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: The Telegraph, October 26 2004

 

 

 

It's a child's job, being an actor

 

Johnny Depp's career went into overdrive after his over-the-top, Oscar-nominated performance in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Now, he's taking another shot at Oscar glory with his outstanding portrayal of J M Barrie in the delightful 'Finding Neverland'. He talks to David Gritten

 

 

By David Gitten

 

What a difference one film can make. Before starring in last year's mega-hit Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp's reputation in Hollywood was as a talented, personable but capricious actor, who seemingly chose roles with no apparent idea of a career arc in his mind.

 

Worse, as suspicious studio execs saw it, Depp had a weakness for art-house movies, even - perish the thought - European art-house movies. Clearly, he did not play Hollywood's game.

But that was then. So dominating was Depp's playful portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the otherwise forgettable Pirates of the Caribbean (famously, he modelled the character on his friend Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones) that Hollywood has been forced to re-appraise him. No film since Titanic has been such a huge hit because of one actor's contribution, and Depp was duly rewarded with an Oscar nomination.

 

Now he can write his own ticket in Hollywood. But gratifyingly, Depp, 41, still prefers to go his own way, ignoring the commercial potential of the roles he chooses.

"It's kind of a child's job, being an actor," he told me. "It's play, it's a fun time to some degree. It's a great job, being irresponsibly responsible. It's how I make my living, but I've also used it as an avenue towards another education. You do research on these [roles], and you get to learn so much."

 

For this precise reason, Depp cares little for roles that do not teach him something. We met at the Venice Film Festival, where his new film Finding Neverland had its world première. It is about the circumstances that led J M Barrie to write Peter Pan, specifically, his friendship with the four young boys of the Llewellyn Davies family and their widowed mother (played by Kate Winslet).

 

Depp plays Barrie as a sober Scottish gent in stiff collars and heavy tweedy suits; unhappily married and diffident in adult company, he seems to come alive only when playing imaginative games with the boys.

 

Directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball), Finding Neverland is a striking film, though, from a studio viewpoint, its commercial prospects pale beside Pirates of the Caribbean. Depp is outstanding, and it would be no surprise to see him in contention for an Oscar again: he plays Barrie as alternately playful and darkly brooding, with an impeccable Scottish accent.

"I had a great dialect coach, and her background is Scottish, which helped," Depp said. "The accent didn't come easily to me because, although it's musical, and I've trained as a musician and have a pretty good ear, it just didn't register at first. I don't think there are any recordings of Barrie in existence, so that didn't help.

 

"The clothes certainly helped with the character. Barrie was not a social animal. There were just a handful of adults he felt comfortable around. So those suits and tight collars added to his uncomfortable nature. He was a stiff guy. But, when he got around kids, he felt he was on the same level as some of them."

 

Children play a big part in Depp's life. He has two by his girlfriend, the French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, and dotes on them. The name of his two-year-old son, Jack, is tattooed on his arm, and around his wrist he wore a ragged little bracelet of coloured beads and string - a gift from his daughter, Lily Rose, aged five.

 

"Being a father helped a lot, going into this film," he said. "You spend 12 hours a day minimum with a bunch of little kids, and I learned a lot watching the boys - spending time on their level, doing the things they wanted to do, doing the things that made them laugh. It made stuff new again for me. It was a blessing."

 

Many critics have noticed Depp seems to have a hotline to the child-like side of his character.

"Well, I do like all fairy tales," he admitted. "When I made Edward Scissorhands, I read Bruno Bettleheim [The Uses of Enchantment], which was an insight into fairy tales. I think Peter Pan is this great gift J M Barrie has given us.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those kids who read the book and the play before I saw the Disney cartoon. That came years later. But I love the cartoon and watch it to this day with my kids."

He agrees that inside many actors there's a Peter Pan figure who likes to play. "I don't know about all actors. Some actors are great accountants. Not me. I'm the worst accountant there is."

 

Depp divides his private time between Los Angeles and the house in the South of France he shares with Paradis and their children.

Professionally, too, he spends long periods away from America; his last three films (including Finding Neverland) have all been shot in Britain. And the roles he chooses tend to contrast wildly with the ones preceding them.

 

As a case in point, his next  part is the title role in The Libertine, directed by John Malkovich and shot in the isle of Man. Depp plays John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, the 17-th century peot and man about town.

"His life was like a whirlwind," he said. "He was dead of drink and syphilis at 33. He was like the first punk rocker in a way. He's overlooked in English literature and was written off as a pornographer."

 

He prefers not to divulge too many details about the film, which co-stars Samantha Morton. "Suffice to say it's about as debauched as you can get."

Then comes another wild swing back into kiddie-friendly entertainment: he has been in London, shooting the new screen version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in the Willy Wonka role that Gene Wilder first immortalised on screen.

 

"It's child-orientated," he said carefully, again not wanting to give much away. "Roald Dahl's novels can be fun, but they're dark at times. Some of his stuff you wouldn't want to read to your kids. Even in Charlie there are these dark subtle messages."

Some time in the next year Depp will start work on the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean; he is hoping Keith Richards will agree to take a cameo role as Captain Jack's father.

 

It adds up to a strange and rather wonderful career for a man who, remember, was not even trained as an actor. He thought he would be a rock musician until he was cast in the TV teen-cop series 21 Jump Street. He hated that role, but it kick-started his life on screen.

 

In fact, Depp has been largely influenced by Method acting, and in particular by Marlon Brando, with whom he worked in the rarely seen film Don Juan de Marco in 1995. The unpredictability, even perversity, of the roles he chooses recalls no one as much as Brando, who died this year.

"It's true," said Depp, with a sad little shrug. "I miss Marlon. And I still think about him every day."



David Gitten, for The Telegraph, october 26th 2004.