Return to Interview page

Dream Watch January 2002 #88

TO HELL AND BACK

Actor Johnny Depp, starring in the Jack the Ripper movie From hell, has had highs and lows in his life and career...

The Hughes Brothers' From Hell took $11 million over it's three-day opening weekend in the US. The comic-book derived Jack the Ripper historical thriller stars Johnny Depp as Frederick Abberline, the police inspector out to prevent Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) from becoming the next victim.
Depp brings undoubted film star charisma to his portrayal of the drug-addled Abberline, but when he meets with Dreamwatch he looks like anything but a glamorous movie icon.
Depp shuffles under the glitter of crystal chandeliers looking as if he has been swept out of the gutter. A broken, strained hat is perched on uncombed long dark hair dyed with a blond swathe. A rope of brown stocking is wrapped around his wrist and everything he is wearing is sloppy and crumpled.
Nevertheless when he finally removes his sunglasses and rolls his trademark liquorice cigarette - "It takes the bite out of the tobacco and leaves a sweet taste" - there is a glimmer of that movie glamour in his eyes.
Earlier this year he portrayed real-life cocaine trafficker George Jung in Ted Demme's Blow, co-starring Penelope Cruz. Depp is familiar with substance abuse: as he openly admits he ha experimented with most of the recreational drugs available. In his latest film, he plays on the right side of justice a the inspector tracking down Jack the Ripper. There is a common thread. His character in From Hell, played with Depp's dreamy, melancholic touch, has a problem with opium dependency and his vision is laced with absinthe-induced hallucinations.
Since living with French pop star and actress Vanessa Paradis and their two-year-old daughter Lily-Rose Melody. Depp apparently now only drinks alcohol. "I am a father," he says with an expression bordering on rapture. And he describes his new role as something akin to a religious breakthrough...
Depp has a tendency, no matter how offbeat his choices, to mock his own career, not to mention th entire film industry. "I cannot take this job seriously," he has often repeated. "There's nothing worse than those actors who give the impression they've taken on the priesthood. At the end of the day, acting is really about lying and, in my case, drinking coffee."
All he wants, he mumbles, is to be treated as a normal person. It's not that easy, it turns out, when you're Johnny Depp. There is a superb rumour, which still circulates, that he and his former girlfriend, top model Kate Moss, once filled a hotel bath with champagne and went out for dinner. They returned to find that a maid had drained it.
Looking at him now, the idea of him bathing in champagne seems remote. More likely is the charge that he assaulted a photographer trying to take pictures of his then-pregnant girlfriend Vanessa Paradis. When the pack of paparazzi refused to stop snapping. Depp hit out at one with a plank of wood. He justifies it thus: "If you want to turn me into some kind of freak or animal in the zoo, the anger starts to rise in me. Immediately I just don't like it." He claims, somewhat viciously, that hitting back in self-defense was worth it, "just to see the fear in their eyes, in these filthy maggots' faces."

Dreamwatch - In your latest films, Blow and From Hell, both your characters have a problem with drugs. Do you identify with them?

Johnny - Well, I've had a lot of friends die because of drug abuse. Or (They've) really not known where they were heading anymore. I went through so many years where I medicated myself. I wanted to anaesthetise myself, to become numb. You start hurting and scaring people. In the en you can't escape, you have to confront your demons.
Cocaine is a strange drug. I hated it. You get this synthetic happiness, and then you're just panicking and can hardly talk.

DW - So you really went through a wild period?

Johnny - I definitely went through many years where I was a little bit nuts, but it had nothing to do with going out and partying or whatever they call it. I was confused and uncomfortable in life. I didn't know what life was all about. I was self-destructive. Having a baby puts that all into perspective. I wasn't some wild animal though; I was always pretty mellow.

DW - So would you say your demons were put to rest by having a baby?

Johnny - It's amazing to finally (have) reasons to be alive. It's amazing to understand what it's all about, what it's all for. I'm in a pretty privileged position because I get (to do) what I want to do for a living. But that's not everything. Movies and all that stuff are a part of life, but it's not everything. Everything is your family.

DW - You sound very idealistic and romantic. Were you always like this?

Johnny - Well, you are hit in the face with a very strong reality when you meet your daughter for the first time. That's one of the only real realities and continues to be. It's amazing.

DW - When was life so unpleasant for you?

Johnny - When I filmed Arizona Dream it was a good time for me. I guess the toughest part was around the period of doing Lasse Hallstrom's What's Eating Gilbert Grape. That was pretty dark. I thought he'd never hire me again (which he did for Chocolat), because I was such a moody shithead. After that Ed Wood was kind of cleansing. It was like bursting out of that darkness and having some semblance of clarity.

DW - But what was the confusing part of life? Can you distill it any way?

Johnny - There are these words ‘satisfaction' and ‘peace of mind', but you don't quite understand what that means. And then there's that great big question mark: What is existence all about? What is it all for? And then you start thinking, am I just an actor who makes movies? Some little puppet? Am I one of those ambitious cretins who is just looking for accolades and applause? I'm happy to say that I found out that I am not. Thank God.

DM - What does it take to get you out of the house these days?

Johnny - I just go out for supplies. In France, in our area, for the most part I'm able to go out and have some degree of privacy and do the stuff I want. Most of the time you're not treated as a novelty. It's a strange existence, man. Believe me I'm not complaining, it's a good job. But it's pretty strange to live your life looked upon as some kind of novelty.

DM - How does the experience with the Hughes Brothers directing you in From Hell differ to Lasse Hallstrom's Gilbert Grape?

Johnny - The brothers are amazing. They came out of the gate very young. Their first film Menace II Society was very successful. They became the novelty. Their second film, Dead Presidents, was also amazing and they were offered everything in Hollywood: everything to do with the ghetto or blacks, but they waited. They held out. Just the two of them. They're the real thing.
Lasse is like some kind of magician. He has a quality about him as a human being that is so pure, so childlike sometimes. When he goes to the set everything he does as a filmmaker, his signature, is all over it. When you're watching his films, you're watching a very big portion of the man.

DM - What is the impact and the learning process you go through in your films?

Johnny - Each time before you step into the ring you do as much preparation as humanly possible. And it can be based on almost anything, even the real person. When I did Edward Scissorhands, the heart and soul of the person was based on a dog I had.

DM - Anyone else?

Johnny - Ed Wood was based on real soup of characters. He was based on three main ingredients: Ronald Reagan, the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz and a DJ in America. Each one had some kind of blind optimism that I found really interesting.

DM - Ronald Reagan? Explain that?

Johnny - Well, Reagan, in the face of nuclear war, was standing up there with a smile saying, "I don't recall." Pretty amazing stuff, no?

DM - You started playing in a rock band at the age of 13. Music was one of your biggest passions. Do you still find time to be a musician and record?

Johnny - Well, my band did a B record some years back. We did it just because someone said we could and it was fun. We don't play much together. I still make music and will always do so, but not necessarily for commercial reasons.

DM - You played the guitar with your wife Vanessa Paradis for her last album. Did you ever think of doing a movie with her?

Johnny -We were both starring in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and had started shooting with director Terry Gilliam when all hell broke loose. The French actor, Jean Rochefort, got sick and now the insurance company has taken over, so we'll have to see.

DM - What happened to your directorial debut The Brave which was never released and was lacerated when screened to the critics?

Johnny - The Brave was an amazing experience for me because it was a great insight into how things really work. Unfortunately, I was preparing the film with the pressure that I had to get it ready for the Cannes Film Festival. That kind of thing I would never do again. One should finish a film when it tells you it's finished, not because there's a time deadline. So I made a huge mistake there.
I went to Cannes having worked really hard on the thing. I was very passionate about the film and it was screened for the public at the premiere. The film got a 10-minute standing ovation and I received compliments from people I admire, like directors Emir Kusturica and Bernardo Bertolucci.
The next day the reviews came back. A couple of people started to trash the film and others followed suit. That made sense to me because there are more lemmings in the world than not. I did a little research, because I didn't understand how 2,500 people at the premiere could enjoy the film and then 15 critics go ape-shit and go for my throat because I had the audacity to think that I might have a brain. I found out the film was screened at 8:30 a.m. That seems a little bizarre to me, because people in Cannes are out till 5:30 a.m.

DM - So what happened later?

Johnny - I own the North American rights to The Brave and decided I was not going to release it until the smoke cleared. I wanted to get some distance on it.

DM - Do you ever lie?

Johnny - I'm an actor. What do you expect?