Sleepy Hollow (film) Sleepy Hollow (film) Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 American gothic supernatural horror film directed by Tim Burton. It is a film adaptation loosely based on Washington Irving's 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, with Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, and Jeffrey Jones in supporting roles. The plot follows police constable Ichabod Crane (Depp) sent from New York City to investigate a series of murders in the village of Sleepy Hollow by a mysterious Headless Horseman. Development began in 1993 at Paramount Pictures, with Kevin Yagher originally set to direct
Johnny Depp has gained cult classic status. Depp had no film releases in the following two years, with the exception of a brief cameo in "" (1991), the sixth installment in the "A Nightmare of Elm Street" franchise. He appeared in three films in 1993. In the romantic comedy "Benny and Joon", he played an eccentric and illiterate silent film fan who befriends a mentally ill woman and her brother; it became a sleeper hit. He then starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis in Lasse Hallström's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", a drama about a dysfunctional family. In his review of the