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* There is no real translation for a "navet", in fact it's a vegetable : a turnip, and that is how you call a very very bad movie in French, it doesn't mean that it didn't get a lot of money because of the box office : it really mean the worst film with bad story and actors who suck. In the title of the article they use a play on word to recall the French title for "Edward Scissorhands" which is "Edward aux mains d'argent" (= Edward and his silver hands.) Corinne.

Interview by Jack Tewksbury
Translation by Corinne

The 32 years old Johnny Depp is no longer the teenagers' lover boy, he got rid off this label frenzy from the moment he played in John Waters' "Cry Baby". Cut into pieces by Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven's "Nightmare on Elm Street", five years ago, since that he hadn't stop climbing the steps that made him the most gifted, talented and eclectic actor of his generation. "Arizona Dream", "What's eating Gilbert Grape", "Don Juan de Marco" (in which he costars Marlon Brando) and the upcoming Jim Jarmusch's western "Dead Man"… Johnny Depp is always where you don't expect to see him. We surely didn't expect him in "Edward Scissorhands" and more than that we didn't expect this second contribution with Tim Burton…

Mad Movies : It's been quite few years since you started in "21 Jump Street" and "Ed Wood". How would you describe the track you took in the movie industry ?
Johnny Depp : Honestly, I owe a great part of my carrier to chance. Maybe also to the fact I always staid faithful to myself, never compromised, the real me and let's not forget these great directors I was lucky to play with such as Tim Burton who doesn't fear risks. If John Waters didn't give me the opportunity to mock my part of "21 Jump Street" in "Cry Baby", I would probably have never meet Tim Burton who made me what I am as an actor by offering me the leading role in "Edward Scissorhands". At this time, they considered me as a TV star and the studio didn't really want to go for my choice. They had serious doubts about me acting a part such as Edward's. My coming on the "Ed Wood" set has a lot to do with a combination of circumstances.

Mad Movies : What did you know about Ed Wood before Tim Burton explained you how he saw him ? You surely have heard of him and of his reputation …
JD : I only saw two of his movies : "Plan 9 from outer space" and "Glen or Glenda". I basically knew him as others as the "worst director on Earth from all the times". I've heard he liked travestying as a woman. An interesting combination. One fine day, Tim Burton called me on the phone, and sounded in a hurry. He didn't have the script yet but in five minutes he introduced me to the "Ed Wood" project. I instantly said I was ok to be part of it. I instinctively realized that the movie would be a great opportunity to reestablish Ed Wood's name which has been dragged through the mud for almost 20 years and in a certain way to comfort his wife who had to stand all this too. Giving him the name of "The worst director of all the times on Earth" was profoundly unfair and silly. If someone happens to fulfill his own fantasy, his own point of view and gets a great satisfaction from it you can't possibly label him so badly. You can't possibly judge his movie and say it's good or it's bad. Critics is a level upper. Ed Wood's movies are funny, incredibly surrealistic. Anyone who dares to film Bela Lugosi yelling "pull the strings !" with a charging buffalo drove on the screen in his back is worth attention. I, I applause. Ed Wood's movies are like none others, they are made in a total simplicity and genuinely. I wanted to portray him as an extremely optimistic and naive character at the same time I wanted him to be this brilliant showman. In his way, he's been a great source of inspiration for our living directors. Some of them see him as the contemporary godfather of independent movies. I do not want to label him. He's always done his best in extremely precarious conditions and I'd like his movies to be recognized as the work of a genuine artist.

Mad Movies : Gathering documentation must be a great part of your acting job and especially when it deals with such an enigmatic character as Ed Wood …
JD : You know there is not a lot archives on him I mean on pictures or on the set, so I basically worked on what has been written on him or on his work. I read quite almost everything about him, I watched over and over most of his main movies and I tried to figure out what his facets were like. My meeting with his widow, Kathy Wood, is totally due to chance, neither Tim or I planned it. One day, after the shooting had already begun, she came unexpectedly on the set. We were shooting next to Hollywood Boulevard and she noticed the written boards mentioning "Ed Wood". Can you believe it, the signs brought her to us on the set. She caught me, on the set, dressed up as a woman, with lipstick on my face and a wig. She didn't feel surprised at all. She came to me to tell me how happy she was to meet me. She told me her husband and I were like two peas in a pod.

Mad Movies : Manner of Martin Landau, would you describe "Ed Wood" as a translation of a love story between two men ?
JD : Obviously, I see the film as a love story between Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi. They depended on each other. On a professional side, Bela Lugosi was at the end of his carrier. Ed Wood desperately wanted to shoot his first movie and he needed the old comedian to start his project as much as the comedian needed money. Despite this opportunistic game, they both mostly looked for friendship and comfort. If the chemistry between Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood is so obvious on screen it's mainly due to Martin Landau's influence on me. He woke up my passion for the acting work, he kicked alive something out of me that was dying. Martin is a master, an artisan-master. Working with him is a real gift. If we hated each other, the essence of the relation between Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi would have surely been different. Martin is not Bela Lugosi, it's so amazing to see him turning into him, becoming him as soon as Tim yelled "Action!". I was kind of lost for I really had that feeling the real Bela Lugosi was in front of me at these times !

Mad Movies : What miracle made you becoming Ed Wood on screen ? We can hardly believe it's you when you identify yourself to the character…
JD : It's rather easy to get to know your character when he's far from what you really are. To portray Ed Wood, I had false teeth which helped me a lot to be in his shoes. As soon as I had these false teeth, Ed Wood was becoming me. The set of false teeth happened to change my bone facial structure and gave me that strange smile cat only Ed Wood had. So, I didn't fear travestying, I considered it as another challenge. That's why today I feel such a deep increasing respect for women and transvestites as well, because of all the trouble it is for a man to wear a bra or nylons, or to put lipstick on … At this stage, travestying is not a choice, it becomes a battle ! Plus, when you wear so expensive sweaters, you no longer breathe oxygen but angora. In fact, I think he liked to dress as women to feel much more closer to them.

Mad Movies : If you hadn't play "Edward Scissorhands" with Tim Burton as a director, do you think you would have been able to portray Ed Wood ? Portraying such a complex personality demands a perfect match with the guy who is directing you…
JD : The most important thing between a director and his actor is trust. It's a capital thing and you have to work on it. They don't give it away you have to earn it. Tim Burton won mine on the set of "Edward Scissorhands" and I won his. Without this mutual trust, the power it gives you, I would have probably not be able to play in "Ed Wood". Even if we talked a lot about the character before the shooting, Tim Burton had no idea of what I was going to do about it in front of the camera after the first clap. And from that precise moment he had to give me an absolute and blind trust. You've got to have guts to play that kind of game.*