+3
First of all, I think we know so little, and can only know superficial things, about just about all famous actors. I don't know Elizabeth Taylor, you don't know Elizabeth Taylor. She does seem not-so down to earth from my perspective, but I don't see her on a day to day basis. She has given to charities and helped the less fortunate, and she has many friends in Hollywood who consider her a dear person, so it's really unfair for us to judge her based on something like the jewelry she wears.
The husband thing is another issue, but Hollywood is notorious for quickie weddings and divorces-it's just part of the culture surrounding them. Still, it is precisely this notion that marriage is not all that important in Hollywood that would lead me to believe she's slightly out of touch with the average American. As for Johnny Depp saying she's down to earth, that's his opinion of her. Saying she is despite most people thinking she is not doesn't by default make him not down to earth. Famous actors always have something kind to say about other famous people they've met or worked closely with.
Regarding his personal life, I say let him live wherever the hell he wants to. His long-time girlfriend, whom I believe he has multiple children with, is from another country. It makes sense that a private person would choose to live with her abroad instead of here under the intense scrutiny of the American media. And his political opinions are his own; I don't think they really make him seem "up himself".
I don't have too strong an opinion on Johnny Depp as a person one way or the other, but I will say that I'm not the biggest fan of his movies. And I would say that most of our opinions on actors or musicians are derived from their body of work. I really like films in which he plays a person who seems real, or at least could be real. By this I mean someone like John Dillinger in Public Enemies, Donnie Brasco, or Gilbert Grape, or George Jung from Blow, or J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland. In my opinion, these are all more or less one-note performances, but he hits that note with exceptional ability and holds it throughout the entire film, and that's pretty impressive. I also think he has a real comedic inventiveness, which he showed in his creation of Jack Sparrow, or as Don Juan in Don Juan DeMarco, or as Ed in Ed Wood. I think it is in these performances that he shines his brightest.
But I don't like the performances for which he gets most of his attention, the 'quirky' ones like Willy Wonka, or Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Mad Hatter, the list is pretty much endless... name his collaborations with Tim Burton. His quirky performance in Edward Scissorhands was great, though.
And can't he be a cool guy and up himself? My best friend is literally the coolest person anyone has ever met. Every time we go out, that's all I hear. And he is cool; that's why we're best friends. He also just makes me look awesome for hanging around him, so he's a great wingman. But when we're at a bar or club, he is so far up his own ass that it's amazing girls find him appealing at all. In fact, I would argue that the people commonly referred to as the 'coolest' guys are the ones who are most self-involved. Hollywood is a machine in which it is almost impossible to reach Depp's level of success without having a pretty great opinion of oneself.
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"I want a film I watch to express either the joy of making cinema or the anguish of making cinema" -Francois Truffaut