Here's How Johnny Depp's 'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas' And 'Rango' Are Connected
During Johnny Depp’s lengthy career, he has appeared in a long list of extremely popular movies. In fact, many Depp fans adore his work so much that they love to learn as many behind the scenes details about his most famous roles.
When most actors become famous, the thing they seem to care most about is landing roles that will advance their career. When it comes to Johnny Depp, however, it has often been very clear that he has taken roles solely because they are interesting to him.
Given how unusual the choices Johnny Depp has made as a movie star have been at times, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that many of his films are pretty fascinating. Amazingly enough, however, the people that made Rango, which Depp starred in, were such big fans of his earlier movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that they connected the two films.
An Interesting Career
After first rising to prominence after starring in TV’s 21 Jump Street, Depp’s career really took off when he starred in Edward Scissorhands. Since then, Depp has alternated between starring in much more regular fare like Donnie Brasco and Black Mass and unusual films like Ed Wood and the Tim Burton movies he headlined.
Eventually, Johnny Depp found even more mass acceptance when moviegoers wholeheartedly embraced his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. Going on to star in several Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Depp arguably was the main reason why that franchise became a massive hit.
An Accomplished Film
For movie studios, one of the easiest ways to make a mint at the box office is to craft an animated film for the whole family. For that reason, each year there is a lot of full length animated movies that get released and forgotten about almost immediately. When it comes to the 2011 animated movie Rango, in a lot of ways the film has been forgotten. However, anyone that is aware of Rango will likely know that the movie was impressive in a lot of ways.
Easily among the highest-paid actors in the world at the height of his career, Johnny Depp has been paid a lot of money for his various acting roles. With that in mind, it is pretty impressive that one of his biggest paycheques was for his work in Rango. In addition to paying its star an awful lot of money, Rango should be remembered for being a really good movie.
Able to earn an impressive 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, most critics praised Rango. On top of that, Rango won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature which obviously is an impressive feat. It should be noted, that accomplishment is even more amazing when you learn that since that Oscar category was created in 2001, only 6 non-Disney/Pixar movies have won it, including Rango.
Surprisingly Dense
When it comes to Pixar movies, there is one thing that they typically do better than the other studios’ animated movies, make adults laugh. After all, Pixar movies are accessible enough to make kids laugh while also containing jokes that fly over little heads and hits the mark for adults perfectly. Fortunately for fans of Rango, this Paramount Pictures film did a remarkably good job including elements just for adults.
Even though Western movies haven’t dominated the box office in many years, the people that made Rango decided to make their movie a modern version of those films. Evidently made by big fans of the genre, Rango includes several references to western films that child viewers would never understand. After all, the movies they were referencing were released decades before those kids were born. For example, Rango contains references to movies like The Shakiest Gun in the West, A Fistful of Dollars, and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
On top of the Western movies that Rango tipped its hat to, the movie also paid tribute to one of the most bizarre and beloved movies Johnny Depp starred in. Early on in Rango, the titular lizard is thrown from his aquarium and eventually finds itself on the windshield of a convertible. For Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fans, it is instantly clear that the driver of the car is the character Depp played in that mindbending 1998 film.
Speaking about the inclusion of the reference to Depp’s earlier work, Rango director Gore Verbinski revealed it came up late in the process. “That came out of a comedy punch-up session early on,” Verbinski said. “Somebody said we should see the red Cadillac drive by. And then someone said, no, no, it shouldn’t just drive by. He should land on the window.” The Thompson caricature’s line hints at the bizarre weekend they are having. “The reaction is not, ‘What the hell is that?’ its ‘Ho, there’s another one!'” Verbinski laughs. “He’s been seeing lizards with smiley faces all day long.”
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