NEW YORK CITY – A Filipino in New York is wowing crowds and earning praise for his clever cosplay of Hollywood actor Johnny Depp.
Forty-four year old Glenn Corral, a self-confessed “huge fan” of Depp and an avid cosplayer, fabricated for himself a costume which is a creative hodge-podge of several of Depp’s onscreen characters.
Moviepilot.com set out on a mission, which some would say was a touch “Depp”raved: to identify every element of Corrals’ costume, in relation to cinematic details from the actor’s filmography.
In Corral’s costume, Depp aficionados may recognize elements from characters played in Edward Scissorhands, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Carribean, and The Lone Ranger. Depp die-hards, on the other hand, may even pick up on the subtler character nuances from The Rum Diary (camera), Dark Shadows (pointy fingers), Ed Wood (bow tie), Dead Man (watch and/or revolver), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (glove), Blow (blonde hair), and Alice in Wonderland (socks and boots.)
At the 2014 Comicon in New York City, Corral’s costume placed 8 in a list of 17 amazing cosplay costumes, as ranked by Digitalspy.com.
Blogger Perez Hilton called Corral a “cosplay genius,” while People magazine lauded him for “taking the art of cosplay to new levels.”
The attention and acclaim has taken Corral quite by surprise, he confessed.
“Kagulat-gulat talaga. Hindi ko akalain na magugustuhan nila yung mash up ng Johnny Depp characters. Nagulat ako, saka encouraging din. Nakaka-encourage na mag-go-on (It is very surprising. I did not think that they would like the mash-up of Johnny Depp characters. I was surprised, and encouraged. This has encouraged me to go on.),” Corral said.
Corral said that it is most likely the detail that he put into his costume that is causing people to take notice of his Depp cosplay.
“Details ang importante pag-nag-co-cosplay. Kailangan titingnan mo ang maliit na bagay para maging realistic yung costume mo (Details are important when you cosplay. You have to look at every small thing so that your costume becomes realistic.),” he said.
Admittedly, the fact that he is a huge fan of Depp helps a great deal in the process of cosplaying, Corral said.
“Huge fan (ako) to the point na panonorrin ko yung pelikula niya, gagayahin ko yung boses pati acting, impersonating na para lamang maging authentic (I am a huge fan, to the point that I will watch his movies, and imitate his voice and acting, almost like impersonating just so it becomes authentic.),” he explained.
Just for kicks, Corral recently went to Times Square, all-Depped up, just to get a reaction from passersby – locals and tourists, alike – and to see if they would recognize the parts of his costume.
This Halloween, he plans on taking to the streets yet again, to join New York’s big costume parade on 6th Avenue.