Johnny Depp, Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow, Vanessa Paradis, Tim Burton, Public Enemies, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands,  John Dillinger, Gregory David Roberts, Infinitum Nihil, Shantaram, Ed Wood, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka, Rum Diary, Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Private Resort, 21 Jump Street, Cry Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Arizona Dream, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Lasse Hallstrom, From Hell, The Man Who Cried, Secret Window, David Koepp, Freddy's Dead, Final Nightmare, Benny and Joon, Don Juan de Marco, Marlon Brando, Dead Man, Nick of Time, Donnie Brasco, The Brave, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas,LA Without A Map, Ninth Gate, Astronaut's Wife, Before Night Falls, Chocolat, Blow, From Hell, Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Happily Ever After, Finding Neverland, The Libertine, Benjamin Barker, John Wilmot, Mort Rainey, Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, Abberline, Roux, Ichabod Crane,William Blake, Raoul Duke, Raphael, Joe Pistone, sam, joon, axel blackmar, oprah noodlemantra, Tom Hanson, Tim Burton, GoreVerbinski, Mira Nair, Emir Kosturica, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, michael mann, Rango, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Helena Bonham Carter

Source:  IGN FilmForce, July 7 2006

 

 

 

Interview: Johnny Depp

IGN FilmForce spends some time with the captain


By Jeff Otto

July 7, 2006 - The first time critics talked to Johnny Depp about a Pirates movie, with his still capped gold-teeth and ever-present bohemian attire, it was a slightly different atmosphere. They had seen the film and knew it was good, but whether the public would take to the film in the same way remained to be seen. Depp had long treaded on the edge of the industry, a critical-fave but generally a box office flop. His films did well enough, but he wasn't the kind of actor that could drive a box office blockbuster.

But audiences agreed with critics and Pirates of the Caribbean made Depp a star both commercially and critically, earning a billion bucks worldwide and an Oscar-nod for Depp to boot.

Two sequels to Pirates loom ahead featuring Depp's memorable Jack Sparrow at the forefront. Dead Man's Chest opens July 7th and the third film will hit in summer 2007.

Depp was on hand recently to talk with press, those gold-capped teeth again glimmering in the light. He was all smiles entering the room, clearly enjoying the success that Sparrow has brought him along with his admitted joy at portraying the wily pirate.

Depp was recently quoted as saying that he wouldn't mind returning to play Jack Sparrow beyond these two sequels. "I just feel like I'm not done. I just feel like there are more things you could do. Because, I suppose, with a character like this, the parameters are a little broader, so there are more possibilities I think. And he's a fun character to play. I was really not looking forward to saying goodbye to him."

So where does he see Sparrow going next? "Time travel, why not? No, I don't know. Ted and Terry, the writers, and Gore, what they were able to do on the first one and then taking that to what they've done now with the second one and then going into the third, it's pretty amazing. We're getting close to just even stretching the boundaries a bit more."

Depp takes the character as laid out in the script and runs with it. Director Gore Verbinski admits to giving Johnny a certain carte blanche to add his personal touches to the part. "I think with everything you do... You have the basic structure; you have your basic bones and a solid foundation. But with every one, you do your best to kind of explore it as much as possible while you're shooting. It could be something that comes to you, like sometimes it just comes to me when I'm reading a script. A line will just come to me and I'll incorporate it into the thing and obviously run it by Ted and Terry and Gore and the other actors certainly.

"So, it can happen that way or it can just happen in the spur of the moment, which is more fun in a way, when something just happens because if you feel it and you do it in a big, wide master shot, it alters the rhythm for a second and it kind of throws the thing, takes the bottom out from under you for a second, which is quite fun because you sort of see honest reactions all around. People panic for a second, and that kind of panic is fun and I think important, good for you."

The first Pirates film was nearly labeled a failure before release. No one could have predicted what happened. "I was definitely never a crowd pleaser. May not be after this one, you never know. I was very surprised, incredibly surprised, still am that Pirates did as well as it did and that the character made some friends out there. I am still surprised and touched."

"I had about 20 years of sort of studio-defined failures. To me they were all great successes because we got them done. In terms of what struck a chord with Pirates, I said for a long time and I really believe that studios were underestimating the intelligence of the audience or their needs... You go to the movies to be stimulated certainly, but you don't go to the movies to know what the end is going to be. You want to be stimulated, so I think that it was such a kind of different angle, that film, that people were ready for that kind of thing. That hyper kind of realism, the action sequences were insane. It wasn't something they've seen all that much I think. I believe that's what it was."

In past interviews, Depp has admitted to frustrations with the industry, with the focus often being in the wrong place. But newfound success, as well as settling down, have put the actor in a better place, allowing him to sit back a bit and enjoy it all. "I'll tell you what made it a lot easier to roll with the punches for me was having kids, or at least even before really. [Just] knowing that I was going to be having a kid. That put a lot of things in perspective for me, like instant perspective."

"I think for a number of years, I was frustrated by the whole thing. I didn't understand any of it. But in terms of success or career or all that stuff, it never made any great deal of sense to me so I guess, yeah, when I found out Vanessa and I were going to have a baby, you find out what's important like [snaps fingers] real quick."

"For years, there were the two things. There was the sort of business of Hollywood and the business of that career and people saying, 'Well, you have to do this kind of movie because you've got to make money because you've got to do this and that.' And I always felt like, you know, 'Money is all it's about, well, hopefully it'll come at some point. But if it doesn't, that's all right. I know that I've done the things that I felt were right in terms of movies and stuff.'

"So it was that sort of business thing. And then there was work, which I've always just done what felt right to me, so I don't know. I never really had any problem. The only problem I ever had in terms of frustration with the industry and Hollywood and stuff was basically I didn't think they understood the movies that I did and I think they didn't know how to sell them properly because they didn't know how to label them. And if you can't label the product, it's sort of this vague thing. If you don't understand the product, you can't sell it and they couldn't sell it."

From Edward Scissorhands to Ed Wood to Cry Baby to Willy Wonka, the characters on Depp's resume provide a colorful repertoire of eccentrics and mythic characterizations. What you don't find a lot of in his filmography are straight-up typical leading men. "You're saying I'm a weirdo? I guess in terms of playing like a straight leading man-type thing, I feel like all these guys are kind of not necessarily leading men but straight kind of characters.

Even though they may seem bizarre or strange, I feel like I think everybody's nuts. I mean, I really do. And the weirdest thing in the world is to see some guy who is just super earnest. He's probably crazier than any of the guys I've played. And as far as really doing that, it would have to make sense to me somehow. It'd have to be something underneath for me to make that work. Otherwise, there are a bunch of guys out there, actors, actor types who do that kind of thing very well. I don't think I could for myself. I've got to have… There's got to be a bunch of different things going on, layers to stuff.

IGN FilmForce, July 7, 2006