“He would’ve been good”: Johnny Depp Was the Original Choice of Writers for $55M Robert De Niro Movie that was a Major Box Office Bomb

You say ‘Hollywood powerhouse,’ we hear ‘Johnny Depp.’ Johnny Depp is easily the actor with the most electrifying and diverse roles to his name.

Whether it is the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow, the terrifying Edward Scissorhands, or the lovable yet a little creepy Willy Wonka, Johnny Depp knows how to pull off any and all roles.

Johnny Depp

While the list of his characters seems to be unending, there are many roles the actor missed out on.

Among these is the role of Gil Renard in Tony Scott’s 1996 movie, The Fan. 

While the director was keen on getting Johnny Depp to portray the obsessive fan, the role eventually went to another renowned actor, Robert De Niro.

Johnny Depp Missed Out on The Fan

Phoef Sutton

In the film, Robert De Niro’s character, Gil, is a huge fan of baseball player Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes).

The obsession soon turns psychotic as he kidnaps Rayburn’s son and disguises himself as an umpire which leads to him attacking Rayburn and the other players.

If Tony Scott got his way, then the lead character of the psycho fan would have been played by Johnny Depp.

The screenwriter for the film, Phoef Sutton, appeared on the Hollywood & Levine podcast where he talked about the same. He stated,

“Tony Scott actually wanted to get Johnny Depp. And this was before Johnny Depp was as respected an actor as he was. They didn’t want to do it. He would’ve been good.”

Sutton continued that even though it was not his place to interfere in the casting of the film, he didn’t think De Niro was the best choice to play Gil.

Why? Well, Sutton believed that the Goodfellas actor had already done this kind of role several times.

“Far be it from me to object to Robert De Niro being cast but he’s played psychos before. This was supposed to be an obsessive fan and it was like God, he did it in The King of Comedy, he did it in Taxi Driver. He’s done this.”

While De Niro did justice to the character, Depp would have been an equally amazing choice.

Even though he was not as famous as he is today, we are pretty sure he would have showcased his acting skills and taken the character to the next level.

However, the film was not a major missed opportunity for Depp as it received negative reviews from critics.

The Fan has a low score of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes and it could only make $18 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $55 million.

Robert De Niro is The Opposite of His Character in Real Life

Robert De Niro in The Fan (1996)

Although De Niro played the role of Gil to perfection, making it seem as if he was actually an obsessed fan, he is quite the opposite in real life.

In an interview for The Fan, De Niro was asked whether he was a baseball fan himself, growing up. To this he replied,

“No, no, I wasn’t. I mean I liked baseball but I wasn’t a fan. Generally I’m not a sports fan. I like sports, you know, I see certain things but I don’t, you know, get into it. I’m not a fan.”

As for who his heroes were growing up, De Niro listed some exceptional actors that he looked up to.

“Well, as an actor, the actors I looked up to and liked were Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Geraldine Page, Kim Stanley. Those are the people who I respected as actors. Really great. And a few others that I can’t think of offhand…Walter Houston…”

Despite looking up to these actors, De Niro never met them or asked them for their autographs. In fact, he didn’t think he wanted to, in the first place.

Soon, De Niro himself became an incredible actor that people love and admire. Today, he’s on the giving end of the autographs.