Christopher Miller, one of the directors of the 2012 movie adaptation of 21 Jump Street, has shared a fun story about Johnny Depp’s cameo in the film. In the original television series of the same name, which inspired Miller’s movie, Depp starred as police officer Tom Hanson for the show’s first four seasons. Though the film rebooted the story with new characters in the leads, played by Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, Miller found a way to get some of the original stars to return.
In one scene, Depp appears alongside his original 21 Jump Street co-star Peter DeLuise. The two reprise their roles as Tom Hanson and Doug Penhall, though they first enter the scene in disguise as they’re working undercover. Depp looks particularly hard to recognize with a long hair and beard coupled with a bandana and sunglasses. As Miller shares in a new post on Twitter, Depp was so unrecognizable once he was in this undercover getup that even Brie Larson, one of the film’s stars, had no idea that it was even him, presuming the bearded individual who just walked on the set must have been an extra.
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“Our 1st week was the climactic shootout with Johnny Depp,” Miller says, revealing how the actor took also took advantage of his new look to do some local sightseeing. “Unrecognizable in his biker costume (Brie Larson thought he was an extra) he realized an opportunity & disappeared for 3 hrs over meal break & returned saying he’d never been to Bourbon St in NOLA so he walked it incognito.”
21 Jump Street Nearly Crossed Over With Men in Black
Because 21 Jump Street was a hit, it was followed with a sequel with 22 Jump Street dropping in 2014. There have also been plans for a female-led spinoff to be made, and there have also been rumblings of a crossover with Men in Black. Those ideas have yet to materialize.
“It’s true that there have been a lot of these things developed. There was, believe it or not, a Men in Black/Jump Street crossover script that was very funny and very crazy that we really adored,” co-director Phil Lord explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Particularly impressed with the Men in Black pitch, Miller added, “One of my favorite ideas was the Men in Black, the Black Suits were like martial arts belts that you had to work your way up to black and [the Jump Street guys] were issued powered blue Men in Black suits.”
Maybe the Men in Black crossover wasn’t meant to be, but have we seen the end of this franchise? Perhaps we have not, if you were to ask Tatum. Back in February, Channing Tatum sparked some new life into the hopes of seeing another film. The actor suggested he would want to get Brad Pitt involved in 23 Jump Street, if it ever happens. Despite Tatum’s enthusiasm, however, an official sequel is not currently in production.
