The star of some of the best and most unconventional American films in recent history, Johnny Depp has also been a source of media fascination since the 90s. His film roles have always been idiosyncratic, earning him international respect and adoration—fromEdward Scissorhands, Ed Wood,andDonnie Brascoto his surprising star turn as the swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow inPirates of the Caribbean,which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His good looks, oddball charm, and tempestuous love affairs have helped push him into the limelight and kept him there. Now in this biography, Nigel Goodall looks at his bad-boy image, his rise to fame, and his high-profile romances with beautiful women such as Winona Ryder, Kate Moss, and longtime love Vanessa Paradis.

“Wonderfully entertaining . . . This distinctive first novel goes down like a chocolate milkshake but boasts the sharpness and finesse of a complex wine” (Publishers Weekly). Gilbert Grape is a twenty-four-year-old grocery store clerk stuck in Endora, Iowa, where the population is 1,091 and shrinking. After the suicide of Gilbert’s father, his family never fully recovered. Once the town beauty queen, Gilbert’s mother is now morbidly obese and planted eternally in front of the TV; his younger sister has recently turned both boy-crazy and God-fearing, while his older sister sacrifices everything for her family. And then there’s Arnie, Gilbert’s younger brother with special needs. With no one else to care for Arnie, Gilbert becomes his brother’s main parent, and all four siblings must tend to the needs of their helpless, grieving mother. So Gilbert is in a rut—until a mysterious new girl named Becky arrives in this small town. As his family gathers for Arnie’s eighteenth birthday, Gilbert finds himself at a crossroads . . . This “completely original” portrait of a family (The New York Times), “charged with sardonic intelligence” (The Washington Post Book World), was the basis for a film starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, and stands as one of the most memorable novels of recent decades. “Sometimes funny, sometimes sad . . . and always engaging.” —The Atlantic “By the book’s exhilaratingly luminous ending . . . we have already been mesmerized.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “A funny, touching, caring first novel whose characters are familiar and moving in spite of (or perhaps because of) their peculiarities.” —Booklist

Presents a study of Johnny Depp's film performances, from A nightmare on Elm Street to Secret window.

Since his rise to fame in the television series 21 Jump Street in 1987 and his subsequent transition to film acting, Johnny Depp has received constant criticism for his choice of roles--at least until his popular turn in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. This book aims to reveal the ways in which Depp's choices of film roles, though often considered eccentric, allowed him to develop into the representative film actor of his time. It organizes all of Depp's films chronologically, narrating in the process his transition from underestimated teenage pretty boy to bona fide Hollywood hotshot. Along the way, the book addresses Depp's relationship to earlier film actors, especially to Marlon Brando and the silent comics; the influence of Depp's androgynous sexuality on both his choice of roles and his acting; and his relationships with directors Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton.

The star of some of the best American films in recent history, Johnny Depp is also one of Hollywood's most versatile and enigmatic actors. From Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Ed Wood, and Donnie Brasco to his Oscar-nominated performances in Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Neverland his film roles have always been unconventional, earning him international respect and adoration. In Johnny Depp: A Kind of Illusion, film journalist Denis Meikle looks at the effects that Depp's rising critical and commercial stature may have on the direction of his career, including his recent film Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

A “funny and supremely moving”novel about a seven-year-old navigating a world of turmoil by the author of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (Harper’s Bazaar). Seven-year-old Scotty Ocean decides that seven is going to be “his year.” But soon after his birthday, his artist-turned-alcoholic mother abandons the family—leaving Scotty and his two older sisters alone with their father. As his perfect year falls apart, Scotty begins to act out during school and takes a series of increasingly wild actions to try to win his mother back—and, when that doesn’t work, to replace her. Funny and deeply affecting, An Ocean in Iowa traces Scotty’s desperate attempt to hold on to his childhood while the foundation of his family disintegrates. As Scotty’s year as a seven-year-old flies by—and the dreaded eight approaches—Peter Hedges explores how Scotty sheds his childhood in a one-eighty of the year he hoped would be so perfect. Beautifully written, and with careful attention to period detail, this compelling coming-of-age novel sets the private turmoil of a disintegrating family against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the turbulent 1960s. “A delightful romp through the age of seven with an endearing character who revels in life’s smallest details.” —The Christian Science Monitor

Describes the life and career of the critically acclaimed actor, Johnny Depp.