(Credits: Far Out / Harald Krichel)
Long before Angelina Jolie’s time as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, she was a young movie fan like anyone else. Indeed, as a teenager in the early 1990s, she had a profound crush on one of the movie industry’s fastest-rising heartthrobs, the same way legions of other young girls did. That heartthrob was Johnny Depp, and when Jolie eventually got to work with her former crush on a 2010 romantic thriller, she probably couldn’t help feeling some flickers of that teenage excitement again. Unfortunately, the reality reportedly turned out very differently for Jolie than she might have imagined, and she supposedly had one big issue with Depp on-set.
When Jolie signed up for the film that would unite her and the Edward Scissorhands star who first captured her imagination so many years ago, she was looking for a short project she could squeeze in before her husband Brad Pitt began filming Moneyball. Depp was also looking for something that could take up a couple of months before the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean instalment got underway.
For both stars, The Tourist, a glossy piece of escapism directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and filmed in exotic locations like Paris and Venice, very much fit the bill. Indeed, the movie was completed soup to nuts in only 11 months from the day Von Donnersmarck signed on and it premiered in New York City.
While the movie wasn’t particularly well-received by critics, it made a healthy $278.8million at the box office, and seemed like a job well done by everyone involved. In the press, Jolie and Depp spoke glowingly about each other, with Jolie telling The Japan Times, “Of course, I always wanted to work with Johnny Depp. What actress hasn’t? I’ve thought he was the coolest thing for years. I practically grew up with him and had such a crush on him in Edward Scissorhands. We really enjoyed working with each other in the film, and I hope that comes across.”
If rumours and behind-the-scenes reports were to be believed, though, the reality of shooting The Tourist might not have been as rosy as Jolie suggested. Gossip rags claimed the stars expected their chemistry to be off the charts, but wound up disliking each other so much that he hid out in his trailer between takes. While this kind of thing should usually be taken with a pinch of salt, another rumour rang true for many fans because of things that have been said in hushed whispers about Depp for many years.
According to unnamed sources, Depp’s personal hygiene may have been suspect while filming The Tourist. It’s always been known that he is a chain smoker and wine lover, and these sources claimed he often turned up to set looking and smelling like he’d just rolled out of bed after a binge. “He’ll be a total expert if he shows up for work on set, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be shiny and clean,” these sources claimed. “His hair, makeup, and costume teams are in charge of his movie looks.”
Unfortunately for Jolie, she had to shoot several romantic scenes with Depp in the movie, and the scuttlebutt was that she became so fed up with his stale breath that she offered him mints and mouthwash before cameras rolled. Neither star ever commented on the rumour, of course, and kept everything very friendly in public. But, if it was true, then Jolie probably had to chalk the experience up to another case of “never meet your heroes.”
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