Source:
Reel.com, 2001
Johnny, Come Blow
Your Horn
Depp deals the dish on his new drug
trafficking drama.
By J. Sperling Reich
Most articles about actor Johnny
Depp rehash how American audiences first came to know him from
his role on the Fox television drama, 21 Jump Street, where Depp
played undercover cop Tom Hanson from 1987 to 1990. True
cinephiles however, will point out that Depp had already begun
to gather a small following after appearing in tiny roles in
1984's Nightmare on Elm Street and 1986's Best Picture Oscar
winner, Platoon.
After 21
Jump Street folded, the movie that launched Depp into cinematic
stardom was Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. As the boy with
the metallic touch opposite his then-girlfriend, Winona Ryder,
Depp's poignant performance helped make the quirky film a huge
hit. In the next decade the actor would work with Burton on two
other occasions; in Ed Wood in 1994, and as Ichabod Crane in
1999's Sleepy Hollow, an adaptation of the Washington Irving
story.
Indeed, Depp's work with Burton remains
some of his most memorable, while movies such as Nick of Time,
The Ninth Gate, and The Astronaut's Wife left both industry
insiders and fans wondering exactly what the actor could have
been thinking when choosing to participate in the projects. Yet
amidst the duds, there have been a number of beloved films, like
What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Benny & Joon, Dead Man, and
Don Juan DeMarco, as well as critical hits along the lines of
1997's Donnie Brasco and 2000's Before Night
Falls.
Depp's latest film Blow, directed by Ted
Demme, tells the true story of George Jung, a convicted drug
smuggler who helped create and supply the market for cocaine
during the 1970s. The film follows Jung's story, beginning with
his childhood in Boston, through his early years trafficking in
marijuana and his crossover into importing Colombian cocaine
before his eventual arrest and conviction by federal
authorities.
On a Sunday in mid-March, Depp met
with reporters at a West Hollywood hotel to discuss his most
recent movie, his career, and his life.
............................................
Q: You have been quoted as
saying, "Anything I've done up until the 27th of May, 1999 was
an illusion. The birth of my daughter gave me my life." That's
interesting because your character in Blow experiences a similar
epiphany when his own daughter is born.
Johnny Depp: That's not too far off the
mark, but I think it's a pretty universal feeling for anybody
who is blessed with that moment where you meet your child for
the first time.
Q: What went through your mind when
you met your daughter for the first time?
JD: Well, for me,
and I've never been one of those self-obsessed "woe-is-me" type
guys, it was the first moment in my life, a really welcome
moment, where I was totally selfless. It was no longer about me.
And anything that I had ever gone through in terms of life
experiences was just insignificant next to that. Just completely
didn't exist.
Q: How are
you doing as a dad?
JD:
I think I'm doing okay. She hasn't thrown me out
yet.
Q: What is the first movie of yours
that you will let your daughter see?
JD: Edward
Scissorhands.
Q: What does it take to get you to
say "Yes" to a project now?
JD: It makes it
difficult to leave home, especially when you are surrounded with
all that beauty, with my girls. But first you gotta bring home
the bacon. You know, keep the paychecks coming. Really, it just
depends on the project. When the Hughes brothers came to me with
the idea of doing From Hell, there was no way to avoid it, it
was just such a golden opportunity. Same thing with Blow. These
were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. A lot of it also has to
do with just timing it out properly so there is never too long
of a time away from my daughter or away from my family. The most
we've ever gone is, like, 17 days. And after 17 days, I was
ready to chew my own hand off. You just go crazy. So now it's
gotta be a great thing with great filmmakers, and I have to be
able to work out the timing, so I can be with my family as
well.
Q: Can you relate
to what George Jung goes through in the film, in regard to fast
fame and fast money? Can you remember what it was like back in
the days before 21 Jump Street and was that better than
this?
JD: Was it better?
No. This is the happiest I have ever been in my life. The most
content I have ever been in my life and I think the most
together I have ever been in my life. What I did have back then,
maybe a little more than I do now, was anonymity. And my life
was a bit more simple before Jump Street came out into
television. But no, there was some rough going there. Now and
again, I can remember not being able to pay my rent and cashing
bad checks and suddenly Allah or somebody sent me a residual
check.
Q: Having had the
experience of making this film, what do you know or what have
you learned about the drug trafficking trade that most people
might not know?
JD:
Well, I do know that if we have a drug problem in this country,
which we do and we have had for many years it's pretty
well-known and it has been documented here and there that some
of the top brass in the upper echelon of government and people
in high places have allowed the drugs to come into the country.
I know that when Carlos Leder was busted in the '70s or early
'80s, there was an open letter published in the New York Times,
which was written to President Bush, because
the character
Diego Delgado in Blow is based on Carlos Leder. So I do know
that about the drug trade. I know it ain't just the people like
George. I'm not that naοve.
Q: What do you hope people will take away from this
film?
JD: I hope they
are able to understand to some degree what George went through
and why he made the decisions he made and why he became what he
became. A lot of it has to do with the conditioning he went
through as a kid. He became everything he didn't want to become.
He became his parents. And I hope that people will be able to
watch and learn from it. I hope kids will. We've all gone
through the whole thing of thinking that drugs are just party
time. You can sort of live that lie that it is recreational, but
it's not. We're trying to hide from something, trying to mask
something, trying to numb ourselves from something. Really,
getting loaded to that extent is just postponing the inevitable,
which is you are going to have to face the demon someday. You're
gonna have to look him in the eye and go, "Okay, let's get
through this."
Q: Have
you witnessed that?
JD:
Oh yes. I've seen the demon here and there.
Q: Did you get to meet
George?
JD:
Yes.
Q: What was he
like?
JD: He was a lot
of things. He's a complicated guy. But first and foremost what
I was really happy to find out was he is just as human as can
be. There is no evil. There is no malice in him. He's not
greedy. He's just a good man who recognized his mistakes and has
to live with his sort of devastation every day. I saw a strong
guy when I met him. He's a very strong, kind of ironic, funny,
broken man.
Q: Does he
feel like a victim?
JD:
I think he feels more responsible. But I mean from the outside
looking in, I see him as more of a victim. I see him as a victim
of his own upbringing, the kind of pressures and expectations
that were placed upon him as a kid. He became what he became
because his parents made him what he is.
Q: Is Blow making a commentary, like
Traffic, or is it just a biographical movie?
JD: I haven't seen Traffic, but I think Blow
is just a look at this one man's life what he went through and
why he went through it. Drug smuggling was his business. He
earned a lot of money and thought that that was going to be the
answer to all his prayers, and, in the process, lost it, lost
his family. He lost because he won.
Q: Is he looking forward to getting
out?
JD: Oh,
sure.
Q: If his daughter doesn't want to
see him, what else is there for him on the outside?
JD: Well, for
George, on the last bust, when he was sentenced to go to prison,
there were a few people busted in the same place, same
circumstances, same charge as George. And the other people were
given two years, I think, which, in a federal penitentiary, you
do a minimum of 74% of your sentence. They're looking at two,
maybe three years maximum. George got 25 years. He got sentenced
to that, because he, for all intents and purposes, had made a
fool out of the judge and the local cops [previously]. It was
the feds who busted him before and not the local cops, so they
said, "Okay we got Jung finally, whammo!" So, I think it was
kind of unjust, really, his sentencing.
What's outside? My opinion is that George
has served his time and paid his debt to society. He's not doing
anyone any good rotting away in a prison cell. The guy is
rehabilitated. And I'm not sure the system rehabilitated him. I
think he rehabilitated himself based on the hideous thoughts
he's has to live with and realities he has had to deal with. I
think he has paid his debt to society. I think he could do much
more good on the outside. He's doing work with the DARE [Drug
Abuse Resistance Education] program right now. He could,
potentially, go on the road with DARE and teach kids the dangers
of drugs. And he could also pay his debt to his daughter and try
to give her a father.
Q:
The scene where he gets busted in Chicago and he is giving a
hard time to the judge, you can kind of see what he is saying:
"Why is this criminal?" Does he still think of himself as a
pioneer?
JD: I don't
know how proud he is of that. When you look at the way George
said that, "What did I do? I crossed an imaginary line with a
bunch of plants." He's got a really good point. There is no
question about it. It is a very valid argument. It just so
happens that, like the judge says, "These are the rules,
imaginary line or not, these are the rules." I think, at that
point, in his life he was feeling pretty cocky. He was starting
to believe his own press at that point.
Q: What is your take on that? Do
you think marijuana should be legalized?
JD: Look, I have nothing to hide. I'm not a great big
pothead or anything like that. I might socially, or whatever,
have a couple of drinks here and there, but weed is much, much
less dangerous than alcohol. Alcohol can make people aggressive.
Certainly, statistically with car accidents, alcohol is a big
killer. It's pretty rare that you hear of a car accident
happening because a guy was stoned. Or a guy who went out and
started a huge fight because he had one too many puffs on a
joint. You know, so it's like prohibition. What happens with
marijuana is like what happened back when prohibition was put
into effect. Say there were, like, 100 bars in a city. The
following week there were 2,000 bars, and people who had never
taken a sip of alcohol were all of a sudden guzzling bathtub
gin. And it's like that for kids. The minute you say, "Don't
ever do this, stay away from this," they are gonna go, "You're
right. I won't," and they are gonna walk right out the door and
try to score a nickel bag.
Reel.com,
2001
