Johnny Depp as Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film "Finding Neverland" (2004). The following year he starred as Willy Wonka in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", which reunited him with director Tim Burton, with whom he had not collaborated since "Sleepy Hollow". The film was a box office success and had a positive critical reception, with Depp being nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. "Chocolate Factory" was followed by another Burton project, stop-motion animation "Corpse Bride" (2005), in which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort. Depp reprised the role of
Ichabod Crane War of 1812 whom he had met in 1814 in Sackets Harbor, New York. According to a notation by Irving and a certification written in long hand by Martin Van Buren, the 'pattern' (Van Buren's words) for the character of Ichabod Crane was based on the original Kinderhook schoolmaster named Jesse Merwin—born in Connecticut—whom Irving became friends with in Kinderhook, New York, in 1809. The two friends continued a pen-pal correspondence for thirty years. The Columbia County Historical Society (New York) owns the original Kinderhook Schoolhouse named after the Irving character based on Jesse Merwin, the town's first schoolteacher. The