I can get high on Johnny Depp. The man’s the most potent narcotic and so addictive. It’s therefore immensely saddening and infuriating, to say the very least, that an actor of his calibre has to be content with the phrase “an academy award nominee” as opposed to “an academy award winner” in his introduction. His versatility is astounding and the perfection of accents, impeccable. I had once read an article in which the columnist jokingly said that Depp has made a career out of executing British accents to perfection. I concur! That article is safely tucked away in my wallet for it is THE most accurate account of the versatility of Johnny Depp, even if only taking into account his various British accents.
To come back to the Oscars, the year was 2003 and Johnny Depp received his first nomination for best actor. Can you believe that!!! (Most people I know look at me with disbelief when I say this, trust me.) So when the world and I were head-over-heels in love with the adorable Captain Jack Sparrow, I was SURE, absolutely certain, that the man would win. So puffy eyed, I got up in the wee hours of morning to hoot, cheer for, applaud my beloved pirate and wipe the lone tear glistening at the corner of my eye when he would make the speech. But then I hadn’t seen Mystic River and my friend, a Sean Penn fan, yelled at me about how Sean Penn NEVER won at the Oscars despite being such a great actor and how he condemned them (yeah yeah he was Aamir’s inspiration I am sure), da da da, da da da. I tried to see reason.
The next year came Finding Neverland, and who in the name of holy hell would have believed it was the same guy who played Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands! Anyway, nomination again and stiff competition again. Jamie Foxx brought my dream (of sobbing proudly) crashing down to win the best actor award for the portrayal of Ray Charles.
So my dream of Jack Sparrow winning the academy award is going to go unfulfilled for Johnny dear hasn’t received a nomination this year for his role as the rascal buccaneer in the concluding part of the trilogy. 
But, here’s some saving grace: He has received a nomination for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Now, I havent seen the movie considering it hasnt been released here; I did see the trailers and they freaked me out. The man has done another swell job, that much was apparent. So this time we’re up against Daniel Day-Lewis, whom I fear the most in terms of coming between Johnny, my dream, and the statuette.
Here’s the list:
So on February 24th, I will be up at the crack of dawn with my mug of coffee, not to shake off the sleepiness but to raise a toast to celebrate this actor called Johnny Depp.
