Interviews

Here is an interview from E! online, by Verona Mixon. (1999)

What's eating Johnny Depp? The enigmatic star of Tim Burton's stylish and creepy Sleepy Hollow sounds off on his life (and wife?) abroad, being a dad, pleasing Polanski and that damned Hollywood "list."

In this new version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, you play Ichabod Crane, a progressive 18th-century New York detective who investigates a string of rather grisly decapitation murders. How familiar were you with the original Sleepy Hollow story?
The Disney cartoon version was mandatory watching every Halloween. I knew about Ichabod Crane through Bing Crosby's narration.

Did it scare you as a kid?
The cartoon didn't scare me as much as the book. I remember reading the book in school. It's a very dark [book] for a little kid. I hated having to wake up in the middle of the night to walk to my bathroom--where suddenly there was a six-foot-seven-inch, headless figure with a sword and a horse!

You certainly don't look like Ichabod Crane.
[Smiles] I tried. When I read the script, I called [director] Tim Burton and said, "We should get prosthetics, some good makeup people, some ears, and do something with my hands to extend the fingers." There was a long silence on the other end of the telephone. The upper echelon at Paramount wasn't very enthusiastic about that. I think they thought it was bad enough they'd cast Johnny Depp--enough, already!

I understand the horse you ride in the movie was less than cooperative.
I had an incident every day. I'll tell you about my horse, Gunpowder. I liked him very much. His real name is Goldeneye. He had no respect at all for movies, moviemaking, directors or actors. All he wanted to do was eat, sleep and break wind. He was also a vicious, vicious creature. He tried to bite me and throw me, but I have a very deep sense of survival. I think there's a shot in the film where I tried to jump onto the horse. I never got up gracefully.

So, what about Christina Ricci? Surely she had to be more fun to work with than an equine with an attitude.
She's a great kid. It's amazing that I first met Christina--on the set of Mermaids--when she was 8 or 9 years old.

You were dating Winona then.
Yeah. Christina was a very sweet kid. And I watched her grow up over the years, so it was odd, to say the least, to have to look at her across the table as a love interest.

You also have Ninth Gate--directed by Roman Polanski--coming out soon. He's known as a demanding perfectionist. Did he make you do line reading?
No, luckily he didn't do that with me, because I...I'm not sure what would have happened. I'd probably still be in jail.

Come on, you're bigger than he is. You'd have won that fight.
Let's hope.

In Ninth Gate, you play a guy who's hired by a devil worshipper posing as a scholar to find some extremely rare volumes on satanic worship. What was that part like?
I thought it was an interesting character. He's kind of a slimy guy who, on the surface, has the possibility of being a charming guy.

I'm definitely hearing some hesitancy in your voice about the whole project.
You picked up on that? [Teasing] Damn it! Listen, it was not an easy film to make--only because Roman is pretty set in his ways. I mean, I love the guy--he's really fascinating and highly, highly, highly intelligent. He's funny and unbelievably cultured. He's...

A dictator?
[Laughs] Now, now. He's very set in his ways, and they're kind of rigid.

The exact opposite of Tim Burton.
It was like an exorcism! Don't get me wrong; I do like Roman very much.

But you knew this going in, didn't you? You both were at Cannes to announce the project.
I'd heard things.

Did you think they were based on truth?
Sometimes. It depends on whom you hear them from. Sometimes I'll investigate them.

Well, speaking of impressions, how do you think Hollywood perceives you?
I don't think they like me very much.

But you work all the time. How could they not like you?
I don't know. I just get that feeling. Maybe I'm paranoid.

You once said you based your whole career on failure. What did you mean by that?
It's not like I planned it that way. I guess I'm still shocked that I'm able to get jobs at major studios. You know, there's a certain list in Hollywood--a Top 10 or a Top Five list--and I don't know anyone who has fluctuated more than I have in terms of being on the list. "Oh! He's gone"..."Oh, my God! He's back on the list!" or "He's in a holding pattern--should we put him back on the list? Let's see how the movie does."

You live pretty much full-time in France. Doesn't that make the Hollywood list that much harder to make?
Yes.

Do you care?
No.

You don't care about getting good roles and being viable competition?
There are necessary evils. Money is an important thing in terms of representing freedom in our world. And now I have a daughter to think about. It's really the first time I've thought about the future and what it could be.

Don't you miss the States?
I do miss certain things. But I don't miss turning on the television and seeing kidnappings, murders and horrible disasters--natural or otherwise.

What, don't they have crime in France?
Of course. On a smaller scale [they've] got that stuff. But when I turned on the news the other day [in L.A.], it was the most frightening thing I've ever seen. And then two days ago, in New York, I was watching TV with my sister, and I saw this show called [World's Scariest Police Chases]. My jaw was sitting open.

Being away so much, do you have anything to do with running your Hollywood nightclub, the Viper Room?
Whenever I'm in town--whenever I'm in the United States.

It's considered one of the places to go in L.A.
So is my house.

You have a baby daughter with French singer Vanessa Paradis. What's been the most surprising thing about being a dad?
Just that it's me! The fact that I am the dad is the most surprising thing. I love my family very much. And here's the part where I become the cliché father: I have never in my life thought it was possible to feel such deep love, such an incredible connection to this amazing little human being. She's an angel.

If you're so surprised to be a dad, what made you decide to have a child in the first place?
I don't know if I ever made the decision.

It just happened?
Well, I really believe the kid chose to come to us, rather than us saying, "Let's have a baby now." Everything was in the right place, and it just happened that way.

Sort of a big step into adulthood.
I'm not sure I'm adult yet.

Will you and Vanessa ever marry?
It's up to the kid. The kid rules the roost.

What's life like in Paris?
For the most part, it's amazing. It's great. We don't have to deal with the paparazzi trying to take a photograph of us with our baby girl--which is really unfair. I mean, do what you want with me or Vanessa in terms of that kind of thing, but leave the kid alone.

France has good privacy laws, right?
Yeah, but there is a hideous magazine over there that broke the law and put my daughter's face in the magazine. I went ballistic.

What was the magazine?
It starts with a V and ends with an I. That's all I'll say.

Did you sue?
When something like that happens, you go beyond the court system and threaten them, essentially.

That's not how you ended up with the gold teeth, is it?
That's from another film, The Man Who Cried, a sci-fi movie. I play a Romanian gypsy. I had gold teeth made, and the dentist bonded them to my existing teeth.

Are you going to keep them?
Well, it's a pretty violent process to take them off. So, I'll keep them until they become a problem. Trips to the dentist--I like to postpone that kind of thing.

INTERVIEWS FROM SECRET WINDOW PRESS ON TV

San Francisco area JD interview segment

Transcribed by Johnnylubber

SF Bay Area station: KRON4
The interview portion:
Liam Mayclem: Johnny is live by satellite. Mr. Johnny Depp.
Bonjour...
Johnny: (laughs, plays with right ear) Hi.
Liam: Listen before we get into the talk about your film, "Secret Window", I just want to say congratulations on your Oscar nominatinon, mate, and that's just gotta feel good just to be being recognized by your peers, isn't it?
Johnny: Oh, amazing, you know? Thank you very much. Yeah, I was,uh, I was very honored to uh, to be rangled into that grouping of actors, there's a lot of, that's a lot of great people in there. So yeah, thank you.
Liam: Johnny, in "Secret Window", it's a psychological thriller, ah, based on a Steven King story, and you play a sort of blocked novelist who's deserted by his wife and also, by inspiration. Tell us more about the character.
Johnny: (explains with hand gestures galore) Yeah, I play a guy named Mort Rainey who's really having a bad week,you know, a bad couple of months, in fact, his uh, his wife has left and fallen in love with someone else. Ah, he's got the worst case of writer's block anyone can have. And then suddenly he's approached by this ah kind of menacing ah, ah, character who accuses him of stealing his story. The guy begins to stalk him, horrible things start happening, and uh,it's just a bad, bumpy ride all the way down the line. (clip of "you stole my story")
Liam: Tell us about taking on this role, in all these roles you appear to take, you seem to make really smart choices. What does a script have to have for you to get aboard?
Johnny: You look for something kind of you know, refreshing, you're looking to be surprised, you know? You're looking for something that maybe you haven't seen so much of before.
Liam: When you chose Pirates of the Caribbean, what, in particular part jumped out at you then, Johnny? I know pretty soon the character flowered into part Pepe Le Pew, part Keith Richards. How did that all come about? And what was it about the script? And by the way, (attempts Keith accent, I believe Liam is Australian and speaks with an Aussie accent normally) did you ever talk to Keith Richards about the role and what did he think about it, Johnny? (way too many questions in a row, IMHO)
Johnny: (laughs) I did, yeah, I did end up speakig to Keith about it, and he was uh, bless him, a real gentlemen about it, um, you know, I did explain to him that I wasn't doing an impersonation of him, that it was just, you know, kind of an inspiration. You know, he was an inspiration to the charcter and ah, um, yeah, he was a real gent, a real gent.
Liam: He's a lovable jolly gent, he is, mate. And you're going to come back and reprise the roll, aren't you?
Johnny: (smilng when he talks about Captain Jack Sparrow) They're, they're talking about doing the sequel, yeah, next year, so uh, boy I'm all for it, I'm ready, I'd love to get back into that character again and I think it would be....yeah, I think there's so many possibilities of where, where we can go and new adventures and stuff, and I'm very excited about it.
Liam: Looks like you're exactly where you need to be in life and you've got a lot of fans in the Bay Area, so if you'd just sign off by giving a quick wave to them and Good luck to mate, all right. Johnny: Thanks very much for everything (tips his hat, waves). Thank you, see ya, bye.

Intro Katie: It has been 20 years since Nightmare on Elm Street introduced us all to Johnny Depp and what a ride it's been. This year alone, Depp was nominated for an Oscar, announced plans to team up once again with Tim Burton, and he's out today with another thriller called Secret Window. NBC's Dawna Friesen caught up with Depp in England.
Roll clip SW with voiceover from Dawna: It looks like another edgy Johnny Depp film. This time, a thriller. Depp plays Mort Rainey, a writer haunted by his past; accused of plagiarism, at war with his inner demons.
Dawna to Johnny: What is it that attracted you to this role because I know that you, you don't tend to take on roles unless there is something in it, that you sort of connect with?
Johnny nods like he's heard this question a million times: I play a character, I play Mort, who didn't want to deal with people, he just, he was reasonably....infinitely more comfortable just by himself, on his couch, you know, not worrying about if his hair was combed. It definitely isn't a conventional thriller.
Dawna voice over as clips roll for Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and POTC: A non-conformist at heart, Depp has built his career on quirky roles like the other-worldly Edward Scissorhands, the cross-dressing movie director, Ed Wood, and last year, the rakish Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean which won him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Dawna to Johnny, referring to POTC: Found such success, I mean just a huge hit.
Johnny nods: Yeah, it was amazing.
Dawna: Did that surprise you?
Johnny nods again: Oh yeah, completely.
Dawna: Cause you're not, you've said that you're not Mr. Blockbuster, you're not... you're sort of anti-Hollywood and yet there you are, sort of front and center.
Johnny: You know it's just never been my goal, you know? I mean, you know, you don't start a film and approach a character with the idea of hey this is gonna be giant and I'll make a zillion dollars. You know, that would, that would really be cheating.
Dawna: And the Oscar nomination, does that, does that have a similar kind of meaning for you?
Johnny: Oh yeah, I'll probably never get over that shock. But, uh, um, yeah, I mean, it was very, very, flattering. Certainly I didn't expect it, especially for, you know, a character like that or a performance like that. (roll clip, Welcome to the Caribbean, luv)
Johnny: So weird.
Dawna: It's weird?
Johnny: Sure, you know.. .
Dawna: Why? Because you're just a guy kinda doing a job?
Johnny: I don't know, you know, I mean, it's just weird, you know? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's my job, this is my, uh, this is my job in the same way that you know when I was a kid I pumped gas and I worked construction, and I printed T-shirts, and various other things. I, you know, you're never really ready for that kind of thing.
Dawna while pics of family are shown: Depp says having children of his own made it easier to play Captain Jack.
Johnny: Yeah maybe, maybe the fact that I, you know, watched a billion, um, Disney animated features over the last 5 years, um, that, that must have contributed on some level.
Dawna while pics of JD & VP are show: And Depp says becoming a family man and turning 40 has centered him.
Johnny: I'm more comfortable in my own skin. Certainly since the uh, you know, since the arrival of, of my children, that, that really brings one down to earth and uh, you know, puts everything in perspective.
Dawna: For one thing, Depp has decided to havd a lot more fun this year.
Johnny: I'm gonna do Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Tim Burton, um, which should be, I mean, you know, should be a ball. It's always great to, you know, to go to work with Tim and I'm looking really forward to that.
Dawna: If 20 years ago, when you made your first film, if someone had sat you down and then said, hey listen, in 20 years, you're going to be an Oscar-nominee, you're going to be a sex symbol around the world, you're going to be a father, you're going to have a huge successful career, sort of waiting for you, what would you have said?
Johnny: I would have...couldn't have, couldn't have written it, couldn't have dreamed it better. Especially the kids, you know, especially my girl and my kids, I couldn't, you know, I coudld't have uh,...I mean, it's better than anything ever, it's better than any dream, or, or wish, you know, it's a million times better.
Outro: Katie: Johnny Depp with NBC's Dawna Frieson

If you want to read more interviews with Johnny, or if u'd like to read some with Vanessa Paradis, check out

Interviews