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NASSAU, Bahamas — Move over George Hamilton. Johnny Depp is dark. Mahogany dark, like a light-roast coffee bean in the sun. By JIM SLOTEK — Toronto Sun.

::In this excerpt Tim Burton and Johnny Depp talk to Jim Slotek about giving the Willy Wonka character a persona in their upcoming movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory::

Both Burton and Depp tell almost identical stories about how the Wonka characterization came about, inspired by, according to Depp, “guys like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans and local guys like Uncle Al, and how odd it was the way they spoke, this bizarre musical rhythm and cadence to their speech pattern — ‘Good morning children …’

“I tested it on Lily-Rose to see if I was going in the right direction with the sound of this voice. A lot of times what happens is you come up with these ideas and you never get to try them until a read-through. So with Lily-Rose, I was talking to her one day. Many times we’ve played Barbies where she says, ‘Daddy, don’t use that voice.’ And what happened was we were playing and I started to use the Wonka voice, and she kind of lit up a little bit, like, ‘Where’s that coming from?’ And I thought, ‘Awright, I think I’m on the right track here.’ ”

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For years he seemed dead set on being anything other than a movie star, playing so many offbeat characters in so many offbeat movies that he practically became his own genre. Between 1989 and 1998, not a single Johnny Depp film grossed more than $55 million domestically. But two summers ago, “Pirates of the Caribbean” plundered $652 million worldwide, and Depp suddenly became Hollywood’s hottest “new” leading man. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Sean Smith. July 4 issue.

Smith: You and director Tim Burton have made several movies together. Did you assume he’d ask you to play Wonka?

Depp: I was stunned. I was ecstatic, man. I was doing Snoopy dances.

Smith: But after the success of “Pirates,” why wouldn’t the studio want you for this?

Depp: That didn’t even cross my mind. All the little films I’ve done that were perceived by Hollywood as these obscure, weird things, I always thought could appeal to a larger audience.

Smith: Still, it must have felt good to have your work seen and loved by so many people.

Depp: I had never experienced anything like that where you meet a 75-year-old woman who had seen “Pirates” and somehow related to the character, and then five minutes later you meet a 6-year-old who says, “Oh, you’re Captain Jack!” What a rush. What a gift.

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Your little ears will delight with this Jo Whiley-Johnny Depp audio interview on bbc/radio1. Johnny chats about his fans, about the weirdest thing one of his fans has done and about the prospect of making Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You will need Real Player to listen to this Audio interview. This interview was first published on 22 April 2004.

BBC.co.uk/Radio1 Excerpt:

Whiley: On chatting a lot with fans…
Depp: “There’s no reason to be otherwise really…I think that the kids that come around the people who come around, it’s so nice to meet them. For all intents and purposes they’re my boss aren’t they? they keep me employed.”

Go to Audio Interview

© bbc.co.uk. Reprinted with permission.

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HOST: Oprah Winfrey

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ellen Rakieten
JOHNNY DEPP AND KATE WINSLET
Unidentified Man #1: All right. Here we go, guys.
Unidentified Man #2: Oprah’s on the way.
Unidentified Man #3: Good show, good show, good show.

OPRAH WINFREY: Johnny Depp’s OPRAH show debut, the sexiest man alive. When you look at the cover…
Mr. JOHNNY DEPP (Actor): I tried not to look at the cover.
WINFREY: A rare interview.
Most romantic encounter…
Mr. DEPP: Wow.
WINFREY: …that you can speak of.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. Better have a drink.
WINFREY: From ’80s teen heartthrob to A-list movie star…
Mr. DEPP: I was convinced that I was going to be fired.
WINFREY: …and the love of his wife.
Mr. DEPP: I just knew.
WINFREY: Plus…
Ms. KATE WINSLET (Actress): Oh, this is my kind of talk show.
WINFREY: …the ultra-talented Kate Winslet.
A lot of people make a big deal about your weight. You look spectacular.
Next.

Yes. Good to see you. Good to see you. Great. Good to see you. Whoo! Thank you. Thank you. Too much. Thank you. So I hope you go out and vote today, because I just did. I just did. Everybody has to vote today. Now,
OK, I know my next guest is not going to like this. He’s not going to like
it. But whether he likes it or not,

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JOHNNY DEPP APPEARS TO BE IN A TRANCE. HIS EYES ARE GLAZED, registering something halfway between panic and pure bliss; his arms twitch in a kind of slow morion; his famously bowed lips are frozen in a secretive semi-smile. 

This is how Depp behaves when he’s really huppy. He is standing in his favorite store, the Heritage Book Shop, on Melrose Avenue, in Hollywood, sraring at a stack of letters – unpublished correspondence between two well-known writers (whose names Depp has requested be kept off the record in case he buys them) – on a desk. Moments before, Depp’s arrival caused a cheery flutter of greetings from the sraff, all of whom the actor knows byname. “This is where he gets into trouble,” says owner Lou Weinstein with a wink, 

The 30-year-old actor has been coming here since he arrived in LA. from Miramar, Fla.,some 10 years ago as a high school dropout who thought playing guitar in a rock & roll band was his destiny. “I didn’t have any money, but they were always nice to me,” he says. Though Depp prohably looks the same as he did back then -today he’s wearing chinos and a black jacket so frayed it gives new meaning to the word threads -now he can afford the pricey first editions and rare manuscripts that put him over the moon: He’s a movie star. 

In the hierarchy of young Hollywood, Depp stands alone.

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He’s Cool! He’s Cute! He’s Available! The sexy star of 21 Jump Street gets personal in an exclusive SPLICE interview

Ask any member of the cast or crew of 21 Jump Street and they’ll tell you: The only word to describe Johnny Depp is “cool.” It seems, in fact, that he is the coolest creature to hit the small screen since “the Fonz ” strutted his stuff on Happy Days. Johnny Depp is the King of Cool, the valedictorian of the Cool School, and everybody knows it. Everybody, that is, except Johnny Depp.

The handsome 25-year-old actor – who’s blessed with high chiseled cheekbones, courtesy of his Cherokee heritage – is so unimpressed with his own celebrity status that he denies he is the star of 21 Jump Street. He says his character is the “strong center” of the show. On a recent trip to New York City, Johnny was surprised when he was asked to sit backstage in the Green Room to watch a taping of Late Night with David Letterman, because David doesn’t allow celebrities in the TV audience. And what celebrity worth his weight in dark shades would actually convince his mother and stepfather to move to Vancouver, Canada, so they could be closer to him?

Johnny was born in Owensboro, KY on June 9, 1963. The youngest of four children, he and his family moved to Miramar,

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