Johnny Depp recently warned that nobody is safe from cancel culture these days, and he’s speaking from experience. The three-time Academy Award nominated actor, who was earning upwards of $20 million per film just a few short years ago, has now been left on the outside looking in as his mainstream career lies in tatters.
The only project he’s got in the pipeline is animated series Puffins, an Italian/Serbian co-production that’s set to be comprised of 250 five-minute episodes tackling societal and environmental issues, where he’ll voice a bird based on himself named Johnny Puff.
As bizarre as that sounds, the former Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts star has previous for tackling the more unusual corners of the genre, having played the title character in Gore Verbinski’s 2011 hit Rango. The irreverent and surreal adventure nabbed the Best Animated Feature trophy at the Academy Awards, and took home $245 million at the box office.
Paramount’s neo-Western holds a solid Rotten Tomatoes score of 88%, and is unquestionably one of the most fascinatingly unique big budget animated features to ever come out of Hollywood. It’s also experiencing yet another resurgence on streaming, with Rango currently the fifth most-watched title on HBO Max, via FlixPatrol.