Source: Heather Newgen June 23, 2006
Coming Soon – Oscar nominee Johnny Depp sets sail once again with his ship the Black Pearl, creating mayhem in the high seas as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Depp, dressed in a white t-shirt which sported his tattoos, jeans and a gray hat, couldn’t have been nicer to ComingSoon.net at a press day for the film. He signed autographs, posed for a picture and was even concerned about a reporter’s tape recorder not being close enough on the table. Who would have thought?
CS: Why is this the character you can revisit over and over?
Depp: I just feel like I’m not done. I just feel like there are more things you could do. Because, I suppose, with a character like this, the parameters are a little broader, so there are more possibilities I think. And he’s a fun character to play. I was really not looking forward to saying goodbye to him.
CS: How much freedom do you have to improvise?
Depp: You have the basic structure, you have your basic bones and a solid foundation. But with every one, you do your best to kind of explore it as much as possible while you’re shooting. It could be something that comes to you, like sometimes it just comes to me when I’m reading a script. A line will just come to me and I’ll incorporate it into the thing and obviously run it by Ted and Terry and Gore and the other actors certainly. So it can happen that way or it can just happen in the spur of the moment which is more fun in a way, when something just happens because if you feel it and you do it in a big, wide master shot, it alters the rhythm for a second and it kind of throws the thing, takes the bottom out from under you for a second which is quite fun because you sort of see honest reactions all around. People panic for a second, and that kind of panic is fun and I think important, good for you.
CS: The executives panicked the first time. Did the audience prove you right?
Depp: The executives did panic. I mean, bless ’em, they did panic on the first one. And probably to some degree for good reason. But also, I think it’s prerequisite to become an executive, you have to have that capability to panic instantly and do your best to resolve it as quickly as possible.
CS: Were you surprised it became so popular, that you’re a crowd pleaser now?
Depp: I was definitely never a crowd pleaser. May not be after this one, you never know. I was very surprised, incredibly surprised, still am that “Pirates” did as well as it did and that the character made some friends out there. I am still surprised and touched.
CS: Why did it strike a chord?
Depp: In terms of what struck a chord with “Pirates,” I said for a long time and I really believe that studios were underestimating the intelligence of the audience or their needs… That hyper kind of realism, the action sequences were insane. It wasn’t something they’ve seen all that much I think. I believe that’s what it was.
CS: What was it like to stay in character when you went home to your family?
Depp: See, I’m never aware of it, that I’m in character. It never feels like I’m in character. It always feels like you have those moments just before the take and it kind of winds down after the scene is done.
CS: Did you wear the dreadlocks to bed?
Depp: No, I did not, no. There’s still time. We’ve still got to finish 3.
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