Johnny Depp continues to explore a path to a comeback since his 2022 defamation suit victory against ex-wife Amber Heard. Next up: playing a gibberish-speaking puffin.
No, it’s not a return to Pirates of the Caribbean, the franchise that made him one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. Nor does another spin in Captain Jack Sparrow’s hat look to be in the cards — despite producer Jerry Bruckheimer voicing a desire to reboot the series.
Depp, 61, did headline a 2023 feature — the period drama Jeanne du Barry, in which he played Louis XV. It premiered at Cannes that year and was met with middling reviews.
Next, Depp returns to feature animation, a format that served him well in films like 2005’s Corpse Bride and 2011’s Rango. In Johnny Puff: Secret Mission, Depp plays a fedora-wearing puffin living in a town in the arctic who goes to battle with the evil Otto von Walrus.
In a featurette about the film, Depp says, “I thought it would be great to invent a language for the character. I thought the only move now is to mix my ideologue with the actual sound of a puffin.” The results? A sea parrot in a red bandana saying things like, “Rama-lama-yama.”
Johnny Puff: Secret Mission is a spinoff of the streaming series Puffins, produced by Rome-based Iervolino Entertainment, which also features Depp’s vocal talents and which premiered in 2020. The feature bows in seven theaters across the U.S. on July 12 (including L.A. but not New York) before landing on Fandango at Home, iNDEMAND, Dish Network and DirecTV on July 17.
