Screenshot by South Beach HoosierComing out of a commercial break with the Arizona Cardinals leading the Dolphins 14-0 with 28 seconds left in the first quarter, CBS-TV cameras caught former South Florida resident (Miramar) and film star Johnny Depp taking in the game at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Ironically, I was taping the ballgame on a videotape that I'd used earlier this morning when I popped it into the VCR before going to sleep so I could catch some films on the Starz free weekend promotion. The last film on the tape was the last Pirates of the Carribean film starring... exactly.
With this loss the Dolphins have now lost their last 11 road games, going back to the Thanksgiving game at Detroit in 2006.
Conversely, the New York Giants have now won their last 11 games on the road, since the Dolphins home game last year against the Giants was in London.
You may recall that we all learned from multiple sources last year that agreeing to move the home game to London and deprive Dolphin fans of a rare Giants home game, was the high price that Dolphin owner Wayne Huizenga happily paid in order to get the NFL to award him another Super Bowl -before he sells the majority share of the team in 2010.
(There are plenty of rumors percolating in South Florida -and around NFL media circles- that the sale will actually happen sooner rather than later, now that Huizenga sees that the team is, yes, years, from being playoff caliber material.)
I've long been of the school of thought that argued that Huizenga should've sold the team years ago, the same way that he should've never listened to Jimmy Johnson and talked him out of resigning, and then agreed to that Faustian bargain of accepting Dave Wannstedt as Dolphins head coach-in-waiting, to help JJ with the coaching load.
You made your deals with the Devil -now he's collecting!
With interest!
Below the first mentions of Johnny Depp and Hallandale in local newspapers:
excerpt
Miami Herald
By Joan McIver, Herald Staff Writer
March 14, 1985
OH HORRORS:
When former Miramar resident Johnny Depp , 21, moved to California, he acted as though his life had turned into a nightmare. Depp, the son of Betty Sue Palmer and Hallandale public utilities director John Depp, became a movie star. He co-stars with Heather Langenkamp in "Nightmare on Elm Street," his first movie. Depp was back in town last week for a short visit with his parents.
"I play the part of Heather's boyfriend," he said." is not a complete work of art, but it's right." Since filming the horror flick, Depp has completed another movie, "Private Resort," also by director Wes Craven. Not bad for someone with no previous acting experience.
Depp moved to California in 1983 with a local band called The Kids, but found the going rough for musicians. "I was hanging out in Melrose, just looking for a job," Depp said. "I had a friend who was an actor. He took me to see his agent, and they signed me up for 'Elm Street.' Acting is real addicting."
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
ACTOR JOHNNY DEPP FINDS SUBSTANCE IN FILM 'PLATOON'
By Debbie Blaylock, Staff Writer
February 4, 1987
In the spring of 1985 after filming Nightmare on Elm Street and Private Resort, actor Johnny Depp said he was ''ready for something with more substance than chasing girls and running down hallways.''
Today, the Miramar High School graduate is being watched by millions of movie-goers in the highly acclaimed movie Platoon.
Some critics describe Platoon as the first realistic depiction of the Vietnam War. Director and writer Oliver Stone drops Depp and the rest of the dirty, sweat-soaked platoon into a jungle heavy with the stench of death.
To describe it in one word: intense.
''For the first week or so, he didn't know if he would make it,'' said John Depp of Hallandale , Johnny's father. ''For two weeks before they started filming, they made Johnny and the others live in the jungle.
''It was 115 degrees by eight in the morning. It was just mud and swarms of ants. They slept in two-man foxholes and didn't get much sleep, and they ate out of cans.''
Johnny is currently filming a series for TV in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was unavailable for comment.
In 1983, Depp, the lead guitarist in The Kids rock band, left south Broward for Hollywood, Calif., looking for a record deal.
How Depp broke into acting sounds like a movie script itself. A woman who worked at a recording studio saw The Kids perform at some no-name bar. She convinced Depp to audition for a role in the television series Fame.
Depp was one of the final four auditioners before the producer showed him the door. He decided to pursue music instead of fame on the silver screen.
However, playing at out-of-the-way bars for $25 a night didn't pay the bills, so Depp sold T-shirts and worked at telephone solicitation.
Meanwhile, a friend, actor Nicolas Cage, introduced Depp to his agent and persuaded the musician to give acting another chance.
That's when Depp auditioned and earned a role in writer and director Wes Craven's thriller Nightmare on Elm Street.
Since then, Depp has worked on a now-defunct television series, Lady Blue, and starred in a Showtime-produced show and other programs. He will be seen tonight in Hotel at 10 on ABC.
