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SPLICE
September, 1988
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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
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Photos by Deborah Feingold
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, FL, where Johnny did
most of his growing up. After experimenting with drugs and petty crime for a short while, Johnny
dropped out of high school at the
age of 16 -- a move he now admits was not one of his wisest.
He's now openly opposed to all
drugs, aud tells
his fans so in
public service
announcements.
While still a
teenager, Johnny
formed a rock
and roll band
called The
Kids, which had a small but
loyal following in Florida. They
were impressive enough to open in
concert for such heavy hitters as
the Talking Heads and The
Pretenders. Armed with an electric guitar, Johnny and The Kids
headed for Los Angeles, seeking
fame, fortune, and a recording
contract. Unfortunately, the going was a little tough. The Kids
were not reaching musical maturity, and Johnny was forced to accept a job selling ball-point pens
over the telephone to make enough
money to live and play in L.A.
It was during this period that
Johnny got married and divorced. Life was looking grim until a friend of Johnny's (actor
Nicolas Cage, of Moonstruck
fame) suggested that he try his
hand at acting. Johnny met with
Nicolas' agent, who convinced
him to audition for A Nightmare
on Elm Street. The rest, as they
say, is cinematic history. Johnny
landed the lead male role, and
decided to focus his ambitions on
acting for a while.
Johnny's screen presence caught
the attention of Oliver Stone, who
cast him in the Oscar-winning
Platoon, as Learner, the unit's
interpreter Johnny soon landed
parts in Private Resort. Dummies and Slow Burn (with Eric
Roberts and Beverly D'Angelo),
and he guest starred on TV's
Hotel and Blue Lady.
21 Jump Street's baby-faced
Officer Tommy Hansen now lives
in Vancouver, where he films his
hip detective series (he also maintains an apartment in
Hollywood). Proud to be involved with such a socially-aware
production, Johnny recently spoke
to SPLICE about his acting
career, his past and present, and
his life in the public eye. At the
time of this writing, Johnny has
no serious love interest in his
life...he's unattached and looking for the right girl. -- K. L.
How did you get started in acting?
It was really a fluke. It was
divine intervention. When I
moved to L.A., one of my
buddies introduced me to
Nicolas Cage, and he introduced me to his agent. She
sent me to read for Nightmare.
It was so strange. I'd never
done drama before, not even
in high school. All of a sudden,
I'm talking to my family on the
phone and saying, "Hi, how
are you? I think I just got a
part in a feature film.'
What's the best of working on 21 Jump
Street?
The great thing about doing
the show is the responses we
get from people from the
public service announcements
we do. We try to broadcast
1-800 service numbers on
specific subjects, but if it's a
light show, there's no sense in
running one. And the response to the public service
announcements has been
great. For instance, we did a
show about a kid who had a
problem with drugs. After we
ran a drug-abuse hotline
number, the number of calls
they received shot right up!
How did you land the role of Learner in
Platoon?
I found out about Platoon in
January of 1986, when my
agent sent me over a script. I
read it and I was just blown
away! It was so right on the
money as far as truth and
honesty goes. I met Oliver
Stone and he said, "I want you
to read this. Go out in the hall
and study it." So I studied it
and came back in and read for
him. He said, "Okay, let's call
your agent.
Tell us about the training you went through
for Platoon.
We went through two weeks
of training in the jungle in the
Philippines. I gotta tell you,
man, it was highly emotional.
You put 30 guys in the jungle
and leave them there to stay
together for two weeks -- just
like a real platoon -- and you
build a real tightness. It's
almost like a family. We
became a military unit, a platoon. To this day, whenever
I talk to Charlie [Sheen] or any
of the other guys, it's just like
the same deal. We still get
together all the time and try to
hang out as much as possible,
and it takes us right back to
the platoon.
How do you feel about your "bad boy"
image?
That sort of things gotten a
little out of hand. I run into
people who think I've done
time [in jail] or something.
When I was a kid, I was just
like any other boy. Boys are
very curious, they like to push
the walls, you know? I wasn't
the best kid in the world, but
I wasn't an ax murderer either.
As a kid, I experimented with
drugs and stuff, but I got out
of it by the time I was 14 or
15. I saw that it was getting
me nowhere. I saw the kids
around me, not doing anything, not wanting to change
their lives. I didn't want to be
like that. I wanted to continue
with my music, and I knew
the drugs were holding me
back. I'd seen a lot of ugly
things. It's just not worth it.
What are your plans for the future?
I definitely want to do a
feature film as soon as I get
done with this season of 21
Jump Street. If I don't do a film,
I want to do a play. But I want
to continue working. I want to
keep growing and learning as
much as possible. I want to fill
myself in on all aspects of the
industry --
acting and
directing.
What advice you have for young people
today?
My advice would be to stay in
school, because I didn't and it
was kind of a mistake. It was
a stupid thing to do, dropping
out. So my advice would be to
learn as much as you can, and
when you get out of school,
continue to learn as much as
you can. Just try and always
do the right thing. Follow your
instincts. Learn, make
mistakes, and learn even more
from your mistakes.
Do you still play rock and roll?
I still play, but when I got my
first movie, A Nightmare On
Elm Street, things just sort of
fell apart for the band. We
split up, and everybody went
their own way. Then I joined
a band called the Rock City
Angels.
Are you going to do a solo album?
I would love to play. But people know me now as an actor.
I'd do anything to be on stage
again, but I've got to be very
careful. I don't want people to
say, "Oh great, another actor
is going to do a record." I'm
trying to fight the teen idol image, so if I went and did a
record, it would make it that
much more difficult.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of [Bob] Dylan,
who I like a lot. I like Bruce
Springsteen. I like T. Rex. I
like all different kinds of
music. One minute I'll be
listening to Benny Goodman
and the next I'll be listening to
the Sex Pistols!
Tell us about your family.
My dad works for the city of
Hallendale in South Florida.
He's the director of public
works and utilities, a city
engineer. My mom moved up
to Vancouver with her new
husband. I have two older
sisters, Debbie and Christy.
And I have an older brother
Danny who lives in Kentucky.
We're all incredibly close.
What are you doing during your break?
Coming off the show and doing features, definitely
changes the films I want to do.
I'm going to do everything I
can -- fight tooth and nail --
to not be put in some teen-idol
category. I don't want
somebody who's writing out
checks to limit me, to put me
in a herd of people who can
only do one thing. I don't want
to be limited by other people's
opinions. I don't necessarily
want to always play the
leading man --
I'd like to
shave my head and sew my
eyeballs shut. It would be
terrible to just do teen exploitation films. It just
wouldn't be worth it.
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