Charlie Mortdecai, the human shambles in a sharp suit, is leaping off the printed page into cinemas this week. Debonair, cultured and about as principled as a rat in the Queen’s cutlery drawer, he’s brought to life by none other than Johnny Depp. It isn’t the first time Depp has used those relatively fresh-faced looks to an advantage when portraying the morally-quagmired. The actor’s most famous ne’er do’well, Captain Jack Sparrow, is setting his dirty sails for a return in 2017. But Mortdecai is a different breed of fish to Sparrow – equally slippery, yet more in the category of “cad”; a gentleman who should know better. A man not above using all means at his disposal, from the depraved to the downright duplicitous, to attain his murky goals. Like many of the best of this species, he comes armed with a moustache, a surfeit of hair gel and an English accent. Depp as Mortdecai is not the first to sully the viewing public with his deeds and he won’t be the last. So keep your wits within reach as THN invite you to a gathering of the best of the worst screen cads from across the decades…
