Johnny Depp's debuted as a director and screenwriter 1997

Donnie Brasco, a 1997 Mike Newell-directed crime drama, starred Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

In the role of Joseph D. Pistone, played by Depp, an undercover FBI agent infiltrates the New York City Mafia under the alias Donnie Brasco. Depp spent time with Pistone, whose memoirs served as the basis for the movie, to get ready.

Donnie Brasco is regarded as one of Depp's best performances and was a commercial and critical success. Depp made his screenwriting and directing debuts in 1997 with The Brave.

He starred in it as a Native American who accepts a wealthy man's offer to appear in a snuff film in exchange for cash for his family. Marlon Brando played the wealthy man in the movie.

It made its debut to largely unfavourable reviews at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Variety referred to it as a tedious and implausible neo-western, and Time Out stated that the direction "has two fatal flaws:

As the camera repeatedly focuses on Depp's bandana-covered head and rippling torso, it is both tediously slow and incredibly narcissistic.

Depp skipped the U.S. release of The Brave because of the critical reception.

Hunter S. Thompson's pseudo-biographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), which Terry Gilliam adapted into a movie, featured actor Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke, Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego.

It failed at the box office and divided critics. Later that year, Depp appeared briefly in L.A. Without a Map by Mika Kaurismäki (1998).