Mr. DEPP: Oh, maybe 40, yeah. WINFREY: Maybe 40.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: Why so?
Mr. DEPP: My mom liked to move a lot. A lot.
WINFREY: A lot.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. One time we moved from one house to the house next door. WINFREY: Just because she wanted to move.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: Yeah. No, seriously.
Mr. DEPP: My hand to God, yeah.
WINFREY: Really?
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: So 40 different homes by the time–maybe 20, 30, 40.
Mr. DEPP: Probably–maybe 39, but…
WINFREY: So how do you adjust? How do you get to be, you know, every–if you’re going in a different school all the time?
Mr. DEPP: Well, it was kind of normal for–we didn’t know anything else, you know. So for us, it was kind of normal.
WINFREY: Wow!
Mr. DEPP: You know, you’d almost have like the whole neighborhood kind of looking out their windows as we were, you know, carrying, you know, boxes from one house to the next.
WINFREY: Were you born–weren’t you born in the South? Mr. DEPP: In Kentucky, yeah.
WINFREY: In Kentucky.
Mr. DEPP: Great, great.
WINFREY: Now why are you applauding? Are you from Kentucky, too?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, good.
WINFREY: Well, that is rare. OK, OK. And how did you get discovered?
Mr. DEPP: I moved to Los Angeles in 1983, and was basically an unemployed musician. And a buddy of mine, Nicolas Cage…
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: …great actor and I was filling out job applications, and Nick suggested that I meet his agent because he felt I should be an actor.
WINFREY: Why?
Mr. DEPP: Don’t know.
WINFREY: Don’t know.
Mr. DEPP: Still don’t know.
WINFREY: Had you ever thought about it before?
Mr. DEPP: No.
WINFREY: You really hadn’t?
Mr. DEPP: No.
WINFREY: I read that and I didn’t believe it. It was one of those things, I go…
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: …they just printed that, because how could you be this good and never thought about it? How could that be?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, well…
WINFREY: No, really.
Mr. DEPP: Thank you.
WINFREY: No, really, you never, you know, like watched “Bonanza” and thought you wanted to be Hoss?
Mr. DEPP: All right, all right, I watched a little “Bonanza.” I…
WINFREY: OK. But, no, so you’d never seriously thought about it until Nicolas Cage mentioned it.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. I mean–and for me, it was really just–I just thought, well, you know, at this point, I’ll do anything. I’ve just got to pay the
rent. You know, I was on the verge of being evicted and all that stuff, so…
WINFREY: Isn’t that so interesting? Mr. DEPP: …I tried it.
WINFREY: Because, you know, people give up their life. They go, they’re on the streets. They’re…
Mr. DEPP: I know.
WINFREY: …you know, thumbing rides.
Mr. DEPP: I carry the guilt. I…
WINFREY: You–no, and they–that’s their dream… Mr. DEPP: I know.
WINFREY: …and just hope and hope and hope, and you never thought about it, and Nicolas Cage says, `I think you should do this,’ and here you are.
Well…
Mr. DEPP: Weird.
WINFREY: …in our research, we found tons of teen magazines from the ’80s with you as the cover boy.
Mr. DEPP: Not pretty. Oh.
WINFREY: Here are some. Yeah, take another sip. Yeah. So what do you think…
Mr. DEPP: I’ll just drink from the bottle.
WINFREY: What do you think when you look at those pictures? Oh, that’s kind of cute.
Mr. DEPP: They scare me to death.
WINFREY: No, really. What do you think?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, it was a strange time, because I had become this product.
WINFREY: Yeah, a product, yeah.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah, and it made me very uncomfortable because I…
WINFREY: Made you uncomfortable.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah, because I didn’t–I mean, I didn’t…
WINFREY: Being sort of labeled a heartthrob.
Mr. DEPP: Well, just–they just started to build this image and it had nothing to do with me, you know…
WINFREY: Really?
Mr. DEPP: …so it was weird.
WINFREY: OK. So when we–you know, like I pulled out the Sexiest Man Alive People cover thing. Like I know that irritates the hell out of you. It does.
But could you just explain to me why it does so much? Because I think a lot
of people–a lot–all of them are saying, you know, `We think you are pretty
sexy.’
Mr. DEPP: It’s not so much that it irritates me. I mean, I–on–you know, on some level, if you can sort of take that kind of thing seriously, it’s
flattering.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: But, in fact, it’s such a–it’s so absurd a notion, you know, to equate my name with that…
WINFREY: Sexiest Man Alive. Mr. DEPP: …thing is so bizarre. WINFREY: It’s absurd to you. Mr. DEPP: Oh, yeah.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: Oh, yeah.
WINFREY: And so even when you look at the cover… Mr. DEPP: I tried not to look at the cover.
WINFREY: You tried not to look. No. But when you see it, you see yourself–you see it and you just think, absurd. You just think, isn’t that absurd?
Mr. DEPP: Completely absurd.
WINFREY: But isn’t it better than the opposite? Isn’t it better than, you know, being con…
Mr. DEPP: The scuzziest man alive.
WINFREY: Yeah, the scuzziest man alive. OK. But–OK, let…
Mr. DEPP: I think I’ve been called that as well, though.
WINFREY: OK. Let’s just think in terms of what, you know, sultriness is and sexy is, wouldn’t you say that you are?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, no. Come on, no. No.
WINFREY: What would you say? What would you use to describe yourself? Sexy would not even be in the top 10…
Mr. DEPP: No, just a guy with a weird job, really, you know. WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: I mean, I just have a strange job. That’s how I explain it to my kiddies.
WINFREY: That’s how you–what you tell your kids.
Mr. DEPP: Oh, sure, yeah.
WINFREY: OK. We’ll be right back.
Next, Johnny Depp and the love of his life. And later, Johnny’s leading lady, Kate Winslet.
(Announcements)
WINFREY: Johnny Depp is here. “Finding Neverland” flies into theaters on November 12th. It’s a heartwarming film about the life of J.M. Barrie, who is the creator of “Peter Pan,” and it’s already receiving critical acclaim, as is Johnny’s performance. Here’s the first look at “Finding Neverland.”
(Excerpt from videotape)
WINFREY: “Finding Neverland” is a truly-life tale that takes us on a flight of imagination through the creative genius of J.M. Barrie, writer of “Peter Pan.”
(Excerpt from “Finding Neverland,” courtesy Miramax Films)
WINFREY: Barrie, in desperate need of inspiration, finds magic in a chance encounter with a widowed mother and her four young boys.
(Excerpt from “Finding Neverland”)
WINFREY: As Barrie becomes a surrogate father to the family, he introduces the boys to a whole new world filled with enchanted kingdoms, pirates and mischief.
(Excerpt from “Finding Neverland”)
WINFREY: It is the fantastical foundation for Barrie’s beloved classic children’s play.
(Excerpt from “Finding Neverland”)
WINFREY: But just as soon as Peter Pan is about to take flight onstage, off-stage Barrie and the children face tragedy in a heartbreaking twist of fate.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: I think the mother in this film was really the unspoken hero, didn’t you? Wasn’t Kate Winslet beautiful?
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: Wonderful. Another superb–we’re going to meet her in a moment. Are you close with your own mother? Are you close to your mother?
Mr. DEPP: Very.
WINFREY: Really?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, yeah. She’s my best friend. WINFREY: Really?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, yeah.
WINFREY: You have her tattoo. Is that true? Mr. DEPP: Yeah, yeah.
WINFREY: Really?
Mr. DEPP: Yeah, up here. It’s there.
WINFREY: None of your business. Johnny is the proud father of a two-year-old son, Jack, which I love that name Jack.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: And a 5-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose, with Vanessa Paradis. Now you might recognize her from all those Chanel ads. Gorgeous. Did you–is it
true–I’d read this. You never know–that you saw her walk across a room, she
came up to you and said something, and you said, `I’m a goner.’
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. Yeah. I saw her back. WINFREY: You saw her back.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. I saw her back from about 25 yards away. And I was just staring at this back and then suddenly it turned around, and the back had a face, and it walked towards me, directly at me, and just said, `Hi.’
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: And then I just knew, you know. It’s over with.
WINFREY: It’s over.
Mr. DEPP: Big trouble, you know. Big trouble.
WINFREY: Big trouble.
Mr. DEPP: Big trouble.
WINFREY: How would you say that she has affected your life?
Mr. DEPP: Changed it completely. I mean, Vanessa and my kids gave me life; I mean, put me in another–a whole other arena. Yeah, oh, yeah.
WINFREY: What do you love the most about her?
Mr. DEPP: Well, first, you’ve got to love her for dealing with me. Just being able to deal with me. Just–she’s a great mommy. I mean, one of the most beautiful things in the world is to see a mommy with her kids. There’s nothing more beautiful, nothing more sublime, I mean. That’s true.
WINFREY: I don’t know if you guys saw this, but Vanessa wrote quite a nice tribute to Johnny in the French Elle magazine called, Johnny Depp, My Lover. And she said, `All that I dream of, wanted, need, our story is love and friendship united.’ She said, `I have the impression that no one could love
the way we love. For us, the important thing is our family, our couple, and our children, and when we talk about work, it’s not too much and never during a romantic dinner.’ Sounds like you found the love of your life. That’s
pretty nice.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah. It’s amazing. Thank you.
WINFREY: I like `our couple.’ I like her description of `our couple.’
Mr. DEPP: Our couple. Yeah, that’s sweet.
WINFREY: Our couple. Is there a distinct difference that you feel between raising a boy and a girl?
Mr. DEPP: Oh, wow! WINFREY: Really. Mr. DEPP: Oh, boy. WINFREY: Oh, boy.
Mr. DEPP: Well, yeah, my daughter, I mean, from the first second, was just a little princess, very delicate, very girlie. Incredibly sort of, you know,
soft.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: And my son almost immediately, you know, just would, you know, vault himself into walls and, you know, runs around now with these plastic pirate swords, you know, swatting at everyone and…
WINFREY: How has being a dad changed you? Did it soften you around the edges and soften you in places that you didn’t know?
Mr. DEPP: Well, it gives you perspective, I mean, instant perspective. You know suddenly what the important things are, you know, what’s important, what’s not important. There was a number of years where I was sort of freaked out about that strange, you know, word `celebrity,’ you know, just being followed by…
WINFREY: Paparazzi and all that stuff.
Mr. DEPP: …photographers and stuff like that, you know.
WINFREY: Yeah. You had a thing with paparazzi at one time, didn’t you? Mr. DEPP: A couple of things, yeah.
WINFREY: A couple of things. Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: But, I mean, once, you know, you have kids and you’re sort of rooted in the earth and you understand what’s important, all that stuff around you, the other things become like, you know, insects p…
WINFREY: Even paparazzi. Mr. DEPP: Oh, yeah.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: Unless they try to take photographs of my kids and I catch them. That’s a different thing.
WINFREY: And then it’s over.
Mr. DEPP: Well, it might be interesting.
WINFREY: It might be interesting. Because didn’t you–you went to jail for a paparazzi fight, right?
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: Yeah. You did. And Sean Penn did. I just talked to Sean Penn the other day, too, who said it was very interesting, too.
Mr. DEPP: But I went to–I was arrested in London, and I went to–the most amazing thing is when they–you know, they cuff you and they take you to jail and everything. And the cops were very, very sweet actually. As they’re bringing…
WINFREY: Or are the cops taking you away going, `Could you get an autograph for my wife? Johnny Depp, could you give me a picture?’
Mr. DEPP: They’re bringing you in… WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: …and this–you see this sign on the wall, and it says `custody suites.’
WINFREY: Custody suites.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: Wow.
Mr. DEPP: Which I thought that’s a really classy, you know, thing. It ain’t just, you know, jail cell.
WINFREY: Were you in a special kind of jail?
Mr. DEPP: No, I was in the custody suites in the…
WINFREY: You were in the custody …(unintelligible). Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: Custody jail cell.
WINFREY: Yeah. And would you react differently now with paparazzi, do you think?
Mr. DEPP: I mean, if they want to take a picture of me, I don’t care. If
they want to take a picture of me and Vanessa, I don’t care. If they want to take a picture of my kids, that’s a different thing. Because they didn’t ask for any of this, you know.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: They didn’t ask for…
WINFREY: This life. Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: …this life or the attention, you know.
WINFREY: Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you on that. So you don’t live in the United States, right? You live in–do you live–officially live in France?
Mr. DEPP: No, that’s the big sort of rumor. No, I mean, I spend most of my time on location, wherever I’m shooting. Like I’ve been in London for about eight months now.
WINFREY: Was it last year you got in a lot of hot water for making a comment about the United States being a puppy?
Mr. DEPP: Right.
WINFREY: Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: Yeah.
WINFREY: What did you say?
Mr. DEPP: What I said, which was… WINFREY: What did you say?
Mr. DEPP: …which was misinterpreted. WINFREY: Yeah. Yeah.
Mr. DEPP: What I said was, the United States of America is a young country compared to Europe, compared to, you know, other countries. We’re young. We’re 200 and something years old.
