Johnny Depp’s career is defined by his greatest roles including Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, his presence in a number of Tim Burton movies, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and more. But another unforgettable performance was his first one playing Nancy’s doomed boyfriend in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. During filming, however, his co-star Heather Langenkamp described her on-screen boyfriend as “tortured.”
Depp’s part as Nancy’s boyfriend in A Nightmare on Elm Street may not have been the lead but was still a very important role in launching the now A-list actor’s career. His top-rated gruesome death in the movie is definitely not one we can forget getting devoured by his bed followed by a fountain of blood spewing out. While his character Glen went through a lot of torture in the movie, Nancy actress Heather Langenkamp said during an episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum that the 21 Jump Street actor looked just as “tortured” playing him.
I could not tell if he liked acting or not because he seemed kinda tortured by it, the pressure of… I know that he really worked hard to be Glen. He worked very hard on this part. So I couldn’t tell if he was enjoying himself frankly because he was always so dedicated and serious. We all joked around and cracked smiles and stuff.
Since this was Johnny Depp’s first movie, it was possible based on Langenkamp’s claims that he could have really wanted to make sure he’d leave a good impression. According to BBC, Depp first became interested in acting after reading a biography on James Dean and seeing his memorable film Rebel Without a Cause. The Sweeney Todd star actually owes his career to Wes Craven’s daughter and best friend after asking them to pick between headshots of who should play Glen for his movie. You can guess which photo they found to be “beautiful.” So, it’s possible Depp really wanted to be taken seriously as an actor for his first film.
One cool fact about Johnny Depp was that he was trying to make it as a musician during the time of the Wes Craven horror flick. Nicolas Cage was actually the struggling musician’s connection towards an audition with one of the Masters of Horror. But according to Langenkamp, she figured Depp was going to stick with music compared to going forward with his acting career.
He was a musician, he was a guitar player in a band, I thought, ‘Oh, he’s just going to go back to that.’ … I thought, ‘He’ll give this up, this won’t keep him satisfied or fulfilled.’ If you’re a great musician, you’re not going to turn it all in for acting.
As we all know, Johnny Depp ended up having a very successful acting career following his brief role in the horror franchise. He spent a few years in short films and TV shows before getting cast in Oliver Stone’s Platoon. Then, his collaboration with Tim Burton landed him a lot of prominent roles like Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, and Ed Wood. Plus, Depp’s music career hasn’t escaped him as he’s still making young fans days performing concerts with his band Hollywood Vampires.
It’s hard to believe that the world’s biggest film star felt “tortured” during the filming of his first movie. But, look at him now. A Nightmare on Elm Street was the first out of many that proved Johnny Depp was a star on the rise. You can watch his acting debut film in one of the best horror movies of all time right now on your Max subscription.