WICHITA (FoxKansas.com) -- Is Johnny Depp, the A-List star of
Pirates of the Caribbean and
Ed Wood -- not to mention the 1980s TV show "21 Jump Street -- in a feud with Wichita? And if so, does Wichita know about it or even care?
The hugely successful star was talking to The Guardian, a British newspaper, about his new movie
The Rum Diary and its early box office results, which have not been stellar. During the interview, the star apparently inferred that people in Wichita and other Midwest cities wouldn't get the movie because it's an intelligent film.
"I believe that this film, regardless of what it makes in, you know, Wichita, Kansas, this week -- which is probably about $13 -- it doesn't make any difference," Depp said to the newspaper. "I believe that this film will have a shelf life. I think it will stick around and people will watch it and enjoy it."
According to
IMDb, Depp plays an American journalist named Paul Kemp who travels to Puerto Rich during the 1950s for a freelance job. While there, he struggles to find a balance between the locals and the expatriates who have moved there. The movie is based on the debut novel by acclaimed writer Hunter S. Thompson.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the flick a 51 percent rating and other reviews have been so-so.
"There was a reason "The Rum Diary" didn't find a publisher until a late-in-life Thompson resurgence, and it's clearer still in this adaptation -- there's no real drama here," movie critic Stephen Whitty wrote recently.
At least one movie owner in Wichita has agreed with the distaste for the movie and has taken issue with Depp's Wichita whippin.
"That's just sour grapes," Wichita theater owner Bill Warren told The Wichita Eagle recently. "Ninety-nine percent of people in America go to movies for entertainment, and it wasn't a very entertaining movie, period."
The ball is in Depp's court.
FoxKansas.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles contributed to this report. He can be reached at acharles@nptvgroup.com.
