Title: I’m Just
Author: Kate Jackson
Publication: UK Daily Star
Issue: July 2005
JOHNNY DEPP is so worried children won’t like Wonka.
JOHNNY Depp won’t be the only one going completely Wonkas over his new role. The super cool star has become Willy Wonka, the chocolate-loving hero of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; and there’s already talk of an Oscar.
But sexy Johnny 41, isn’t bothered about an Academy Award – he’s more worried about what his kids will think of the movie when it opens this month.
“What I did with Wonka was test it on my daughter; Lily-Rose Melody; to see if I was going in the right direction” says the father of two. “Many times we`ve played Barbies where she has said ‘Daddy; don’t use that voice. Just talk regular.’
“But one day I started to do the Wonka voice. She lit up and gave me this ‘Where’s that coming from?’ kind of look.
“I thought ‘Ok, I think I am on the right track here’.”
But if Lily-Rose, six, and her brother Jack three, think daddy will be as generous with hls treats as Wonka, they’ve got another think coming.
While Johnny admits his children are the apples of his eye, he’s determined they won’t grow up to be like Roald Dahl’s bratty character Veruca Salt played in the movie by 12 year old Julia Winter.
“I’ve learned that one should regulate the amount of sweets you give children” he says. “They have an incredibly strange effect on them. I am learning moderation for kids now.
“They’re not bratty; thank God! Luckily, the kids are pretty well-balanced, well-grounded and not monsters at all. You get a little snippet of it and you just nip it in the bud immediately.”
Despite having starred in some of the most highly-acclaimed movies of his 20 years on screen, Johnny has never sold out to mainstream Hollywood.
The movies he chooses to appear in are always just a little left of centre, from his debut in Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, through to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Blow and From Hell.
The only time he’s ever come close to the mainstream is with Pirates of the Caribbean, but even then, he made Captain Jack Sparrow his own.
Johnny has also avoided the celebrity trap. His relationship with Kate Moss 31, put him in the spotlight in the 1990s, but he has since retreated into an almost reclusive life.
Now he settles into family life with French singer Vanessa Paradis, 32, and much more content with simple pleasures.
“I didn’t have everything until I had my girl and my kids” he said. “I have everything I need now.”
“I like keeping a distance from Hollywood and the social expectations.” “Like Wonka, I’m really not good at that kind of game.”
“l find great comfort in having that distance because I don’t have the pressure or the responsibility of knowing who’s the top dog this week and who’s out from last week.
“I don’t know who anyone is and I really like
“Being a dad helps you in every way. It has eliminated so many known and unknown fears that l had.
“When my daughter was born, it was like one person’s life had ceased to be and suddenly a new man emerged, someone who saw things clearly.
