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

	QUOTES  About Johnny  (A - K) A ********************************************************** Jessica Alba, actress Starpulse News Blog I have a huge fat crush on him. Of all the men in this business, he is my favorite . . . Wow! I presented at the Golden Globes . . . I saw him, made eye contact with him and forgot all my lines. Patricia Arquette who plays Kathy O'Hara in Ed Wood, in Film Review, June 1995 He was amazing. Absolutely amazing. The stuff where he had to wear the women's clothing was inspired. He was a natural. I would give him tips on undressing, particularly with the bra strap. He was very strict who he undressed in front of. He energized everyone on set. He was as much a guiding force on the movie as TimBurton. We had these very intimate scenes together, and he would get right into the part and stay there for hours. I'm not that disciplined. I still have fits of laughter during a scene. But Johnny could do it straight. Yvan Attal director, Ils se marierent et eurent beaucoup des enfants, on casting Johnny as Charlotte Gainsbourg’s fantasy lover. Ms. Gainsbourg also happens to be Mr. Attal’s wife. When I wrote the script [for Ils se marierent et eurent beaucoup des enfants] I thought . . . who will be this guy for whom all women will fall?  And . . . right away I thought about him!   B ********************************************************* Quotes by: John Badham director, Nick of Time, 1995 If Hitchcock were making this picture (Nick of Time) he’d probably have wanted Jimmy Stewart. Who’s the Jimmy Stewart of the 90’s? Nice, unassuming, unpretentious? Johnny has a basic sweetness to him. He’s a classic movie actor, like the true greats—Paul Newman, Gary Cooper, even Steve McQueen. Minimalist in approach, but extremely honest. Johnny is that kind of actor. He has this great ability to be in a scene where he may do nothing and yet he establishes his presence on the screen. Johnny would come in at seven in the morning and we would start to stage a scene, and I would think he was only propped up by a stage brace. He would stand there looking a little shaken, but totally focused. What I learned right away was, it didn't matter if he never went to bed, he was right on top of it. He has great enthusiasm. He’s like a little kid on the set, a real devil. We all know about Leslie Nielsen carrying around his little farting machine, and Johnny Depp had one of those, which he thought was great fun. But somebody also gave him a laser beam pen, one of those things you use in lectures for pointers, and next thing I know he is all over the hotel with this damn thing, entertaining himself all day long. His favorite thing was to get over the bar, about 40 feet above, and get some drunk looking around wondering why his drink was suddenly glowing red. It was like a bad joke out of some old movie. You’ve got to love somebody like that. Francois-Marie Banier photographer and close friend, Talk Magazine, October 1999 The French adore Johnny. I think they recognize in him something of the spirit of Rimbaud. Free and quick and intuitive, like a gypsy. This story that he destroyed a hotel . . . The Americans are so stupid. You pay for a room. You're furious. You do damage. You pay for it. Quotes by: Javier Bardem Before Night Falls co-star Johnny was not a movie star on this movie. He was another actor who believed in the beauty of what we were doing, in the meaningfulness of what we were doing. Johnny did amazing work, and he was very generous, very helpful. He really got into the mood of the character, Bon Bon, and that scene with him as Lieutenant Victor is something that will stay in my memory. I admire him a great deal. Quotes by: Sacha Baron Cohen Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 21, 2007 I had heard of Johnny. I knew he played a sailor in a film (laughter). I heard he was going to be a hairdresser in a movie called Sweeney Todd. He’s a true master of his art. With someone like Tim Burton, who requires detail and a total precision in the craft, Johnny has that. He can replicate a perfect performance 15 times. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone able to do that. He’s one of the biggest stars in the world, if not the biggest star. But he’s incredibly humble. In the scene where he was murdering me, after each take, he’d be the first one to come over with a little bowl so I could spit out the fake blood. He treats everyone with total respect and is probably one of the most grounded persons I’ve ever met. Steve Beers supervising producer, 21 Jump Street, TV Guide, What struck me about him when he auditioned is that he wasn't nervous. He was laid back. He had this presence. He's an unusual personality. He's also one of the nicest people I've ever worked with. Maria Bello Secret Window co-star He's just such an incredible actor; I've always been such a big fan. Quotes by: Juliette Binoche Chocolat co-star His film choices are really to do with his heart and intuition, not a career perspective to win an Oscar. A gypsy needs his family, and I think he found a family in the people he works with like Lasse Hallstrom and Tim Burton. I once asked him why he works so much, and he said ‘I just have to keep my head busy.’ Quotes by: Orlando Bloom Pirates co-star Johnny is Johnny. It's a whole different level. You get the feeling Johnny has been through the sausage machine of Hollywood and come out the other side still standing. Johnny's always telling me, “Don't go for the money. Follow your heart, Orlando!” Johnny Depp was a big draw. I've always admired him. To be on the set with somebody like him and see how he handles himself and see how he goes about it, it's a real privilege. To learn as you go. - He's a really cool guy, just a really nice guy. There was one time when we'd flown down to St. Vincent in the producer's private plane. Johnny and I were at the back of the plane. We just sat and drank some red wine. I don't know if the altitude had something to do with it, but when we arrived there, we sort of stump-crawled off the plane. The Prime Minister of St. Vincent was there to greet us and he goes, ‘Hey, mon, very pleased to introduce you to St. Vincent,’ and we're like just crawling past him, and then Johnny gives him a huge hug and like kissed him, and there's me trailing behind him, picking up his shit. It was crazy, but it was fun. He's a role model for me. He has integrity and makes choices that are brave and unusual. He doesn't have hissy fits; he conducts himself with grace and humility. When the real captain of the Interceptor disappeared, and Johnny took control of the ship, it had a really strange effect on me. I looked up and saw Johnny in control of the ship with his pirate costume, and his gold teeth. It felt like we were really pirates for a couple minutes! Quotes by: Helena Bonham Carter Co-star Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland,  (Speaking of Johnny and Tim Burton) They really are about age 4 together. They like poo jokes. They're really into pretty childish, puerile jokes that I don't find funny. Like Johnny will give him some cat-butt chewing gum . . . with pictures of cat's butts. I mean, is it funny? No. It’s very sexy. It’s very sexy singing, and it sounds like him, that’s what’s exciting. He really sings from the gut, and it’s a very emotional role. So it’s very naked and very sexy and very touching and brave and beautiful, very beautiful, and soulful . . . - Tim and Johnny have a great synergy. They are very like each other. Chosen brothers elected by each other. They have the same sense of humor and share a deep respect. They have grown up together. Edward Scissorhands joined them. They are both introverts, but very flamboyant when it comes to their work. That is their release. They are rebels, anti-authoritarian. They are very age 7 in their sense of humor. He has got an uncanny ability to make anything cool. He is a hip person, Johnny, and his choices are always clever and he’s made . . . like when I heard his recordings it’s got a real modern feel, a sort of rocky kind, not rocky boxer but it’s got a slight rock modern, he’s got a real touch with the contemporary and he’s a really funny mix. Johnny as a person, he’s got both high culture and pop culture, he’s a real mixture of both, he’s very cultured but it’s just really eclectic and so he just knows what to draw on. Q: What was Johnny Depp like on set, considering that in the film he is usually angry and getting vengeance. Did he ever break character and laugh? A: Oh yeah. Johnny’s not Method. He’s very concentrated and very disciplined, but there’s a lot of laughs. In fact, actually it was quite difficult to keep a straight face when he was coming at me during one song. He was very patient with me. And Tim and him have lots of laughs. One basis of the relationship is a lot of jokes, pretty stupid jokes I have to admit. I knew how stressful it was for Tim, and I get distressed because I’m the girlfriend, you know, back at home. But Tim did laugh a lot. There was a great sense of levity and excitement on the set because no one there had done a musical before. Q: What about dancing with Johnny? Is he a good dancer? A: You know, the man’s ridiculously overstuffed with talent in every direction, but he can’t dance, I can tell you that, ha-ha! And that was a surprise. Well, waltz—he can’t waltz. It was kind of unfortunate because I was really pregnant by then and we had to get on a spinning machine. It was the only way we had worked out to spin. We sent each other supportive e-mails. The first time I listened to him and he listened to me, we’d sung in different countries. They put us together and I thought, “Oh, no, he’s really good and I’m really crap.”He had the same reaction apparently—well, he’s probably lying. Quotes by: David Brown producer, Chocolat, Biography What you see on the screen is Johnny Depp. He's iconoclastic, meaning he doesn't take garbage from anybody. He had a rather small role in Chocolat, and he didn't care. Johnny Depp, like every fine actor, doesn't count the role in terms of the length of time or footage, but what it will do for him as an artist. And he is an artist. He's a pure person. He goes back to the tradition of Humphrey Bogart . . . Spencer Tracy. I admire him as an actor and as a person because he is real. He's completely unimpressed by the usual accoutrements of stardom. You won't see him in the Four Seasons bar, carrying on with a whole bunch of people. He'll be with his pals. If he can find a pub, he'll be there. Quotes by: Jerry Bruckheimer Producer, Pirates, SFX Magazine, 2003 You know, initially some of the executives at Disney had heart attacks when they saw what he was doing. But what I liked about it was that it never broke the reality of the picture. If everybody acted like that then I would have said, ‘Oh, we've got a problem,’ but the fact is that everyone else was straight and just played off him. Johnny was the foil. You never knew what he was going to come up with, which I liked. I had faith in Gore. And I had faith in Johnny as an artist. So I felt that the combination was going to work. He's an artist and you hire him because he's an artist. You don't hire Johnny Depp and try to put him in a box and say, “This is the performance you have to give me.” It was an inspired performance, but it scared the studio to death when they saw it. My phone lit up like a Christmas tree after they saw the first day's rushes. They said, “You've got to tone it down. It's ridiculous.” We said, “No, wait till you see how engaging it is.” He's the biggest star in the world. I mean, it's fantastic. I mean, he really is. He's a worldwide box office phenomenon. And he deserves every, every second of the fame that he's getting because he's a wonderful individual. He's great to work with. He's caring. He's generous. You know, you hear of these stories about Hollywood actors and actresses and the dramas they go through, and he's not one of them. Stephanie Bunbury The Age, Australia, There is, of course, that extraordinary beauty working for him too. Beauty like his is not the same thing as sexual attractiveness, notwithstanding all the stories about the fan mail he gets folded around strands of pubic hair. This is beauty of the kind fixed forever on the side of Keats' Grecian urn. This is the sort of Beauty that stands beside Truth, an eternal verity. It makes you draw breath when you see it, in a moment of something like reverence. Quotes by: Tim Burton Director Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride,  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland,   Johnny’s fun to work with, though—it’s always something different. He’s more of a character actor than a leading man. It’s fun to work with an actor like that, much more exciting than somebody who wants to come in and do the same thing every time. Johnny’s always wanting to sort of hide behind a character, become a character. I’ve always loved great character actors . . . I respond to the visual. I'm not the most verbal, so it's nice with someone like Johnny, who understands with only a few words—there's that connective tissue.  I like people's eyes a lot and, especially with a character like this [Edward Scissorhands] who doesn't really speak, eyes are very important. I remember Johnny was able to do something that amazed me. I was very close to him one day, watching him doing a scene, and the next day we saw it on film, and almost without doing anything he was able to do something with his eyes that made them glassy. It was if he was about to cry, like one of those Walter Keane paintings with the big eyes. I don't know how he did it. It wasn't something we did with the camera or the lighting, it was incredible. He's always been true to who he is. He's never been ruled by money, or by what people think he should or shouldn't do. Maybe it's just in America, but it seems that if you're passionate about something, it freaks people out. You're considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just means you know who you are. I went on the Arsenio Hall Show with Johnny once . . . Ten minutes of silence. (About all the attention in 2003, after the release of Pirates of the Carribean) It cracks me up. It's as if he just arrived on planet Earth. I know where Johnny's been for the past two decades, but where have they been? I things it's a delayed thing, and Johnny's a good thing, but I guess he didn't fit into any of their categories until he got into a hit movie like Pirates of the Caribbean. Strangely, I had absolutely no idea if he could sing. He said that he thought he could do it, but strangely I had no fear of that whatsoever. I worry about a lot of things, but strangely I did not fear that at all and when I got it, beyond that, he exceeded my expectations. So I was very lucky. I didn’t go through any angst on that level at all. We did talk about his singing in Corpse Bride, but he was terrified of it. He’s musical for sure. It’s funny that he was scared of that, but then he wanted to make a big musical. I gave Johnny the soundtrack to see what he thought of it. He said, “I think I can do it.” I knew if he said he could do it, he could do it. It was the first time in our [career together] where he knew he could do it. . . . [lyricist Stephen Sondheim was] very supportive. He was OK with Johnny without hearing him sing, because I think he knew Johnny could pull it off. Johnny and I always talk about old horror movie actors, like Boris Karloff. They have a certain acting style that you don’t see much anymore, based on movement and internalization. This part seemed perfect for that. When I asked Johnny to do it and he said, “Yeah, I think I can do it,” I didn’t know if he could sing, but I knew him enough to know that if he didn’t think he could do it, he wouldn’t do it. It took a while. I didn’t hear anything from him for a while. He’s very private. I let him go and do his thing and he sent me a thing and I listened and it exceeded my expectations. Every time Johnny and I work together, we try to do something different, and singing for a whole movie is not something we’re used to. You never just want to feel like, ‘Okay, that was easy. What’s next?’ Johnny and I always want to stretch ourselves, and this was perfect outlet for that. Well, I’ll say that he tries anything. The fact is that he’s not a singer, you know, he’s musical, but he would try one of the hardest musicals ever to do. It just says it all. He’s just willing to go out there, and believe me, something I’ve learned is singing is very exposing, especially if you’re not a singer, it’s a very exposing process, and anybody who can do that can basically do anything, you know? So for me, it’s just an artistic pleasure to see somebody try different things and actually achieve it . . . and achieve it beyond your expectations. We took cues from silent movies. When Johnny walks into the barbershop, you just see the pain in his eyes. I find he doesn’t have to say anything. It’s an acting style you don’t really see anymore.     C *********************************************************** Nicolas Cage Johnny didn't ignore his fans, he brought them with him. He was smart about it. He took this large group of people weaned on formula TV and exposed them to things exciting and new. Jamie Campbell Bower costar, Sweeney Todd Seeing Tim and Johnny work together is very special. They have almost their own language . . . like when you have your best friend and you know what they’re going to say before they say it. So they can get one word out before bursting into laughter. Which is funny sometimes and other times you’re like, God, I wish I knew what was going on. It’s like, you lost me when you said ‘the’ at the beginning of the sentence. Tim helped a lot and is a very relaxed director, though I was terribly nervous—and Johnny was great too. On the first day of shooting, I was standing with him on a boat in the middle of the studio. And I’m like, “Is this actually happening? Am I here?” Now, Johnny can tell I’m a wreck. I’m shaking while there’s this huge fan blowing our hair wild. But then he leans over and says, “Jamie, that’s our biggest fan.” It was a great way to break the tension. Stephen J. Cannell executive producer, 21 Jump Street, Biography He would have much preferred to be on something darker and edgier. I never thought Johnny saw how good it was because he really disdained the show. He made it pretty well known that he didn't want to be on it. I remember once he came to the set dressed like Elton John. He had a powdered wig on and platform shoes. Belinda Carlisle as quoted in The Advocate Q: OK, Johnny Depp or Viggo— A: (Quickly) Johnny Depp, hands down. I love Johnny Depp. I have always loved Johnny Depp. Q:I know this is a stupid American question, but do you ever see him in France? A: Actually, I do. Well, wait, actually, no—I never see him in France. But I have seen him around on occasion, and we've worked together, and he comes to my shows, actually. He's always very, very nice. I love him. Quotes by: Joan Carson 21 Jump Street producer When I first saw Johnny he had a felt hat pulled down and these deep brown eyes peering out, with a coat that went to the floor. He was as cute as a bug's ear, but he looked like a waif. And I think that is part of appeal: He can be waiflike, but his charisma comes through. Darlene Cates What's Eating Gilbert Grape co-star I don't always agree with him, but I see where he's coming from. He fights hard for what he believes in, and he has a tendency to fight for other people as well, which sometimes puts another strand of gray in my hair. Johnny got down on his knees next to the bed, and looking over at my grandson, his eyes just softened. He said, ‘Awesome, just totally awesome.’ Most men don't realize what a miracle a baby is, but Johnny did. Johnny never left the set until he checked on me and told me goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. He did call me Momma when we were on set, but as I recall, he called me Darlene when we weren't. He was so good to me and treated me so sweetly. I really do miss him and wish I could visit with him for a while again. Johnny was in character from day one. He was Gilbert when I met him. He had the hair, chipped tooth, and wardrobe. I often wondered if I really met Johnny or if it was Gilbert that was so sweet and funny. But when he held my new grandson and whispered, “Awesome”, I knew it was Johnny and that someday he would be a great dad, because he understood what a incredible miracle that little boy was. Johnny does have his private side and there were times that he just laid low in his trailer . . . but then we all did that at times. He did prepare for the scene when he tore up the basement. It was the only one I witnessed him prepare for. Jeremiah Chechik director, Benny & Joon There are a lot of scenes in the movie that are in a way the set-pieces of the movie, where he does all of the kind of overt things. But for me the beauty was: Walking down a street. Just the most simple ways to move, which you find throughout the movie. The way he would turn; a reaction. Just a very, very subtle openness; a sense of heartbreak. He is so emotionally expressive, doing what seems to be so little. It was clear to me all along that he would bring a thoroughly original and exciting energy to the role of Sam. Robbie Coltrane From Hell co-star We hung around a lot together and there was a lot of drink taken in the middle of the night. We had a mutual appreciation society. He can recite the whole of Cracker and I can do Edward Scissorhands when I've had enough to drink. We did have a lot in common. Johnny is very non-Hollywood and a fan of the English style of acting, which is to just go and get on with it and stop measuring how big your trailer is. Dick Cook Disney studio chairman, (In a visit to the Disney lot about five years ago, Johnny mentioned to studio chairman Dick Cook that he'd been watching a lot of Disney movies with his daughter, loved them and was hoping to voice a character in a Pixar movie. Cook mentioned that the studio was developing a movie based on the theme-park ride “Pirates of the Caribbean.”) He said, ‘Like a real pirate movie? With swords?’ And I said, ‘Yeah—with swords.’ And he said, ‘I'm in.’ Kevin Cook contributing editor, Playboy, 1996 Johnny Depp often runs late. To him, a watch would be a handcuff. So I was pleased when he showed up less than an hour after the time we had arranged. He shook my hand and apologized, saying he had run his motorcycle into a pink Ford Escort. He led me into the quiet, dark Viper Room. We went downstairs to Depp’s sanctum. We talked all day. I was impressed by his intelligence and earnestness. He was often tongue-tied, struggling to shoehorn his convoluted thoughts into sentences. Watching him grope for words, I couldn’t help rooting for him to unearth the mots justes he was trying for. Quotes by: Morty Coyle frontman of the Imposters and Viper Room regular [Speaking of the Viper Room] Here's how I look at it: Johnny's a frustrated musician. I've seen him play when the doors close and no one's there. I think it's not unlike Dan Aykroyd and the House of Blues. You've got a guy who, for all intents and purposes, is not taken seriously for what he's really in love with, so he ends up making a home for himself to have that, you know? A castle for his kingdom. (Speaking of the Viper Room) I've seen Chrissie Hynde hanging out barefoot, after hours, talking religion with Johnny. I thought that was really, really cool. Quotes by: Wes Craven on casting Johnny in A Nightmare on Elm Street He had IT in spades, more than anyone I’ve ever met. He just had a very powerful and yet subtle personality. There was some sort of charisma about him. My teen-age daughter and her friend were there at the reading, and they absolutely flipped out over him. He’s got real sex appeal for women. Quotes by: Penelope Cruz, Co-star Blow Johnny has that magic charisma and he doesn't have to force it. I don't know if someone's born with that quality or if you have to work at it, but it's very rare. This character I play, Mirtha, was a lot different than the kind of character I have played before. I was nervous about this movie, but Johnny really helped me. He kept telling me, ‘You can do it, you can do it, you are doing great.’ He was wonderful. D ********************************************************** Quotes by: Liccy Dahl widow of Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Speaking of meeting Johnny years ago at a fund-raising dinner held at the country home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Johnny had been invited at the last minute by a Warner Bros. executive.) We twisted some arms to get his security check done in two days. Actually, I wasn't certain they would let him in. He had a slight reputation, you know. He invited me into his trailer [on the set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, several years ago] for a glass of wine. I was astonished to find he had two bottles of Cos d'Estournel sitting on his desk—a 1989 and a 1990. Jack Davenport Pirates of the Caribbean and The Libertine co-star He's delightful. He really is one of the nicer people I know. As an actor, he's incredibly imaginative and that's very interesting. If you're playing his straight man, which I am to an extent in the Pirates films, it's fun seeing what kind of work you can create together because he's such an accomplished and clever performer. Quotes by: Benicio Del Toro co-star, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Cannes Press Conference, Johnny was doing this character and they were all going like, ‘He’s doing this character really weird.’ The day Hunter showed up, it was like, ‘Oh my God! Hunter’s doing Johnny Depp!’ So he did a great job. The windows were rolled up, so I thought it would be cool and refreshing in there, [inside the red convertible] but he had the heater on. He was about to do some scene where he was stoned and here he is Method acting in the middle of the desert with the heater on so he'd look all dehydrated and crazy. He's always surprising you. And he makes it look really easy and fun. Peter DeLuise 21 Jump Street co-star, If you don't mention how shy he is, you'll be missing the boat on a lot of stuff. The reality is that he's a tiny, little, sensitive guy, and more times than not, he's overwhelmed with people coming up to him. He was the star. There was no doubt in anybody's mind, and I think he really resented that. On the show they would always randomly cut back to his face while he was listening to other people talk—he was forced to react and make faces, and that made him mad. So John [Whitmore, the director] came up with this great idea: he'd say “I'll tell you what, you don't have to make faces, I will give you the subtext of the scene. There is poop somewhere nearby, and at the beginning of the scene you sense there is poop, and then you actually smell the poop, and then you can't seem to get away from the poop, and then you need to know where the poop is. Now just work on that.” And if you look at the expression on Johnny's face, he is trying to find the poop. Ted Demme director, Blow He is so damn good-looking. I think Johnny's cheekbones are insane! When I called ‘Cut,’ I would hear this collective sigh going on behind my back. You get probably one chance in a lifetime to work with an actor as talented as Johnny. He's a film-maker, not just an actor. When you hire Johnny Depp as an actor . . . if you're looking for an actor to stand on the mark and do your lines for you, you're asking the wrong guy, because he's such a smart filmmaker. Johnny Depp is also a chameleon. He, in my opinion, has never done the same performance twice. He's a great actor, but his dedication is something that really, really impressed me a lot. Johnny is a very unique actor and no matter what, he never gives a dishonest take. From day one, he became George Jung and the nuances he brought to the part never ceased to amaze me. His instincts are impeccable, not just as an actor but as a person. Peter Dexter, writer speaking of a possible casting idea for one of his stories, Johnny Depp. I think if you told him he was going to play a 19-year-old black kid, he could do it. It'd be a challenge, but he's talented enough to pull anything off. Quotes Leonardo DiCaprio What's Eating Gilbert Grape co-star  He's cool. I was just a kid, and I wanted to hang around with him and be accepted by him—he played a lot of good-natured jokes on me. He's a great actor, and I was really proud to be working alongside him. He was extremely like Gilbert. But it wasn't something Johnny was trying to do. It naturally came out of him. I never quite understood what he was going through, because it wasn't some big emotional drama that was happening on the set every day—but subtle things I'd see in him. There's an element of Johnny that is extremely nice and extremely cool, but at the same time he's hard to figure out. That makes him interesting. Denise Di Novi producer, Edwards Scissorhands Johnny related on a real emotional level to the character’s pain and humor. We’re creating a new character and didn’t want an actor that carried baggage with him. Johnny could do any movie he wants, yet he chooses to take risks on emotionally complex parts. The camera likes his cheekbones but it also likes what comes through in his eyes. He’s deep, complex, intelligent, and sensitive. To me, that suggests he will fare well Quotes  by: J. P. Donleavy author, The Ginger Man, Donleavy has just seen The Libertine, Johnny's latest film, in which he plays the dark and decadent poet, the Earl of Rochester. ‘He is astonishing,’ he informs me, gravely. ‘My God! This man can play every single play of Shakespeare's, his acting perfection is such. Like Gielgud or Olivier, in that class or better. He is clearly one of the great performers of all time. Doesn't this man ever do anything wrong?’ Mr. Depp is fascinating, amusing and highly intelligent company. We weren't talking very long before we were onto molecules and oxygen and other complicated scientific matters. Then, during a production meeting in my hotel room, he spotted a wooden board with a piece of paper clipped to it on the bed and he ran his fingers along its worn surface. “My God, you use that do you?”  Yes, I said, I write all my pages on it longhand, the page clipped to the board. It's fascinating, in 35 years he's the first person to notice and comment on it. Mr. Depp is something else. Mr. Depp is a bright, intelligent and charming man. I met him in New York and if anybody plays Dangerfield, he'd be brilliant doing it. I don't know why this is, but after meeting him, you felt here's somebody who, if he found himself absolutely lost in a mountain range somewhere, and he had a knife, he'd find his way out. He just has a quality that says—my God, that's pretty suitable for Dangerfield. Robert Downey, Jr. LA Times, July 2007 I came up with Johnny Depp, right, we were right there and there was always respect and I watched him and his choices, which have been wonderful. And then I see Johnny Depp do Pirates [of the Caribbean] and then suddenly Depp is on a Slurpee cup. And the movies are good. And he's great in them. And I think: If Depp is on a Slurpee, I want to be on a Slurpee. Faye Dunaway He is incorruptible . . . he always believes in this pure way about love. He's got those kinds of values and it's instinctive with him. This isn't something he's worked out in his head. I love that he believes in love. I said, ‘How'd you get the accent?’ And he said he listened to [Ricardo] Montalban on Fantasy Island. Quotes by: Laurence Dunmore director, The Libertine I think that Rosamund [Pike] really demonstrated that enormous talent and ability that she has. She was not afraid to put up in front of the likes of Johnny Depp, who, however warm and empowering he is with his contribution, is still a force that is quite something to be around and be put with. For me as a director and for anybody else, he has this incredible intensity and charisma, which carries or aids this talent that he has. Johnny, to both of us [Laurence Dunmore, John Malkovich] was the one who could realize the character that is Rochester. It was so important for me that the character have the breadth and the presence with the audience that he could both shock and confront as well as charm and seduce. Johnny has this incredible ability. Johnny was always one for being able to step  into the role and step out of it in a way that sort of enabled him to finish the filming with the crew sort of cracked up with laughter—even if we had just filmed something sad a couple minutes earlier. It was full of a lot of emotion in that way, I mean there was one particular scene, not necessarily a funny anecdote, where he goes back home and he's dying and he has an argument with his wife and it's a very emotional scene where he's literally falling apart in front of her and very angry and very depressed and she likewise is pleading for him to just be himself and to live and to stop destroying himself in that way. At the end of it, Johnny leaned over—having given this incredible performance and tapped me on the side. I was operating the camera and he just said, ‘Breathe’ because I'd literally been holding my breath for the whole take. (The scene) with him doing the dance in the playhouse with Samantha Morton, I literally caught fire because I hit the chandelier with the camera, and to have Johnny and Samantha pull me out of the fire was an interesting experience, shall we say. I would personally pay a lot of money to work with either of them [Johnny Depp and John Malkovich] again and even give various limbs. They both brought an awful lot and I'm sure that we'll all work again either separately or together on various projects. [Depp is an] intuitive, generous actor. He researches an awful lot to find that character and bring it alive, then it comes through whenever he wants it to—he can play a compelling and believable session and at the end make a silly joke. It sits just below the surface. It's amazing to watch. Christophe d’Yvoire on the set of The Brave Johnny Depp, who doesn’t act in this scene, concentrates on directing, forming with his director of photography Vilko Filac a solid team. Depp is everywhere, shows special attention to everyone. You’re as likely to see him helping the stagehands install a rail as murmuring, by the ear of an actor, his last instructions before the take. You don’t see, here, any of those little normal hierarchies that often poison sets (seat reserved for the director, favored treatment at the canteen, etc.) In his naturalness, in his contact with others, in his way of pitching in with the crew, Depp is very reminiscent of Jarmusch and Kusturica. E ********************************************************* David Eimer Sunday Times Magazine, So paranoid is he about stardom that he's taken the concept of dressing down to almost ludicrous extremes. When I meet him in a Beverly Hills hotel room, he's wearing a scruffy sweater and trousers, as well as an absurdly crumpled and stained tan hat. With a roll-up dangling from his lower lip, the look is Steptoe and Son chic but he can't disguise those super-sharp cheekbones and he still turns heads when he walks through the lobby. For all that though, the 38-year-old Depp is good company. He thinks before he speaks, has a nice, dry sense of humor. A slow and deliberate conversationalist with a sly sense of humor, he crouches forward in his seat and occupies himself by rolling thin little cigarettes that go out almost immediately after he lights them. He deliberately downplays his looks, so his hair is greasy, he's unshaven and he's dressed in jeans and a grey shirt. He's also sporting two gold teeth, a hangover from playing a gypsy in Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried, opposite Christina Ricci. an Extra on The Libertine The afternoon filming is much better. [. . .] the Earl of Rochester is about to appear. He is riddled with syphilis, a silver mask covers his nose, sores disfigure his face, and he can walk only with the aid of two sticks. I am impressed by Johnny Depp. In sequence upon sequence of admirable acting, never once stumbling over his words, he has made this unlikely scenario seem plausible. Between each take I can see and hear him looking into space, psyching himself up for the following one by repeating his next lines over and over. Finally, to cap it all, he makes a complete circuit of the Chapter House delivering his speech of several minutes in a single take—his tour de force one might say. an Extra on Sweeney Todd from Ted & Terry’s Website I was an extra in the marketplace scene. I was standing beside the guy who was beside Helena Bonham Carter and Depp spoke/sang a few lines to me. But when I saw the film they had framed it so Helena is at the edge of the frame! You see my nose and my shoulder at one point, and you see me in a long shot for about a second. Oh well. Interesting thing was though that Depp switches on his charisma when he acts. We’d all be standing around and he’s just a guy but when Burton shouted action Johnny Depp just grew and when he looked at me there was an intense powerful force in him and I was like a rabbit in his headlights, then “Cut!” and it was gone again. I’d never seen that before with an actor. F ************************************************************ Gary Farmer co-star, Dead Man, Dead Man is sort of a road movie with a horse. Depp’s part is demanding. He’s pretty much half dead for most of the movie. It takes a lot of patience to be half dead and play down your energy, especially for someone like Johnny. Ilene Feldman agent for Nicolas Cage He came in with long hair and an earring and a T-shirt with cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve. He was not what someone usually looks like when they're coming in to look for an agent, which was what was so great about him: He just wasn't into it. Quotes by: Mark Forster director, Finding Neverland, Johnny is perfect to represent a man who never wants to grow up because you can see that he has this very accessible child inside him from the choices of movie roles he makes. He brought something very special to the role [of J. M. Barrie], underplaying it in a way that really pays homage to the man we both believe Barrie wanted to be. The closer he got to the kids, the more they trusted each other, and the more he opened up with his playfulness. He played with them, invited them into his trailer. The last day of shooting was almost tragic for the kids because they loved him so much, especially Freddie—he was so heartbroken and crying. They became a family. Their approaches are different. Dustin Hoffman definitely comes from a different school than Johnny does. Dustin is like a wonderful . . . I don't know too much about cars, but people say when you have an engine of like an old Ferrari that it has to run for awhile before it sounds perfect—after eight, nine, ten takes, he starts running. He's warming up and then like on take fifteen, sixteen, you're getting to the jewel of his work. Johnny is like take three, take four, and after take ten he starts getting tired. So if you have a scene where they both are in the shot, Johnny's best work is between take three and take five, that's when he peaks and Dustin peaks between eight and twenty five, somewhere in between there. So it was hard for Johnny because it's Dustin Hoffman, we both love him, he's an icon of ours, so you just try to keep going and keep his focus going. He manages to be so subtle that you think he's completely natural. He can go from a dramatic scene into a playful scene, back and forth, effortlessly. His performance is so intrinsically fascinating and complex that it's hard to see that he's actually acting. Roger Friedman FoxNews, Will this be his year? It seems every Oscar season I write that “this is Johnny Depp’s year” and it doesn’t happen. “I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you,” Depp said good-naturedly Monday. He is a genial, private, soft-spoken soul who is really not a good Oscar campaigner. But maybe this year the work will speak for itself, as he sings, in an accent no less, and even does a little dancing.   G *********************************************************** Christian Gaines Director of AFI FEST, Our challenge each year in choosing a tributee is to find someone who is a highly accomplished artist about whom we crave to know more. Johnny Depp is such an artist. He has made interesting, risky choices in his career and has evolved into one of the most absorbing actors of our time. Noel Gallagher Oasis songwriter and guitarist As it works out, he's actually one of the best guitarists I've ever seen. He's really really good. He doesn't actually think he's any good, but he's a fine guitarist. That's why we got him to play the slide guitar solo on ‘Fade in/Out’ on the last album, 'cos I couldn't play it. Afterwards, everybody . . . we were rehearsing for the tour: it took me about 6 months to work it out, what he was actually playing. Quotes by: Vincent Gallo Arizona Dream co-star, 1998 There is that whole part of him, that public figure who's invented this persona. And one can't help it: everyone wants to be cool and hip in their own legend. But the truth about him is that the real person—the real poor white kid from Florida that I got to know—is one of the more interesting people that I've met in my life. If you want to see Johnny Depp's greatest moments in film, look at the scenes where he has no dialogue. He's the most brilliant listener in a movie. There's a scene in Arizona Dream where we're at a movie theatre and they're showing Raging Bull. All he's doing is watching me hustle these three girls. I'm telling her 'We can make love, but do not touch my face or my hair.' And I start rambling on . . . And I say ‘Do you think fucking Johnny Depp—like, does anybody touch his face?’ I just said it, do y'now what I mean? I just said it, I just was goofing, 'cos I thought we were just shooting a rehearsal. Johnny is FLAWLESS in the scene. He's just brilliant in the scene. He doesn't flinch. I say his name in the scene and he doesn't flinch. He blows me off the screen, doing nothing in the scene. And it's my most animated scene in the film. Quotes by: Michael Gambon Sleepy Hollow costar My best joke on Johnny Depp was when we were filming inside this stately home in England. It's the only place where the Queen can ride her horse from Windsor without going on public roads.  Well, the Queen came past one day—and everyone was gobsmacked. She obviously had her entourage, but next to her was a friend of mine called Henry Herbert. He was the 17th Earl of Pembroke, and he's also a film director. As they went past, I'm standing there with all the actors and Henry shouts, ‘Hello Mike.’ So I reply: ‘Hello Henry, how are you, mate?’ The Queen waves like she was talking to me and on they went, but Johnny was speechless. He asked: ‘Do you know her?’ And I said: ‘Yeah, she's a mate of mine.’ And he believed that? Well, he did because it was such serendipity. You couldn't want for a better fake. I said to him, ‘I'm always nipping in her house for a cup of tea.’ Robert Garlock publicist, Secret Window, NY Post, This character (Mort) has a lot of Johnny in him. Those little asides here and there are very him, that very dry, deadpan humor. Quotes by: Terry Gilliam director, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, 2002, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus One of the great things about Johnny is that I don't think he has any ego or vanity when it comes to becoming a character. A lot of actors refuse going all the way in giving up their good looks . . . Whatever . . . Not so with Johnny. It took a while to get him to shave his head, but he knew that this was inevitable and he was going to do it. And it wasn't just that he shaves his head, but then he has a little toupee with 17 sad little hairs on it. [Laughing] So it's even SADDER baldness! And he did other things: he had plastic foams behind his ears [demonstrates] that stuck them out. He loses himself totally, and I think he's escaping from Johnny Depp a lot. It's hard to put your finger on why he's so extraordinary. But technically, he's astonishing, he's absolutely brilliant, with the kind of technique you'd only get if you'd spent 10 years at RADA—and it's all self-taught. You don't want to work with anyone else once you've worked with somebody as good as that. For me, it was like working with Python again—he's that fast and that funny and inventive. Johnny isn't a method actor, he's a thorough actor and immerses himself totally . . . most actors carry it with them. We say ‘cut’ and they're still in the character and that's not Johnny . . . It's like working with an English actor . . . we're talking about football and ‘action’ he's in character, then ‘cut’ and we're back to telling jokes again. I guess you can learn this degree of concentration, train yourself . . . but it just amazes me the gifts with which Johnny has been blessed. You begin to think that Johnny's a silent movie star, is what he really is, and he just happens to be born a little bit late. He has the same kind of skills as a Buster Keaton or a Charlie Chaplin has: they use their entire being. He won't flounder because he's so good. He's so talented. He may not be Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or any other Tom—are there any other Toms out there?—because he chooses interesting material and he doesn't want to be an icon. I saw Minority Report last night and I don't think I can watch Tom Cruise ever again. He's not a bad actor; he's just a totally predictable actor. There are no surprises. Johnny surprises me; I don't know what he's going to do next, I don't know where it's going to go sometimes, and nor does he. Toby Grosini was a fantastic role because it allows him to start off as a complete asshole and eventually reach a transcendental state. I wanted to take the entire range of Johnny and who he is and what he's capable of, and play with it. He tends to get these parts where he's lovely or innocent or whatever, and I thought, let's stretch him and let him really play on a broad canvas. He's much more interesting than the world knows. There's a sting to Johnny's tail that most people haven't seen, and I thought we should incorporate some of that. Quotes by: Alison Gilmor Winnipeg Free Press My editor told me she'd pay me to think about Johnny Depp. I fooled her. I think about Johnny Depp all the time—for free. As odd as Depp can be, though—and if you saw him reeling through Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in a paranoid, gun-toting mescaline haze, you'll know that's fairly odd—he is also disciplined. He keeps his loopiness inside precise boundaries, whether it’s channeling Buster Keaton in Benny & Joon or basing the character of Edward Scissorhands on a childhood pet. Letting Depp loose on a movie set is not like having Tom Greene or Sam Kinison or Andy Kaufman running around. The whole point of Johnny Depp is that he can't be predicted by market surveys or replicated by committee. He's a one-off. Richard Gladstein Producer, Finding Neverland Johnny continually re-invents himself, but he makes it look effortless. He's always fresh. Johnny has such a range, going through different periods, accents, worlds. He's on top right now. Still, you get the feeling he hasn't reached his peak yet . . . he has so much more in him. He's not out to prove anything to anyone. He just wants to create wonderful characters and have a great time. Pascal Gregory French actor and friend, I think he is more himself when he's not in his own country. I went to see Johnny in L.A. when he was shooting Don Juan DeMarco, and he was a different man to the man I knew in Paris: much more paranoiac, always on the lookout for the press. In Paris I saw a free man. H ********************************************************** Lasse Hallstrom- Director of Chocolat He's a little dangerous, he has a secret, he has great warmth—all those things you can see in his eyes. That's the key to his appeal. Naomie Harris Pirates co-star, AJC Staff, July, 2006 He's quite shy, really. Very humorous and witty. No airs or graces. When you get down to working, it's like working with anybody else. Patrick Hasburgh creator of 21 Jump Street, 1998 Historically, when a show becomes really popular, actors turn into giant assholes, but not Johnny. He once lit his underwear on fire in the middle of the set, but that was because no one had cleaned up his motor home in a long time. The show's success may prevent Johnny from taking features offers, but he's being cool about it, cooler than I'd be in his shoes. And if I were his age and looked like he does, I'd be dead by now. Girls follow him everywhere, screaming. Anne Heche Donnie Brasco co-star, June 1997 I wanted to work with Johnny Depp more than anything, and what with Mike Newell directing, I was totally in awe—although I had to pretend I wasn't! Quotes by: Peter Hedges author, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Premiere, February 1995 When I met him he had this really long hair. He showed up at the meeting, very quiet, really shy, and was teaching us magic tricks. I thought, I suppose he could be Gilbert. He has an almost burning desire to make ugly choices. He comes with a physical beauty that's just astonishing, and at the same time he has no interest in being that. Quotes by: Freddie Highmore, actor Telegraph Online, November 2007 I heard the role [of Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory] was coming up, so I read the book again and went along to the auditions. And then I got the part, which was a dream come true because I was quite sad when I left Finding Neverland because I thought I'd never see Johnny again. It's fantastic, you know, to be able to work twice with a—with a great person. Johnny’s a mate, a real first-rate guy. We became friends on Neverland, and we still email and text. He’s so normal—he says hello to everyone on set, from the director to the tea lady. Quote by: Dustin Hoffman Jam Movies interview, October 2003 He is one of the few actors of his generation who has made a concerted effort not to be a movie star. He's an artist. I think people like Johnny Depp are an exception. He is the current model of what an actor should be. His body of work speaks volumes. He was so under-rated for so long, but he will have longevity . . . and it is such a gratifying thrill to see he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Ann Hornaday The Washington Post, Depp is quickly proving to be the most larcenous man in show business by stealing every movie he's in. Nick Hornby author, A Long Way Down (purchased by Johnny's company Infinitum Nihil) I've always thought that he was really cool. I was very excited when I first heard from him. He's been so courteous and warm and genuine during the process of buying the book that he's even gone up in my estimation. Quotes by: Joe Howes creator of the Making of the Libertine DVD Documentary I have kind of a history of making a bad first impression. And I did it again when I first met Johnny Depp. In February 2004, I was a computer programmer. By April, I was working on the set at The Libertine, trying to get a paid film education. We were on the Isle of Man, and I knew he played guitar, and [some others and I] were going to get together at our cottage and jam. And the Isle of Man is its own country, and we went to all the music stores there and none of them rented out any musical equipment . . . and I said, ‘Wait a minute! You're Johnny Depp! Can't you just walk into any store in the world and go, I'm Johnny Depp and I want some drums!’  And then I just sighed to myself as I realized I had just made another bad first impression. But he was great, he just smiled and said, ‘Yeah, I suppose I could.’ Quotes by: Allen Hughes director, From Hell, 2003 Johnny brings a shocking amount of depth to the role. The way he plays things, you could take the words out and he could play it all out in his face. He's amazing. People know he can play dark stuff, but he brings a real edge to the role. It's funny how skinny Johnny is, all he eats is Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds and crappy food! He's proud of it. He takes his shirt off, and there's not one bit of fat. He's 38-years-old and he looks like he's 25. I ******************************************************** Quotes by: Chrissy Iley The Sunday Times Magazine I tell him that I once downed a very rare bottle of port, only three bottles left in the world, and the owner of the vineyard said Johnny Depp had just paid £2,000 for one of the other two. “Quite possible,” he says. “I was with a friend, a photographer; we used to draw together and paint. One night we bought a 1908 port, a Taylor. We bought it and drank it that night in an hour. It was perfect and amazing, like drinking history. It actually made us paint better, which is nice.” So why do people think Depp is a troubled bad boy? He doesn't seem bad to me. He's probably the most charming person I've ever touched the tattoos of. He's funny, kind, and gives himself totally in every moment. His eyes light up when I produce a gift for him. Because the film [The Libertine] features lots of 17th-century pornography and elegantly carved dildos, I bring him one from a chic Los Angeles sex-toy emporium called the Booty Parlor. It's one that's been named after him. He is genuinely ecstatic and starts waving it around. “I haven't had one of these for 20 years. It's gorgeous.” He says that he's going to put it in a frame similar to the ones fire extinguishers are held in. Depp the libertine is back? There's a pause before he says: “It'll have a sign: break only in an emergency.” He is still a pirate, going his own way, living by his own rules, which includes canceling all his one-on-one international interviews except for me. Now do you see why I love him? Maybe this is because Johnny would never let down anybody that he actually knew. Or maybe it was because the last time we met, I gave him a dildo named Johnny. There was a reason: he had just done The Libertine, playing the sexually omnivorous Earl of Rochester. “It was a gorgeous gift,” he says, smiling naughtily. “A great gift.” Quotes by: Betsy Israel US magazine, May 1993 Depp asks that we meet at Barney's Beanery, an L.A. dive decorated with rainbow-striped vinyl seats and pool tables—as if a biker bar had been crossed with Howard Johnson's. One and a half hours after our meeting time, Johnny Depp appears. He is dressed in a battered tux jacket draped over flannel shirt(s) that seem to cover one or more T-shirts. Unhooked suspenders slap against maroon bell-bottoms slit up the sides. Hair hangs in his face. He has on what appears to be combat boots. He yawns. Johnny Depp, on his own, consistently tries to be polite. He offers cigarettes, sugar for coffee; he asks considerate questions (“So, are you completely weirded being in L.A.?”) J ******************************************************* Quotes by: Tracy Jacobs : Depps Agent He was pitched the movie without a script. [Pirates 1] They basically said, ‘We're going to make a movie out of this theme-park ride. Want to do it?’ And he said, ‘Great! I'm in. I believe in the idea.’ I just thought, What idea, you lunatic? There have been times that he's misbehaved. I'm very tough on him about that stuff. He made a choice when he came out of the television series to take a left turn as opposed to a right. Do I want him to be in a movie that does $400 million? Of course! I'm not stupid! Let me make this really clear to you—he wants to be in a commercial movie. It just has to be the right timing and the right one, that's all. Hopefully he'll be available when those come along again. ‘I have taken the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.’ That would be the quote I would use to describe him in general. Quotes by: Jim Jarmusch director, Dead Man He really is one of the most precise and focused people I’ve ever worked with. The whole crew is kind of amazed by that. That’s a side of him that I’m not really familiar with, you know? I’m more familiar with seeing him fall asleep on the couch with the TV on all night. But it somehow fits; he’s full of paradoxes. —He’s moody and very emotional and very sensitive. In real life, sometimes, it’s hard for him to decide where to eat or what to do, but as an actor he’s very precise. I was staying at his house for a while when he was shooting Ed Wood, and sometimes I would pick him up from the set and we’d get dinner. It would take him three hours to stop being Ed Wood. I just wanted to slap him to get that stupid smile off his face. We’d be in this Thai restaurant and Johnny is going, ‘Hey, this pad Thai is fabulous.’ Johnny's a kind of strange tribal guy. He has little superstitions, and things that are comforting to him become his friends. Those boots are his good friends. Johnny’s a subtle actor, which I respect. He refuses to telegraph things or be dramatic and is always completely on top of whatever he’s doing. He’s physically beautiful too, of course, but Johnny isn’t just some model-type guy—as a person he has a very deep soul. He's treated like some movie star, but really he's an artist. Johnny had a Porsche, right, and he had to pick Marlon Brando up from his house—they were going somewhere—and Brando was like, ‘John, I'm so disappointed, I can't believe you have a Porsche, I don't want to be seen with you in this car, how can you possibly . . .’ This whole thing with Brando—‘I’m not riding in a Porsche with John’—he was really putting it down. It was really funny. He's just brilliant. I think it's a very serious Oscar contender. He himself thinks it's his best performance, which is really quite something. Working with him, he's so quick. You give him an idea and he just devours it and does something new with it. He even went to the British Museum and asked to see the manuscripts and being Quotes by: Stephen Jeffreys playwright, The Libertine, September, 2005 Johnny Depp, they let him touch them! Quotes by: Sal Jenco (best friend since kids) Watch it, I have pinkeye or something. If I have pinkeye, Johnny probably does, too. We’re connected by fungus. There is no bullshit involved with him. He's a completely straight guy. He took the onset of celebrity pretty much the same way he would have taken a four-dollar-an-hour job pumping gas. There are people who are driven—their motive to succeed is to have some form of attention and have people blow sunshine up their asses. And there are those who are interested in art, to contributing to being an artist, to having respect for themselves and the art they’re participating in. That’s what he does. Johnny Depp is not affected in any way, shape or form by Hollywood or the social conditioning of Hollywood and the entertainment business. I know him well. He could be pumping gas or in the top-grossing film of the 90’s—he’s the same guy. He is very generous with his spirit. I’ll tell you one thing. He was always cool. Mark Johnson executive producer, The Astronaut's Wife Depp's classic rugged American good looks combined with a sense of mystery going on behind the eyes works incredibly well for his character. He brings that quality of underlying danger to Spencer, the sense of unpredictability, the feeling of never really knowing who this man is and what his true intentions are. K ******************************************************** Georgia Kacandes executive producer, Blow, quoted in Johnny Depp, A Modern Rebel by Brian J. Robb He really got Jung's body language, he even started to look like him in a weird way. There was a whole subtle shift in Johnny between the time George is in his prime to when he is actively deteriorating under the stress. His body just collapses into itself and it's amazing. He physicalises the role without make-up or wardrobe. It's all in his psyche. Dan Kamin a mime hired by Johnny as coach and choreographer for Benny & Joon [Buster] Keaton's subtle movements are the hardest to capture, but Johnny got it, he did a marvelous job. But it wasn't a fluke—he was really committed to it and worked really hard on everything from the smallest moves on up. Mika Kaurismaki director, LA Without A Map, quoted in Johnny Depp, A Modern Rebel by Brian J. Robb For me Johnny Depp represents Hollywood at its best. He is very down to earth and makes his own decisions, but he is still a big star. He doesn't give his life over to any agents. Quotes by: David Kelly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory co-star, UK Press Conference, July 2005 Working with Johnny and Freddie [Highmore], I just can't begin to tell you, as the song says, because Johnny is extraordinary. I'd say it even if he wasn't here. [Laughter] He's a marvelous international movie star but he's a great deal more than that, he's a very gifted artist. There are lots of good movie stars at the moment, especially leading men in the States, but Johnny is miles ahead of that. He's wonderful to watch let alone play with. It was a joy and I feel very privileged. Quotes by: Laura Michelle Kelly actress, Sweeney Todd Johnny’s going to bring something completely natural, sinister and heartfelt to the part—his voice is great and he’s such a great friendly guy. I love working with him. I’m excited about the film coming out in December. . Umm well all I can say is that Johnny Depp can sing and everyone is going to really pleased. It was just brilliant fun and he was such an incredible man. He talked about his children all the time, he’s a great family man . . . Quotes by: D. Allan Kerr journalist, in an article about Dead Man’s Chest, July 2006 The genius of Johnny Depp is that when you're watching him on the screen you don't know what he's going to do next. It might be a roguish smile at an unexpected moment, it may be an inflection of speech that catches you off guard. He has a comic flair that invites you to root for him even when his character is decidedly unheroic. He brings to his characters a humanity that convinces audiences they are watching a true-to-life, quirks-and-all character, and not a performer playing a role. —Brando saw a moment and instinctively seized it. Whether it's true or not doesn't really matter—the scene LOOKS unscripted and spontaneous, and therefore real. That's the mark of a genius; someone who can see something small and brilliant, something no one else can see, and turn it into something special. It's fitting that Brando—who co-starred with Depp in the 1995 romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco—was a friend and mentor to the younger man before his death, because Depp appears to be a similar one-of-a-kind talent. Quotes by Keira Knightley Pirates of the Caribbean co-star On Johnny’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow:  It wasn't written like that. The character, as it was written, was completely straight, so that character is entirely his and Gore Verbinski's. They totally came up with that and none of us knew if it would work when we were doing it, because it was so off-the-wall and so not what was on the page. It's daring, and talk about risks! (A) You're making a pirate movie, that hasn't worked in God knows how long; (B) you're making a film based on a Disney theme park ride; and (C) you've got Johnny Depp going mental over there, and you're just thinking, 'How is this going to work?' You watch him playing Jack Sparrow, and he's loving it, and he's loving being in that world. He's still excited by it. Sometimes, he'll even say, ‘Was that OK?’  And I'm thinking, ‘You're Johnny Depp man, you know that's OK!’ But he doesn't. He's still going to [director] Gore [Verbinski] and asking for help. It's a privilege to see the human side of Johnny. It's really exciting. He's just such a nice guy. He's just so normal. I mean, you have a laugh and he's lived in France so he's watched a lot of British comedy shows so he knows British humor. And we just got on really well. And he's just a lovely guy. You have a chat, you have a cup of tea, and it's great. Johnny in particular, he chats, he has a cup of tea, he giggles a lot, he does the scene, he chats, he has another cup of tea. Johnny is so peaceful with himself and with his family. He's so fond of being a father—and he can make these terrific funny faces! Underneath, he's very sensitive and thoughtful and has a very generous side to him. I can't say enough good things about Johnny. I think he's fantastic. I think there's no question that he is one of the most talented actors around at the moment. The fact that he's been courageous enough to absolutely go for this character in a completely unique way, it completely sums up Johnny. He's possibly one of the most intelligent, most well-read people I know. Which, personally, I love, because like me, he's a school drop-out. He's incredibly generous and just gorgeous. And as my mom said, ‘He must have been brought up very well!’ So I had a great time working with him, and he made me laugh all the time which is all you can ask for when you're on a six-month shoot. I think you've got to take the risks. There's no point playing it safe, because either you'll get bored or the audiences will get bored. Sometimes, you're going to make mistakes, and that's fine, but you have to take the risks. I think Pirates is one of the prime examples of that with Johnny Depp's performance, and part of the reason that people love it so much is that you watch it and go, “Gutsy, really gutsy!” Quotes by David Koepp writer/director, Secret Window, You can rumple him, but you can’t make him unattractive. You can try, but it won’t happen. Johnny sort of popped into my head midway through the first draft, and he wouldn’t leave. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. In the first half of the movie, this guy is in the house not doing anything. I really needed an actor who’s inventive and who will make enough idiosyncratic choices to make it entertaining to watch. And let’s face it, Johnny Depp could make a nap interesting to watch. He's one of our great actors, so inventive and so different every time. There is an old saying that if you aim for hit nothing, but if you aim for the specific, you might hit the universal . . . that sums up the body of Johnny's work. He's not terrible volatile—he just doesn't want to be shut down. He's got a great gift. He works hard. He's bold and comes across trying something both really well-thought-out and a little bit dangerous. He's got a lot of ideas and he wants to try them. You have to not be threatened by that. You want someone who's going to bring something to the party and not just be some wonk who shows up and you have to prod them into a performance. I talked him out of a few things and he talked me out of a few things. And I talked him into some, and he talked me into some. It worked out nicely. I'm not really sure why he wanted to do it. [Secret Window] I'm grateful, but it's hard to be certain of what motivates Johnny. It's possible he just wanted to play a character named Mort. I don't know that this film would have worked without him. He made napping and eating a sandwich interesting activities, and I don't know anyone else who could do that. Johnny has a way of finding humor in things that don't necessarily seem funny. There's a scene in a post office which is so delightfully weird, I had trouble not laughing behind the camera while I was filming it—he's just so odd in it. He's a sponge. He picks up what's going on around him. Like that jaw thing that he does—I was doing that because I was grinding my teeth because I wasn't sleeping at night. So he just started doing it throughout the movie. You've got to be careful what you do around him because he'll steal it from you. Quotes by: Yarrow Kraner announcing Johnny Depp as the recipient of the Hatch Festival’s Gary Cooper Award, 2005 Johnny Depp is a pioneer, a groundbreaker in his own right. He's taken many risks and is one of the few modern day actors that do not conform to Hollywood's template, but defines himself with characters that are innovative and provocative. There is no other Johnny Depp just as there is no other Gary Cooper. *********************************************************	oo