From This Blog Sits at the is this great post about Disney’s approach to risk taking, and Johnny Depps response.

[T]he eccentricity of Depp’s approach sent ripples of panic through Disney’s executive suites. Frantic phone calls were placed to Verbinski, Bruckheimer, and Depp’s agent: Why is he walking funny? Why is he talking like that? Is he gay? Is he drunk?

And it wasn’t only the suits who were concerned: ”The first scene I did with Johnny, I was like, What the fuck are you doing?” Knightley says. ”None of us knew if it was going to work.”

Depp was not to be deterred. ”It was just fuel to go further,” he says. ”Not because I wanted to piss Disney off, but because I believed it was the right thing to do. Finally, I said, ‘Look, you hired me to do the gig. If you can’t trust me, you can fire me. But I can’t change it.’ It was a hard thing to say, but fuck it.” (Rottenburg)

Sticking to the safe ground only produces more blandness.

It’s the edgy, different and risky stuff which makes life interesting.