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Former Hollywood hell-raiser Johnny Depp talks to Lynley Dwight about
why he’s attracted to playing outsiders, why he loves working with Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory director Tim Burton and how fatherhood has changed
his life
Johnny Depp has the air of an eccentric rocker about him, rather than the
gloss of an Oscar-nominated movie star. Dressed in ripped blue jeans and a white
shirt, he’s adorned with coloured beads, leather necklaces and tattoos.
His dark hair is shaped into a quiff, and his eyes are shielded from the glare
of the Venetian sun with sunglasses.
If ever there’s ever a remake of The Picture of Dorian Grey, Depp would
doubtless be first choice for the role. At 42, it’s hard to see where his
penchant for red wine and cigarettes have taken their toll. This is also the
man who dabbled in rock with his band P and ran the notorious The Viper Room
club in Los Angeles in the ’90s. It seems he has been left relatively unscathed
by his past. Maybe he got out just in time.
At 42, it’s hard to see where his
penchant for red wine and cigarettes
have taken their toll
Depp resides in the French village of Plan de la Tour with actress and singer
Vanessa Paradis and their two children. Ever since he moved to Europe he has,
ironically, been more accepted in Hollywood. Indeed, he’s been enjoying
more acclaim than ever. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 for Pirates of
the Caribbean and this year for his performance as Peter Pan writer JM Barrie
in Finding Neverland. This summer sees him taking on another quirky role as Willy
Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
He’s clearly flourishing as an outsider, a quality that permeates most
of his film roles. Depp’s trademark is his love of oddball characters,
most notably in Edward Scissorhands, Don Juan DeMarco, What’s Eating Gilbert
Grape, Ed Wood and even Chocolat. “It’s a theme that I have often
returned to,” says Depp, “It’s fascinating what society deems
as normal and abnormal and who decides and why; how that kind of judgment is
placed on people. A lot of times people say: ‘Oh that guy is different.
He’s the weirdo...’ Well why is he? That’s kind of thing I’m
fascinated by. And also there is the sense of not allowing the world to throw
too much garbage on you, to try and retain some of those gifts we are given as
children, those child-like qualities, curiosity, fascination, and not be jaded.
I’m interested in that stuff.”
“For years I stumbled around and
didn’t really know what any of
it was about until I had kids”
Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Depp, his three siblings, father John, a city
engineer, and mother Betty Sue, a waitress, moved to Florida when he was eight
years old, at first living in a string of motels until their father found stable
work. The constant upheavals made Depp an outsider from the start, but he doesn’t
play the ‘poor me’ card as readily as so many of his showbiz contemporaries. “For
the most part it was great, pretty normal for us growing up,” he recalls. “We
definitely had our moments. There were times when it was very difficult but compared
to what a lot of kids have to go through in this world my childhood was a blessing,
so I can’t complain.”
at school. “I felt completely and utterly confused by everything,” he
admits. “The one thing that the teachers didn’t want you to do in
school was question things. But I always wanted to know why. It really pissed
them off, but it shouldn’t because it’s a valid question, it’s
the only question. Then I saw these guys and gals competing for most popular
this and that, the Prom Queen or the Prom King – absolute crap! I was lucky,
I was raised in such a way that it wasn’t about ‘eyes on the prize’.
It was more, just get through it man and keep moving.”
Depp insists he feels the same way as a forty-something, and the trappings
of fame and wealth have done little to change his rebellious spirit. “The
way I live my life today is pretty consistent with the way I lived it then,” he
muses. “I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. I remember being just
13, 14 years old and skipping certain classes and sneaking into the guitar room
to hide out and play music.”
Above Depp on set of this summer’s big
release, his Marilyn Manson-inspired performance as Willy Wonka is apparently
quite creepy
In his teens, Depp fronted a series of bands, dreaming of rock stardom. At
the age of 20 he married Lori Anne Allison who introduced him to Nicolas Cage
and the world of acting. The marriage was over in two years, by which time he
had made an impressive debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street. His role on the TV
show “21 Jump Street” made his name in America, and the John Waters
film Cry Baby fuelled a promising movie career. In 1990 he made his first film
with Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands, a fruitful partnership replicated in Ed
Wood and Sleepy Hollow, this summer’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and the future Corpse Bride.
In the early ’90s, Depp was as famous for making headlines as he was
for making films. These were the heady days of the ‘Winona Forever’ tattoo,
which morphed into ‘Wino Forever’ after his split from actress Winona
Ryder. The relationship was followed by his on–off romance with supermodel
Kate Moss, which included an embarrassing hotel trashing incident.
In 1998, whilst making The Ninth Gate in France and dining with director Roman
Polanski in a Parisian restaurant, Depp, by his own admission, fell in love at
first sight with Vanessa Paradis. A year later they had their first child, daughter
Lily Rose, followed by a son, Jack, now 2. Living a blissful family life, his
rebellious streak is now confined to his work, with Depp creating such left-of-field
characters as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, which won him his first
Academy Award nomination.
Depp credits fatherhood for giving his life direction. “For years I
stumbled around and didn’t really know what any of it was about until I
had kids,” he reflects. “It brings you into the person that you hoped
you could be. It gives you perspective and strength. Whereas before – things
that would piss me off like Hollywood or about the game – the whole thing – I
could not stand. After having kids you see that none of that matters. It is about
them. Total – your first moment of selflessness comes when you first watch
your child. Building my family has been true happiness.”
With an entire ocean between him and Tinseltown, Depp couldn’t be happier.
The European lifestyle suits him down to the ground. “France is the first
place in my life I have been able to call home and I really mean it. That is
my home, where I live and where my kids live if they want. It is a really strong
foundation that I never really experienced in life. We moved like a third infantry,
twice a month sometimes. Now, freedom is to be able to sit at home in France
and just do whatever I feel like doing. Whether it is playing with my daughter
and her Barbie, painting or drinking wine. Whatever it is.”
“Your first moment of selflessness
comes when you first watch your child.
Building my family has been true happiness”
Having played the creator of Peter Pan and now starring in Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, one wonders how much influence being a father has on his choice
of roles. “I think the choices that I’ve made started before they
ever arrived.” he explains. “When I did the TV show [“21 Jump
Street”] I felt very creatively frustrated and when I was able to make
choices that I wanted to make – like Cry Baby and Edward Scissorhands – I
thought they would at least be something I and maybe my kids could be proud of
someday. They might hate my stuff when they get older...”
He clearly had fun harnessing his own child-like spirit for the €117million
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Burton’s trippy new take on author Roald
Dahl’s deliciously subversive fable about greed, gluttony and pride, a
fantasy-adventure which previously inspired Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. “This
is not a direct re-make of the 1971 Gene Wilder film,” Depp explains while
expertly rolling a cigarette, using dark, liquorice-flavoured rolling paper,
murmuring, “I apologise for the hideous poison.”
“It’s a musical,” he explains, exhaling slowly. “John
August wrote the script which is more faithful to Dahl’s book about Charlie
Bucket, a boy from an impoverished family, who wins a candy bar contest and is
given a tour, along with four other children, of this giant chocolate factory
run by the eccentric, reclusive Willy Wonka and his staff of Oompa-Loompas.”
“Tim’s version of Dahl’s classic book is a wild ride,” Depp
goes on. “Big shoes to fill though. Gene Wilder did such an awesome job.
It was brilliant but subtle and so taking the Willy Wonka character and going
somewhere completely different is infinitely more difficult. I go in another
direction completely, I didn’t know what the character was going to be,
fully, until after the first take. I knew what I wanted him to sound and be like,
but you don’t really get the chance to be it until the camera is rolling.”
Happy families: Depp and Paradis on the red carpet
at the 2005 OscarsAnnasophia Robb, who plays 11 year-old, gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde, admits
that Depp’s Marilyn Manson-inspired performance was a bit terrifying, “His
character is creepier than any other Willy Wonka you’ve seen, (but) Johnny
is such a normal guy. He treats everyone with the same amount of respect. He
invited us to his trailer to make us feel more comfortable with him.”
And what a trailer it was! A hippy at heart, Depp transformed his huge dressing-room
trailer in Hertfordshire, England, into a wondrous €350,000 “Bedouin
tent,” having technicians from Pinewood Studios install silk and satin
drapes, huge cushions, animal hide rugs and incense burners.
Freddie Highmore, who plays Charlie Bucket, already knew Depp (and incidentally
shares the same 9th June birthday), having co-starred with him in Finding Neverland.
Depp was so impressed by his performance that he recommended Freddie to Burton
for the lead role. Depp is clearly thrilled to be working with them both again.
He clearly had fun harnessing his
own child-like spirit for the €117m
Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory
“Tim is doing beautiful stuff, the sets are incredible and the work
has been a ball, and going back into the ring with Tim is like being home. He’s
great,” he says. “Freddie is a special little guy, and I don’t
mean it in a condescending way. He is 12 now and a very special young man – funny,
sweet, pure, honest, sharp as a tack. He isn’t even really sure he wants
to be an actor. He’s doing it because it’s what is happening for
him right now. He loves school, playing with his mates. He is obsessed with football
and Playstation, he is really enjoying just being a kid. It’s admirable.”
Depp’s kids should enjoy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but not
all of daddy’s films are suitable for them, such as the forthcoming Libertine
in which he plays a lecherous 17th century dandy. “They’ll have to
wait 40 or 50 years for The Libertine. Jesus, I hope they wait,” laughs
Depp. One movie they won’t have to wait for is the Pirates of the Caribbean
2 (2006), which is tentatively subtitled Dead Man’s Chest, and co-stars
Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is shooting simultaneously.
“I look forward to re-visiting Sparrow,” says Depp. “He’s
a charming, interesting fellow, aside from those braids and gold teeth. He always
tells the truth but you don’t believe him. What’s fun is his outrageousness.
I went through a decompression period after the first film. If you’re really
connected with a character, you always do – to some degree – miss
being that person. The only thing that was in the back of my mind was the hope
that there would be a sequel someday, so that I could meet him again.”
Also in production is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2006), directed by
Julian Schnabel. Depp plays Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in
1995, at age 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his
left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described
the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped
inside his body to imagined stories.
A true challenge for any actor, and one that Depp will no doubt relish as
he concludes, “I don’t ever want to feel satisfied. Total satisfaction
with your work is death to an actor.”
From Elm Street to
the Caribbean
Johnny Depp’s leftfield career in brief
■ Shantaram (2007) (announced)
■ Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2007)
(filming)
■ Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest (2006) (filming)
■ The Rum Diary (2005)
(in production)
■ The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2006)
■ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(2005)
■ Corpse Bride (2005)
(post-production) (voice)
■ The Libertine (2004)
■ Finding Neverland (2004) (below)
■ And They Lived Happily Ever After
(2004)
■ Secret Window (2004)
■ Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
■ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse
of the Black Pearl (2003)
■ From Hell (2001)
■ Blow (2001)
■ Chocolat (2000)
■ Before Night Falls (2000)
■ The Man Who Cried (2000)
■ Sleepy Hollow (1999)
■ The Astronaut’s Wife (1999)
■ The Ninth Gate (1999)
■ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
■ The Brave (1997)
■ Donnie Brasco (1997)
■ Nick of Time (1995)
■ Dead Man (1995)
■ Don Juan DeMarco (1995)
■ Ed Wood (1994)
■ What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
■ Benny & Joon (1993)
■ Arizona Dream (1993)
■ Freddy’s Dead: The Final
Nightmare (1991)
■ Edward Scissorhands (1990)
■ Cry-Baby (1990)
■ Platoon (1986)
■ Private Resort (1985)
■ A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
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