10. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow
In July of 2003, most everyone in Hollywood expected Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl to be the biggest bomb of the year. A pirate movie based on a theme park ride with a leading man less known as a big star and more for quirky character roles?
Instead, the movie was a delight with critics and with audiences and it was all because of Johnny Depp. His Jack Sparrow was a creation unlike anything seen in movies with the bizarre outfit, walk, accent and more, a performance that gained instant “you have to see this” word of mouth that allowed the movie to grow into the biggest live-action hit of that year.
It earned Depp an Oscar nomination and while you can argue it gave him the idea of needing to dress in strange parts to get ahead, you cannot argue how gripping his first turn as Captain Jack was for movie-goers, which created one of the biggest summer blockbusters of recent times.
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