IGN – July 13, 2005
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.