read scenes with his daughter when I auditioned for the part. At the time, I was a musician. I wasn’t really acting. It was not anything very near to my brain or my heart, which is pretty much how it remains to this day. But Wes Craven was brave enough to give me the gig based on his daughter’s opinion. … I always think of her for putting me in this mess, and certainly Wes Craven for being very brave to give me this gig. But he was a good man — so rest in peace, old Wes.
In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Johnny Depp played the boyfriend of Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy Thompson – and while it’s not exactly a spectacular part, it did come with one of the greatest death sequences that Wes Craven ever concocted. For your viewing pleasure, you can check it out below:
It was at the end of last month that it was announced that Wes Craven had passed away at the age of 76. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer, and passed away in his Los Angeles home. Having worked with the man, Johnny Depp had a very personal relationship with Craven, but the same can really be said for most movie-lovers. He will be deeply missed.
