Johnny Depp's first starring role, "Cry-Baby," depicts the other side of preconceptions and stereotypes.

Johnny Depp wanted to break away from the idol route

Waters has the power to take advantage of people's stereotypes and preconceptions. As mentioned above, his characteristics, which we had automatically labeled as ``bad taste, vulgarity, and perversion,'' were completely betrayed when we suddenly realized that he had so effortlessly burst onto the major scene.

The same can be said about the casting of Johnny Depp in the lead role. At that time, Jonidae was very afraid of continuing to pursue the idol role of the TV series ``21 Jump Street''. At that point, he read the script for this film and thought, ``What an exciting piece of work. It's perfect!'' (from the video included in the ``Cry-Baby'' DVD).

In the end, this turned out to be a great fit. Under Waters' direction, Depp played the role of a young man with a provocative appearance and, in fact, a sensitive and polite side, with a comical and dignified presence that belied the fact that it was his first leading role in a movie.

"Cry-Baby" (C) 1989 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Tim Burton, who cast him in `` Edward Scissorhands ,'' which was released in the same year, said that he was fascinated by his eyes after seeing his profile photo, saying, ``His eyes were more expressive than words, making him look like an actor in a silent movie.'' ” (from the ``Edward Scissorhands'' DVD audio commentary). It is also somewhat interesting that these two works exquisitely overlap in their theme of ``looking at the essence, not the appearance.''

In any case, Johnny Depp wouldn't exist today if he hadn't met the mavericks of the movie world named Waters and Burton at the end of the 1980s. In particular, Waters, who was the first to find the diamond in the rough, should be proud of his accomplishments, but he says, ``Thanks to Johnny, ``Cry-Baby'' is still on TV. I was really lucky to have worked with him at our starting point.'' (From the DVD audio commentary for ``Cry-Baby'') This may be one of the reasons why this cult king is loved.

We were able to achieve this because we were a group of huggers.