Johnny's Depth. (cover story)

DEPP, Johnny, 1963-; BLOOM, Orlando, 1977-; MALKOVICH, John, 1953-; JARMUSCH, Jim, 1953-; FAMILIES; ACTORS; ENTERTAINERS; FINDING Neverland (Film); ARTISTS

The article profiles actor Johny Depp and his role in the new film 'Finding Neverland.' Less than a year after Hollywood's sweetly scruffy outsider was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the $654 million-grossing Pirates of the Caribbean, Depp, 41, is once again riding high on a wave of good fortune. There's Oscar buzz about his role as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland. And there's Depp's deep contentment with family life--a life that now includes a recently purchased private island in the Caribbean where he can watch Paradis, an actress and model, play with their two children. Depp has signed on to make two Pirates sequels--but also The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the true story of a French editor who suffered a paralytic stroke and dictated a memoir by blinking his eye. These days, he picks films based primarily on their appeal to his "kiddies." Among his buddies, says his Pirates costar Orlando Bloom, Depp is well-known for a sophomoric sense of humor. And yet for all the chaos that accompanies two working parents moving between homes and sets--Depp spent most of 2004 shooting Chocolate Factory and The Libertine with John Malkovich in the U.K.--their life is surprisingly simple. When he is on location, his family comes to him or he visits them on weekends. According to Jim Jarmusch, the "complex" and at times "moody" Depp "seems happier than he's been. INSET: Johnny's leading man.