Return to Interview page

Italian GQ - October 2003

Play It Again, Johnny

After the meeting with Vanessa Paradis, there was a change of tune for Depp: family, children, farm. However, as a true rock-star, he keeps on living as a solo performer. (By Lucy Kaylin / Photographs by Mark Seliger)

In June he turned 40, but as you look into his handsome boyish face, you see that time is not leaving any trace on him, typical characteristic of those perfect stainless icons for all time generations. And we can expect that Johnny Depp will treat these 40 years of age with the same grace and originality that he applies to his profession as an actor. It is a matter of choice. And in truth, Depp is a man who makes many choices. Both in his profession and in his personal life, his instinct has guided him outside the beaten path, has pushed him against the stream. At the start of his career, he seemed to play the role of the typical antisocial star. His self-destructive tendencies, his stormy relationships with models (Kate Moss) and actresses (Winona Ryder), his brawls with paparazzi, his destructive tantrums in hotel rooms (like the one at the Mark Hotel in New York, in 1994, which got him arrested), were the favorite topic of scandal-mongering reporters. Then a sudden change of scenario: Depp falls in love with a French pop-star, the beautiful and ethereal Vanessa Paradis, moves to the south of France, and, in total isolation with her, begins to procreate.

“All this has given me a new reason to live. A reason to stop being an idiot,” says Depp white opening wide his brown eyes. “I have lived through many experiences, and from each one of them I have gained important lessons. But I have been such an idiot, I have wasted so much time…,” complains the actor from the lounge of a discreet Parisian hotel, a glass of Merlot in front of him. He arrived wearing a poncho, his hair long and tangled, him manner courteous. His indifference to fame is almost comically expressed by his chaotic way of dressing. Hanging from his neck is a tiger’s tooth, a medal with the image of “Che” Guevara, and one with Ganesh. On his fingers he wears skull rings, like the ones worn by Iggy Pop and Jim Jarmusch. His body is covered with “souvenirs” he collected along the way, like a tattoo on his chest, at heart level: “Lily-Rose”, in honor of his 4-year-old daughter.

He enjoys talking about his beginnings, before fame, like when he was unemployed, in the early 80’s, homeless, on Hollywood Boulevard, guest of his friend Nicolas Cage, from whom he stole petty cash to get some food. “I was labeled a “Rebel”. That’s the hateful habit that people have, especially in the beginning, of pressuring you into a particular image and look and that is something I never aspired to: it is a very dangerous system, and also a limiting one.” And for this reason the actor decided to choose his own path. He turned down several scripts, until he met movie director John Waters, who came like an angel from the sky to offer him a part in Cry Baby (1990). “My part was only three pages long, but I felt I had to take it.”

That was the first step. The next one came with Edward Scissorhands, the gothic, sentimental and touching character he played for director Tim Burton. A few years later he playfully took inspiration from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin for Benny & Joon. Blockbusters, money-making movies do not interest him. He prefers to play the part of a movie director whose career is a failure and who has a taste for cross-dressing (Ed Wood), or of a blunt cross-dresser (Before Night Falls), or of a neurotic inspector (From Hell), or the psychotic seducer (Don Juan De Marco). He rejects a part in Speed, turns down Interview with the Vampire, says no to Wind of Passions. Instead, he chooses to play in serious and not widely known movies, like Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch. “That was the perfect situation for me. Jarmusch is one of my best friends and also the movie director I admire the most,” says Depp. “Why do anything just for some money? Today my greatest satisfaction comes especially from the things I chose not to do, rather than from those I chose to do.” One of his favorite movies is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, directed by his friend Terry Gilliam. He met Vanessa Paradis while filming The Ninth Gate with Roman Polanski. Today the couple lives in a small town in the south of France. Their house is surrounded by vineyards, which produce a good quality rose. “This is what I always wanted, a simple life.” Among the friends who visit them regularly are Marilyn Manson, who describes Depp as a terribly sweet boy, and Tim Burton. The European lifestyle fits him perfectly, but he feels mortified by the American reaction to the Washington-Paris disagreement over Iraq. He still regards himself as American, but his heart belongs to France now. “I feel welcome here, and I’ve found tranquility, the thing I always wanted.” The reckless lifestyle he kept until recently has made him more appreciative of the peaceful rural life and of being close to his children.

It was for them, and also for himself, that he accepted the part of Jack Sparrow in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. To prepare for the part, he stormed through books and old films. “Pirates were the rock-stars of their time. And so I took inspiration from the greatest rock-star of our time: Keith Richards.” Beyond the yet to be released Neverland, the movie about the author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie, and the very recent Once Upon a Time in Mexico, directed by Robert Rodriguez, it is very hard to predict which way Depp will steer his career. His ability to surprise with his choices is only one of his many resources. In one thing, however, he is becoming predictable: his private life, which continues on with his family on the farm. Perhaps this is another way to be different, to be a rebel.>> (Contributions by Stefania Cubello)

Vital Statistics

Special Characteristics
Heavy smoker. He is shy and romantic. He never parts from a special bandanna, which he wears either around his neck or his wrist.

Past
Born on June 9, 1963. Made his debut in the movie industry in 1984 with Nightmare. His first success was in 1990 with Edward Scissorhands. Good friends with River Phoenix.

Passions
Rock music. Tom Waits and Van Morrison. Guitar and Piano. Playing in his club, the Viper Room. Spending as much time as possible with Vanessa and their two children.

3 ­ Johnny - 3

The best of J.D. according to GQ. The movies, the women, the style that make him so irresistible.

Movies

Dead Man (1995). Unreachable. This movie marks Johnny Depp as the handsome fallen angel of Hollywood. Director Jim Jarmusch transformed him into a day-dreaming hero, William Blake, moving through the darkest western setting of the late 1800’s.

Ed Wood (1994). Eccentric. For director Tim Burton, Johnny Depp becomes Ed Wood, the infamous movie director who, in the late 40’s and 50’s, created the worst movies of all time. In the movie, Martin Landau plays Bela Lugosi.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). Psychedelic. In this comedy, directed by Terry Gilliam, a surrealistic odyssey in the heart of the American dream during the Nixon era, Depp plays Raoul Duke, an improbable journalist, always accompanied by a lawyer (Benicio del Toro), with a car full of all sorts of drugs.

Style

Teen-Style. Bandanna and denim coat. It’s the Johnny Depp look at his first appearances (1987) in the TV series 21 Jump Street, where he plays a rookie cop. It’s still a far cry from the gypsy style he will adopt later on, but he already shows his strong personality. He becomes a role model for his teenage fans.

Romantic Rebel. Always wearing a hat. And his hats are now famous. Habit or real need to protect his own thoughts? They are a signature item in his chaotic and seemingly improvised way of dressing. Inherited from his rock past, as guitar player with The Kids, the group that also accompanied Iggy Pop.

Unconventional. Eccentric and chic look, with a touch of prairies nomad, thanks to the Cherokee blood in his veins, and a touch of urban cowboy. Women like him like that. And this is true also for Juliette Binoche, who, in Chocolat, is conquered by the unusual tramp-style of a Johnny Depp turned irresistible love pirate.

Women

Last Stop: Paradise. He has always been attracted to difficult relationships, with a good amount of heartbreak. In 1983, he marries Lori Ann Allison, Nicolas Cage’s ex-girlfriend. After a year they are divorced. Then come the stormy relationships with Winona Ryder and Kate Moss, and today Depp shares his life with the ethereal French pop-star Vanessa Paradis, who has given him two children: Lily-Rose, 4, and Jack, 2.