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Johnny Depp Interview – Getting Into Character with Tim Burton on Corpse Bride – From Fred Topel for About.com.

Why Johnny Depp Made Corpse Bride: Especially since having my first child, I’ve been watching nothing but animated films now. So I’ve really developed a respect and love for them. But more than anything, what drew me to this was Tim. We were just commencing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and he said, Hey, I’ve got this other thing, Corpse Bride, maybe take a look at it. So I read it and loved it, but it somehow didn’t occur to me that we were going to be doing it at the same time.

Johnny Depp on Rushing Into Character in Corpse Bride: I thought it was going to be like months down the road so I would have some time later to prepare for the character. So you could imagine my surprise when, as I was very, very focused on Wonka, Tim arrives on set and says, Hey, you know, maybe tonight we’ll go and record some of Corpse Bride. I didn’t know what the guy was going to sound like or anything. Good fun though.

Johnny Depp on His Character, Victor, in Corpse Bride: Well, he felt like a guy that I knew. When I read it, he didn’t feel all that dissimilar from other characters that I’ve played for time. It was just the base emotional feeling.

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Johnny Depp, the chameleon-like actor who has played so many different roles that he may not have a self, says he’s finally found a role he wants to stay in: the buccaneer Captain Jack Sparrow.

Sequels frighten Depp, but he said the chance to reprise his role as the suave Sparrow in the next two editions of Pirates of the Caribbean was too delicious to pass up.

For an actor who has received far more critical praise than box office success, it is not about the money.

“More than it having anything to do with money, or franchise, or hopefully continued success, it actually had … more to do with selfishly being able to meet up with that character again,” Depp said in an interview at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday.

Depp said he’s often felt separation anxiety when he finishes a film, notably after his breakthrough performance in Edward Scissorhands, also directed by Burton.

But he said he developed a deep affinity with Jack Sparrow, a character based on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp was nominated for a best actor Oscar for the role.

Two Pirates’ sequels are filming in the Bahamas and are slated for release in 2006 and 2007.

copyright Television New Zealand Limited

This is an article excerpt. To view the article in full, please visit the tvnz.co.nz. website.

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Despite the bad boy image he used to project during his younger years, Johnny Depp comes off as a soft-spoken, shy artist when it comes to doing interviews. That’s not to say that he’s a bad interview. In fact, I would say that our interviews with Johnny Depp contain some of the most insightful and interesting takes on the art of acting. – Ethan Aames for Cinema Confidential.

Q: The last two movies, Pirates and Charlie, had you playing characters that were way over the top. Do you prefer to play things closer to you or have nothing to do with you?

JOHNNY: Any actor with any semblance of sanity or insanity will tell you that our biggest fear is to go anywhere near where you are. It’s O.K. to use certain truths. It’s a great challenge and I’ve touched on it here and there in more charactery parts, like Libertine coming up. I, more than anything, am more interested in exploring one area and saying that it’s territory covered and seeing what happens next. Where do you go next?

There is that voice of Marlon Brando’s that reverbs to me. One time, he said (Johnny in Marlon Brando voice) How many movies do you do a year? Two or three. And he said, You gotta watch yourself. I said, Why? He says,

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TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 – He shuns stardom, but Johnny Depp is still Hollywood royalty, writes Gayle MacDonald.

Before Johnny Depp entered the ballroom at the Sutton Place hotel this weekend, the room was abuzz with anticipation. Would he be shorter or taller than imagined? Would he be sporting his goatee and one of his frumpy hats? Would his deep-brown, usually unkempt locks, be long, short or pulled back in a pony tail?

Well, damned if any of us, sitting in the seats behind a sea of flash-bulb-frenzied paparazzi, had a clue. Practically frothing at the actor’s arrival, they screamed Depp’s name — “Turn left Johnny! Turn right Johnny!” — virtually ignoring the not-exactly lightweight company Depp was in, namely director Tim Burton (with whom the actor has made five films) and Burton’s feisty partner, Helena Bonham Carter, all here to talk about their new film, the stop-motion romance Corpse Bride.

When the moderator finally managed to get the mob in front to take their seats, Depp looked relieved but kind of stunned. He grimaced at Burton and Carter, and for the first 10 minutes of the press conference could not quite meet the gaze of anyone in the crowd.

There is celebrity elite, and then there is Hollywood royalty. And despite years of trying to shun stardom — and stridently searching for roles that were distinctly non-mainstream — Depp has still somehow landed himself in the surreal realm of the latter category.

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Johnny Depp (Willy Wonka), Director Tim Burton, David Kelley (Grandpa Joe), and Freddie Highmore (Charlie Bucket) were recently interviewed at a press conference held in London on July 16, 2005. The subject was to discuss their much anticipated new movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This unoffical transcript was compiled by Jack Foley.

Q. For the actors, having real sets must make a huge difference, I would have thought?

A: Oh yeah. I mean to have all that stuff around you to react to and especially for the kids I imagine, you know?

Q. You always seem to play eccentric characters in film like Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and now Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. How much of you is there in these films?

Burton: We’ve got lots of problems. (Laughter). So we like to work them out in films.

Depp: It is kind of therapeutic to go in and make an ass of yourself and be paid for it. There’s something to be said for that. As an actor, with any character you play, you have to bring as much of your own truth to the character as possible and then you make an ass of yourself.

Q: How do you go about finding the character of Willy Wonka? Obviously, you don’t want to go down the route that was done in the 1971 film, so where do you get the character from?

A: We’re all very lucky to have the book.

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Q: You’ve been very open about your influences for Captain Jack Sparrow. Was there anyone who was your model for Wonka?

JOHNNY DEPP: On this film with Willy Wonka there wasn’t specifically any one or two guys that were models, so to speak, for the character, but there were memories that I have of when I was a little kid of watching children’s shows and children show hosts. And I distinctly remember, even at that age, their speech pattern and their kind of musical quality of the way they’re speaking to the camera, to the children. I thought, even then, it was really strange. I thought it was super bizarre because it was all, “Hello, children. How are you??” You know, that kind of thing. Guys that I watched like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and Uncle Al became that main part of the ingredient. And game show hosts that I remember seeing and watching and thinking, “My God! They can’t be like that at home. They can’t actually be like that.” Which sort of led me to believe that they put on a mask to get that all-important positive smile. So, that was the other side of Wonka. And then doing stuff for the look of Wonka was incredibly important. It was incredibly important to have a feel for it and to be able to put that costume on and click those veneers into my mouth and the teeth, which actually changed the shape of my face a little bit.

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“Johnny is a great character actor,” says director Tim Burton. “A character actor in the form of a leading man – by Steve Head – July 13, 2005 – Ign.com

Steve Head: You do tend to move around from character to character? Is that a reflection of your life? Do you think you’ll now do something completely different than Jack Sparrow or Willy Wonka?

Johnny DEPP: About moving around, I don’t want to be stuck in one spot. My childhood was spent moving around. We were total nomads. Like gypsies just moving from one place to another all of the time and it’s just kind of ingrained into my psyche, into my being. So, I couldn’t stand being in one spot for too long a period of time. Essentially we spilt the year out. Six months in Los Angeles and six months in France. It just seems to work for us. I like, very selfishly and very simply, I like keeping a distance from Hollywood and the sort of whatever… social expectations in Hollywood… because I’m not good at it. I’m really not good at that kind of game. I find great comfort in having that distance because I don’t have the pressure or responsibility of knowing who’s the top dog this week and who’s out from last week. I don’t know who anybody is and I really like it.

Copyright 1996-2005,

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Q. You’ve said every movie you’ve done has been for your children, even before they were born. What do you mean by that?

In the late ’80s when I was on that TV show “21 Jump Street” – on the one hand it was a great thing. It was an incredible learning experience. It did a lot for me. I was making money for the first time in my life. That was not bad. There were a lot of very positive aspects to that situation. There were also negative aspects. At that time as a television actor, it was very, very difficult to break into films.

I was released [from “Jump Street”] while I was doing “Edward Scissorhands,” and I swore to myself that I would only work on these films or these projects that I would at least someday be able to say to my kids, “That was all me. That’s pure me. I didn’t sell out, because I don’t want you to be mortified or embarrassed.” So that was what was in my head at the time, just thinking if I am going to do this, I am going to do it on my terms.

Q. Why do you and Tim Burton work so well together?

It all stems from Tim’s bravery. Early on for “Edward Scissorhands” we had this great meeting and somehow connected. I never expected that he would cast me in that role.

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Once known as a Hollywood bad boy, Johnny Depp has grown into more of a suburban dad. By ALICIA QUARLES – Wednesday, July 13, 2005.

Q. It seems you haven’t done a straight-up Hollywood film. Would you ever?

Depp: There were a few things that came around the bend, that they tried to get me involved in. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The seed for me was tainted. There was no redemption in there. It was kind of a sellout for a [lot] of money. You would go in and do the work and take the money, but it wasn’t anything that you would be particularly proud of. That, I couldn’t do. I’ve attempted things in the past where people thought I tried to sell out. For example I did this film “Nick of Time” with [director] John Badham. I don’t know if the film was particularly good. I did that film not for money, or not to sell out. I didn’t think it was going to be successful at all. I didn’t care. I did it because I wanted to work with Christopher Walken and I wanted to work with John Badham. The script was very much like an old-school Hitchcock film. All of those elements were intriguing to me, so I took it.

Copyright

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On July 13, 2005 Johnny Depp appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote his new dazzler eye-catching children’s film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Depp who lights up the screen as the deliciously-dotty confectioner teamed up yet once again with the equally brillant director Tim Burton and together they produced a sweet sensation…

Introduction

Depp: Thank you.

Leno: Thanks for coming.

Depp: Thank you for having me.

lots of screaming – Depp is looking to Leno for help

Leno: Well, let’s talk to the guy. Johnny laughs Looking through your bio, you used to be a mechanic?

Depp: In a way…yeah…in a way. Yeah…I was a…I was a gas station attendant, and I…so I used to pump gas and the whole thing, and then one day the owner of the place came out and said, “You’re going to work in the garage, now.” And I tried….to stop him…from allowing me to do that.

Leno: Had you had any experience working on cars?

Depp: No. No, I knew absolutely nothing about cars. Uh, and then I, you know…I ended up…he said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll show you”. So I did like, wheel alignments and all this stuff, until…one day… I did what I thought was a terrific wheel alignment, you know, changed all the tires and uh, put all the lugs back on. The guy took off around the corner, and his left front wheel just…shot off.

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