Depp’s Darker Roles—Where Do They Show in his Chart?

 (c)7-1-2009 by Donna Cunningham

Everybody knows what today is.  It’s Johnny Depp Day, and hordes of fans around the world will be turning out to see him play John Dillinger in Public Enemies. 

I’ll be among them.  I’m such a die-hard fan that I chose his chart as the example my email course students use in a series of lessons that follows a single chart through the various stages of chart interpretation, including natal and transiting aspects.

You can see his chart below.  His AstroDataBank record gives the following information: John Christopher Depp, II, born 6/09/1963; Owensboro, KY;  37 N 46; 87 W 07; 8:44 AM CST;  rated AA,  BC/BR in hand.   (AstroDataBank  also has a record and chart on Dillinger, John.) 

Perhaps the pivotal part of the chart, and certainly the key factor in his charismatic sexy/dangerous image is the conjunction of Mars, Pluto, and Uranus in Virgo that straddles the 1^st/2^nd house cusp.  If that sounds like an explosive, even violent combination, I’d agree, but he seems to live it out primarily through the roles he plays. 

His teens and early 20s were marked by self-destructive periods, but in his 40s, marriage, fatherhood, and success seem to have mellowed his personal life. His films and the characters he plays in them, however, are almost universally dark and  violent. I worry about myself sometimes because I enjoy them so much—me and millions of others.   I worry about all of us!

 Other than the Pirates of the Caribbean trio, my all-time favorite is Once upon a Time in Mexico. Okay, it was one gratuitous mass slaughter after another, but, come on!  Johnny Depp AND Antonio Banderas?

His last film before Dillinger, Sweeny Todd, was such a bloodletting that I almost walked out, but I couldn’t because  I was with a good friend who’d treated me to the movie as part of a birthday celebration. I covered my eyes during the ghoulish killings but it was the singing that really set my teeth on edge! Afterwards, my pal admitted that she wanted to walk out too, but stayed for my sake.

Qualities of Mars-Uranus and Mars-Pluto Aspects

Mars-Uranus aspects can be explosive. During the transiting Mars-Uranus conjunction earlier this year, I wrote a detailed piece about this aspect at: “Piracy on the High Seas and the Pirates among Us.”  Hopefully Dillinger will be lighter than recent films, but I’m not fooling myself that Depp’s only acting, because the man definitely knows his way around a gun.  Rachel Abramowitz writes in the Los Angeles Times on June 30, 2009:

Actor Johnny Depp has fond memories of his first machine gun. He was a kid growing up in Owensboro, Ky., and around age 5 or 6, began shooting .22s, then moved to .38s, .44s and .45s. Then he got his hands on a relative’s Thompson submachine gun.  “I butted it up against the tree ’cause it tends to ride up on you,” says Depp, 46, who relives the moment, complete with shooting sounds. “My pop came in and grabbed it, so it didn’t go anywhere.”

When you add Pluto to the picture, you amp up the power even more. Delving into the lives of individuals with Mars-Pluto aspects, we find that some of them emphasize Mars’ characteristics more—and seem to do better—while others come down heavily on the side of Pluto.

With Mars emphasized, these can be dynamic, courageous, and even downright sexy folks who live life with a good deal of spunk and zest and who make an intense impact on their world. They can be strong leaders, often on a crusade.

The better qualities of Pluto come into it as well, for despite opposition and obstacles that would crush a lesser soul, they stay focused on very demanding goals, which often involve righting the wrongs around them.

Magicians of a sort, once their intention is set, they seem to have a magnetic power to attract the people, situations, and information they need in order to achieve their aims.

Others with this combination turn Mars’ energies in on themselves and get hung up in negative expressions of Pluto. Fueled by painful histories, they can be bitter, brooding, shame-ridden naysayers who poison their lives—and the lives of those close to them—with perpetual grievances and resentments that they can hold onto for decades. Distrustful of people, of God, and of life itself, these alienated souls may isolate to armor themselves against further betrayals. When isolation becomes too agonizing, they may latch tightly onto a highly significant other and build walls to enclose the two of them. Some pursue destructive actions for revenge or to defend what they view as rightfully theirs.  (Read more about using this aspect well here: Mars-Pluto Aspects? Use your Manifestation Mojo.)

 CURRENT TRANSITS TO THE MARS-PLUTO-URANUS CONJUNCTION: Depp won an Oscar nomination in 2003 for his role as Jack Sparrow in ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl,’ and again in 2004 for his part in ‘Finding Neverland.’ Based on his transits, is there an Oscar in his future?  Let me know what you think in the comments section.  All I‘ll venture to predict at this time is that with transiting Pluto in Capricorn trining one planet after another of  the Virgo conjunction over the next several years,  he’ll reach a whole new echelon of success and wealth through powerful new roles.

Is Depp’s Darkest Role Still to Come?

In light of current headlines, I was fascinated by an interview from 2008 I encountered on the internet today.  At TopNews.in, Nina Sahu wrote,

“Johnny Depp has revealed that he would love to play troubled pop star Michael Jackson in a movie about his life. The 44-year-old actor was believed to have based his character Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the former king of pop. Though Depp maintained that any similarities to Jackson in his portrayal are purely coincidental, he would love to take on the role of the Thriller hit maker.”  (http://www.topnews.in/light/johnny-depp-wants-play-michael-jackson-big-screen-25152  1/18/2008)  

  Will his wish come true now in the wake of Jackson’s death?  If the film companies won’t take the chance, Johnny has the millions, the clout, and the brass cajones to do it. With his Capricorn Moon, Depp tends to hold on to promising film concepts for years and finally to make them happen.  He owns and is a hands-on player in a very active production company called Infinitum Nihil (from the Latin: Unlimited Nothing).  He’s seasoned enough in the business to produce, direct, and star in a non-sanitized version of the Suddenly Saintly MJ’s sorry life.  Johnny would be my hero forever if he did just that. The media whitewash of the Shadow Side of Jackson’s sexuality is turning my stomach.

 I’ll bet there’d be an Oscar—or several—in it if Depp created a film like that. The contacts between their charts are as electric as a dead-center lighting bolt.  Jackson was born August 29, 1958 at 7:30 AM CDT in Gary, IN, 41N35; 87W20.   I won’t present the whole chart comparison, just one remarkable quadrant from the 9^th to the 12^th houses.  The planets in the inner wheel below are Jackson’s; the planets in the outer one are Depp’s. The house cusps are Jackson’s.

 

Depp’s Ascendant is conjunct MJ’s Venus-Uranus conjunction, and so he could easily embody Jackson’s appearance and style of self-presentation in an uncanny and compelling way. He has the musical background to carry it off–in his teens, Depp belonged to a band and yearned to be a rock star. Johnny has described his first love as music and claims he is a musician first and foremost.

Depp’s Mars-Pluto-Uranus conjunction is conjunct MJ’s Sun-Pluto conjunction in the 12^th. Among other things, the 12^th is the house of secrets and self-undoing, and so nothing would be held back. MJ’s Mars in Taurus in the 9^th is conjunct Depp’s Mercury and Venus. The 9^th is the house of legal battles.

With both the 9^th and the 12^th highlighted in the chart comparison, could Depp’s career be ruined for doing such a controversial story? Most likely not—he’s taken outrageous risks throughout his career and not only gotten away with them, we’ve loved him for it. Who knows if such a film or perhaps a documentary will ever be made?  It’s intriguing to imagine, however.

More Posts about Pluto on this Blog: 

• Things You May Not Know about Pluto
• Mars-Pluto Aspects? Use your Manifestation Mojo!
• Pluto in the Career Houses–The Power to Manifest or Fail for Spite
• Vocational Angst for the Pluto-Uranus in Virgo Generation
• The Steamy Side of Venus-Pluto Aspects—A Photo Gallery
• High Maintenance–a Venus-Pluto Vignette
• Planet or Not—Pluto IS Something!   
• Pluto in Capricorn: A Laugh and a Half, by John Marchesella
• Pluto and the transiting Antiscia–not Over ’til It’s Over