10 Genius Movie Moments When Unreliable Narrators Changed EVERYTHING

Edward Norton isn't the only one who can project a part of his subconscious as a different person entirely. Just one year removed from the eccentric, wacky adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp moved toward a more chilling performance as Mort Rainey in Secret Window.

Based on Stephen King's novel Secret Window, Secret Garden, Mort became stalked by a man named John Shooter (John Turturro), who accused the writer of stealing his story and changing the ending. This soon spiralled into more serious territory as threats were made against Mort's soon-to-be-ex-wife Amy (Maria Bello), her house was burned down, and Mort's dog was killed, as were several innocent people.

Shooter simply kept coming at Mort no matter what, until a scene showed the latter talking to himself, ironically not too dissimilar to a scene with multiple Jack Sparrows that would release a couple of years later. Mort called one part of his mind he was conversing with 'Pilgrim', the same thing John Shooter had called him earlier, and everything unravelled from there.

There never was a John Shooter, just like Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden never existed. This was instead the manifestation of the part of Mort's mind that wanted to kill his wife after he caught her cheating on him. This is how Shooter wanted to end the story, and this part of Rainey's mind ultimately won.