The
Johnny Depp Zone
Interview
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Girls
Swoon, Pirates Duel and Johnny Depp Rolls Along
by
Larry Carroll
MTV.com
June 26, 2006
The Pirates of the Caribbean star stares down failure and puts words in a naughty parrot's mouth.
Like
Captain Jack
Sparrow himself, Johnny Depp is a man, a mystery and something of a
legend who has young lasses swooning wherever he goes. MTV News
recently unearthed some gold of its own while dueling with Depp over
would-be sequels, his obscure classics and his weeping fans. Dead
Man's Chest sails into theaters July 7; the third
chapter, At World's End, resumes filming in
August.
MTV:
If you woke up tomorrow and found that you were a pirate, what would
you want to do?
Johnny Depp: What would I wanna do? I'd
be chasing the horizon, wouldn't I? [He laughs.] I'd
escape.
MTV: You've been in this business for more than
20 years, you've made a lot of movies we love, but up until this
point you've avoided sequels. Why?
JD: It wasn't by
design or choice. I always thought, years and years ago, that there
should have been a sequel to Edward Scissorhands.
I guess it just wasn't necessary. It's funny because at the end of
the first Pirates film I wasn't anywhere
near
ready to say goodbye to Captain Jack. So I was very happy to be given
the opportunity to explore a little more, and step back into those
shoes.
MTV: Some actors hate sequels, thinking they're
just rehashes. But is there a skill to making them?
JD:
It's a great challenge for the writers — thinking in terms of
a
trilogy and the math that's involved. Making this fit here and making
that make sense over there. And all that correlates to something that
happened in Pirates 1, and it'll go all the
way
to Pirates 3. That's madness! For those
guys
to be able to put that together, and at the same time be able to keep
each film individual and unique so it has its own foundation to stand
on, it's kind of miraculous.
MTV: People are describing
Captain Jack as the first iconic film character of the 21st century.
Is it dangerous for an actor to listen to those things before
reprising a character?
JD: I think there's a danger in
believing anything — taking any of it to heart, or taking any
of it
seriously. Starting to buy your own press is the biggest no-no in the
world, man. I think you need to, or at least I need to, stay focused
on what's real. The reason that I'm around is the work. I just keep
moving forward.
MTV: Whenever people bring up your
performance as Jack Sparrow, I tell them, "You wanna see Depp
really blow your mind? Rent Dead Man."
JD:
Yeah, that's a nice film. Thank you.
MTV: After so many
great performances, Jack Sparrow might be the one that overshadows
all the rest. Does that bother you?
JD: It doesn't
bother me, no. I'm proud of the role and of the films. See, the funny
thing is I haven't changed. My approach, my process to the work
hasn't changed at all. I'm still the same as I was when I was
considered, in the language of Hollywood, to be "poison"
[at the box office]. I'm still doing the same things today.
MTV:
Orlando
Bloom has said that once the Pirates films
are
over, he wants to get away from the period stuff and establish
himself in some contemporary films. You've been stereotyped and
pigeonholed numerous times in your career and gotten out of it. What
advice would you have for him?
JD: For Orlando? Oh boy,
I don't know if there's any advice I can give anybody. [He
laughs.] I think the most important thing anyone can do is
just
to follow your instincts. If you're afraid to take a risk or to go
outside the box that you are perceived to sort of roam around in,
it's okay — you should feel fear. You
should acknowledge it,
and look it in the eye. Then just keep moving forward. I think it's
okay for an actor to actually take the chance of failing. [You
should] teeter on the brink of failure.
MTV: Being on
the set of one of the biggest productions of all time [with
the Pirates films], did you ever think,
"I'd love
to take this away from Gore Verbinski, hand it over to [Dead
Man
director and indie veteran] Jim Jarmusch and see what he'd do with
all this power"?
JD: Well, it's a different
language. Someone like Jim, he wouldn't want to bounce around in this
arena. Jim's stuff comes from Jim; I think they're all his original
stories. Gore is equally amazing to watch work, though. Here's how
great the guy is: You could actually do the entire movie, as an
actor, without having read the script. I mean, I wouldn't suggest it.
[He laughs.] But he's that tapped into what just
happened
before, and the underlying subtext of each scene. At the same time,
he's doing all this huge action stuff. He's kind of a miracle.
MTV:
About 20 years ago, you were on 21 Jump Street
and
became famous as a pin-up idol for teenage girls. You turned 43
earlier this month and teenage girls are still crazy about you. Which
period was more chaotic?
JD: [He fidgets uneasily.]
You know — I'll have to get back to you on that.
MTV:
What's it like to walk down a red carpet as Johnny Depp?
JD:
It's overwhelming, you know? It's a little overwhelming, but people
are just real nice. They're super sweet.
MTV: At the
premiere, people were swooning, some were even crying, just because
they got a glimpse of you. What's that like?
JD: I
actually came to [the premiere] to see you cry. [He
laughs.] I wanted to see if you'd weep.
MTV: If you
had a parrot on your shoulder, what would it have to say?
JD:
[He laughs again.] It would say, "I just took a shit
on
you, man."
-- Photos added by Zone editors