JOHNNY DEPP & JD CULLUM

Two "J.D's"

Johnny Depp has become a major, much beloved, highly respected star.


JD Cullum is our son, an actor,  not famous,but much admired, highly respected by other actors in California.

Depp is handsome. JD is handsome. They are almost the same age. Johnny D has achieved what actors dream of achieving. JD has been "discovered," --  on his way to stardom -- but when his big break happened, there was an actors' strike and the TV series he was going to co-star in was postponed and fizzled.

Depp has played memorable roles in many films, blockbuster films. I observe his work with my eye, developed from my being the wife, fan, and critic of the shows my husband, John Cullum, has starred in. Depp is always interesting and always gives us a person with whom we can identify, be it a leading man, hero, or villain, but ... nitpicking, why does he always hide the character, the real person with props?  Glasses, very often he's wearing glasses, donning them, removing them, polishing them, or he's smoking. I miss seeing his eyes, sensing the real Depp's feelings.      

JD is constantly performing leading roles in plays, doing guest spots on TV, and in films. Nit picking, he seems to need laughs, gets laughs, but often layers into the role he's playing, far out, even zany characteristics -- a tremor, a weird something or other. I would love to see him play a romantic lead -- play a man more simply, using no gimmicks, or oddities, and  NOT go for laughs.

Anyhow, JD is in "The Lone Ranger," the 2013 film, starring Johnny D. JD played Wendell, the accountant, and was on location throughout the shooting of this film.  Though I asked questions about Johnny D's girl friend, broken marriage and kids, JD just mm-ed. Impressed and jealous, he talked about Johnny D's huge trailer loaded with fantastic exercise equipment that enabled the star to workout daily.  (JD is also an exercise nut.)

Now, of course, Johnny D's into the next phase of his life -- another film, and maybe another wife. He's always been scrupulously careful about what he has revealed bout himself. And now, JD is back with his girlfriend, a telephone relationship with his ex wife, and job hunting.

My thoughts swirl -- I don't pray for luck, or ask God to help JD. I see what I see and know that JD is mile-a-minute into many new projects, like his  dad and I who are still in motion -- growing, trying, striving, hoping and adjusting to happenstance. That's what the Cullums believe in and go for -- life motion.  

The two JD's -- two guys on the same road, and one road has led one of them to fame, and fortune -- we are happy that JD's trip has made him into a clear-thinking, craftsman, who is zestfully traveling.