Reflections . . .
Quotes About Johnny
A — B — C
A
I
have a
huge fat crush on him. Of all the
men in this business, he is my favorite . . . Wow! I presented at the
Golden
Globes . . . I saw him, made eye contact with him and forgot all my
lines.
—Jessica
Alba, actress
Starpulse News Blog, November 2007
He
was
amazing. Absolutely amazing.
The stuff where he had
to wear the women's clothing was inspired. He was a natural. I would
give him
tips on undressing, particularly with the bra strap. He was very strict
who he
undressed in front of. [. . .] He energized everyone on set. He was as
much a
guiding force on the movie as Tim [Burton]. We had these very intimate
scenes
together, and he would get right into the part and stay there for
hours. I'm
not that disciplined. I still have fits of laughter during a scene. But
Johnny
could do it straight.
—Patricia
Arquette
who plays Kathy O'Hara in Ed Wood,
in
Film Review, June 1995
When
I
wrote the script [for Ils se marierent et
eurent beaucoup
des enfants] I thought . . . who
will be this guy for whom all women will fall?
And . . . right away I thought about him!
—Yvan
Attal
director, Ils se marierent et eurent
beaucoup des enfants, on casting Johnny as Charlotte
Gainsbourg’s fantasy
lover. Ms. Gainsbourg also happens to be Mr. Attal’s wife.
B
If
Hitchcock were making this picture [Nick
of Time]
he’d probably have wanted Jimmy Stewart. Who’s the
Jimmy Stewart of the 90’s?
Nice, unassuming, unpretentious? Johnny has a basic sweetness to him.
He’s a
classic movie actor, like the true greats—Paul Newman, Gary
Cooper, even Steve
McQueen. Minimalist in approach, but extremely honest. Johnny is that
kind of
actor. He has this great ability to be in a scene where he may do
nothing and
yet he establishes his presence on the screen.
—John
Badham
director, Nick of Time,
1995
Johnny would come in at seven in the
morning and we would
start to stage a scene, and I would think he was only propped up by a
stage brace.
He would stand there looking a little shaken, but totally focused. What
I
learned right away was, it didn't matter if he never went to bed, he
was right
on top of it.
—John
Badham
director, Nick of Time, quoted in Johnny
Depp, A Modern Rebel by Brian J.
Robb
He
has great enthusiasm. He’s like a little kid on the
set, a real devil. We all know about Leslie Nielsen carrying around his
little
farting machine, and Johnny Depp had one of those, which he thought was
great
fun. But somebody also gave him a laser beam pen, one of those things
you use
in lectures for pointers, and next thing I know he is all over the
hotel with
this damn thing, entertaining himself all day long. His favorite thing
was to
get over the bar, about 40 feet above, and get some drunk looking
around
wondering why his drink was suddenly glowing red. It was like a bad
joke out of
some old movie. You’ve got to love somebody like that.
—John
Badham
director, Nick of Time,
1995
The French adore Johnny. I think they
recognize in him
something of the spirit of Rimbaud. Free and quick and intuitive, like
a gypsy.
This story that he destroyed a hotel . . . The Americans are so stupid.
You pay
for a room. You're furious. You do damage. You pay for it.
—Francois-Marie
Banier
photographer and close friend, Talk Magazine, October 1999
Johnny was not a
movie star on this movie. He was another
actor who believed in the beauty of what we were doing, in the
meaningfulness
of what we were doing.
—Javier
Bardem
Before Night Falls co-star
Johnny did amazing work, and he was
very generous, very
helpful. He really got into the mood of the character, Bon Bon, and
that scene
with him as Lieutenant Victor is something that will stay in my memory.
I
admire him a great deal.
—Javier
Bardem
Before Night Falls co-star, quoted
in
Johnny Depp, A Modern Rebel by Brian
J. Robb
I had heard of Johnny. I knew he played a
sailor in a film. [laughter] I heard
he was going to be a hairdresser in a movie called Sweeney Todd. He’s a true master of his art. With someone like Tim
Burton, who requires detail and a total precision in the craft, Johnny has
that. He can replicate a perfect performance 15 times. That’s the first time I’ve
ever seen someone able to do that. He’s one of the biggest stars in the world,
if not the biggest star. But he’s incredibly humble. In the scene where he was murdering
me, after each take, he’d be the first one to come over with a little bowl so I
could spit out the fake blood. He treats everyone with total respect and is
probably one of the most grounded persons I’ve ever met.
—Sacha Baron
Cohen
Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 21, 2007
What struck me about him when he
auditioned is that he
wasn't nervous. He was laid back. He had this presence. He's an unusual
personality. He's also one of the nicest people I've ever worked with.
—Steve
Beers
supervising producer, 21 Jump Street,
TV Guide, January 1988
He's just such an incredible actor;
I've always been such a
big fan.
—Maria
Bello
Secret Window co-star, Blink, June
2004
His
[film] choices are really to do with his heart and
intuition, not a career perspective to win an Oscar.
—Juliette
Binoche
Chocolat
co-star, LA Times,
April 2001
A
gypsy
needs his family, and I think he found a
family in the people he works with like Lasse [Hallstrom] and Tim
Burton. I
once asked him why he works so much, and he said ‘I just have
to
keep my head
busy.’
—Juliette
Binoche
Chocolat
co-star, 2001
Johnny
is Johnny. It's a whole different level.
—Orlando
Bloom
Pirates
co-star, CIAK
magazine, August 2003
You get the feeling Johnny has been
through the sausage
machine of Hollywood and come out the other side still standing.
—Orlando
Bloom
People, December 2003
Johnny's
always telling me, “Don't go for the money. Follow your
heart,
Orlando!”
—Orlando
Bloom
Johnny Depp was a big draw. I've
always admired him. To be
on the set with somebody like him and see how he handles himself and
see how he
goes about it, it's a real privilege. To learn as you go.
—Orlando
Bloom
AJC Staff, July, 2006
He's a really cool guy, just a really
nice guy. There was
one time when we'd flown down to St. Vincent in the producer's private
plane.
Johnny and I were at the back of the plane. We just sat and drank some
red
wine. I don't know if the altitude had something to do with it, but
when we
arrived there, we sort of stump-crawled off the plane. The Prime
Minister of
St. Vincent was there to greet us and he goes, ‘Hey, mon,
very pleased to
introduce you to St. Vincent,’ and we're like just crawling
past him, and then
Johnny gives him a huge hug and like kissed him, and there's me
trailing behind
him, picking up his shit. It was crazy, but it was fun.
—Orlando
Bloom
Filmink, October 2003
He's
a role model for me. He has integrity and makes choices that are brave
and
unusual. He doesn't have hissy fits; he conducts himself with grace and
humility.
—Orlando
Bloom
When
the
real captain of the Interceptor disappeared,
and Johnny took control of the ship, it had a really strange effect on
me. I
looked up and saw Johnny in control of the ship with his pirate
costume, and
his gold teeth. It felt like we were really pirates for a couple
minutes!
—Orlando
Bloom
Pirates
co-star, 2003
[Speaking of Johnny and Tim Burton]
They really are about
age 4 together. They like poo jokes. They're really into pretty
childish,
puerile jokes that I don't find funny. Like Johnny will give him some
cat-butt
chewing gum . . . with pictures of cat's butts. I mean, is it funny? No.
—Helena
Bonham Carter
mtv.com
It’s
very sexy. It’s very sexy singing, and
it sounds like him, that’s what’s exciting. He really sings from the
gut, and
it’s a very emotional role. So it’s very naked and very sexy and very
touching
and brave and beautiful, very beautiful, and soulful . . .
—Helena
Bonham
Carter
costar, Sweeney Todd, Official Sweeney Todd Website
They
[Tim and Johnny] have a great synergy.
They are very like each other. Chosen brothers elected by each other.
They have
the same sense of humor and share a deep respect. They have grown up
together. Edward Scissorhands
joined them. They
are both introverts, but very flamboyant when it comes to their work.
That is
their release. They are rebels, anti-authoritarian. They are very age 7
in
their sense of humor.
—Helena
Bonham Carter
USA Today, December 13, 2007
He
has got an uncanny ability to make
anything cool. He is a hip person, Johnny, and his choices are always
clever
and he’s made . . . like when I heard his recordings it’s got a real
modern
feel, a sort of rocky kind, not rocky boxer but it’s got a slight rock
modern,
he’s got a real touch with the contemporary and he’s a really funny
mix. Johnny
as a person, he’s got both high culture and pop culture, he’s a real
mixture of
both, he’s very cultured but it’s just really eclectic and so he just
knows
what to draw on.
—Helena
Bonham Carter
December 2007
Q:
What was Johnny Depp like on set,
considering that in the film he is usually angry and getting vengeance.
Did he ever
break character and laugh?
A:
Oh yeah. Johnny’s not Method. He’s very
concentrated and very disciplined, but there’s a lot of laughs. In
fact,
actually it was quite difficult to keep a straight face when he was
coming at
me during one song. He was very patient with me. And Tim and him have
lots of
laughs. One basis of the relationship is a lot of jokes, pretty stupid
jokes I
have to admit. I knew how stressful it was for Tim, and I get
distressed
because I’m the girlfriend, you know, back at home. But Tim did laugh a
lot.
There was a great sense of levity and excitement on the set because no
one
there had done a musical before.
Q:
What about dancing with Johnny? Is he a
good dancer?
A:
You know, the man’s ridiculously
overstuffed with talent in every direction, but he can’t dance, I can
tell you
that, ha-ha! And that was a surprise. Well, waltz—he can’t waltz. It
was kind
of unfortunate because I was really pregnant by then and we had to get
on a
spinning machine. It was the only way we had worked out to spin.
—Helena
Bonham Carter
January 2008
We sent each other supportive e-mails. The
first time I listened to him and he listened to me, we’d sung in different
countries. They put us together and I thought, “Oh, no, he’s really good and I’m
really crap.”
He had the same reaction apparently—well,
he’s probably lying.
—Helena
Bonham Carter
Daily Express, January 29, 2008
What you see on the screen is Johnny
Depp. He's
iconoclastic, meaning he doesn't take garbage from anybody.
—David
Brown
producer, Chocolat, Biography, Fall
2004
He had a rather small role in Chocolat,
and he didn't care. Johnny
Depp, like every fine actor,
doesn't count the role in terms of the length of time or footage, but
what it
will do for him as an artist. And he is an artist.
—David
Brown
producer, Chocolat, Biography, Fall
2004
He's a pure person. He goes back to
the tradition of
Humphrey Bogart . . . Spencer Tracy. I admire him as an actor and as a
person because
he is real.
—David
Brown
producer, Chocolat, Biography, Fall
2004
He's completely unimpressed by the
usual accoutrements of
stardom. You won't see him in the Four Seasons bar, carrying on with a
whole
bunch of people. He'll be with his pals. If he can find a pub, he'll be
there.
—David
Brown
producer, Chocolat, Biography, Fall
2004
You
know, initially some of the executives at Disney
had heart attacks when they saw what he was doing. But what I liked
about it
was that it never broke the reality of the picture. If everybody acted
like
that then I would have said, ‘Oh, we've got a
problem,’ but
the fact is that
everyone else was straight and just played off him. Johnny was the
foil. You
never knew what he was going to come up with, which I liked. I had
faith in
Gore. And I had faith in Johnny as an artist. So I felt that the
combination
was going to work.
—Jerry
Bruckheimer
Producer, Pirates,
SFX
Magazine, 2003
He's
an
artist and you hire him because he's an
artist. You don't hire Johnny Depp and try to put him in a box and say,
“This
is the performance you have to give me.” It was an inspired
performance, but it
scared the studio to death when they saw it. My phone lit up like a
Christmas
tree after they saw the first day's rushes. They said,
“You've
got to tone it
down. It's ridiculous.” We said, “No, wait till you
see how
engaging it is.”
—Jerry
Bruckheimer
producer, Pirates of the Caribbean,
on
Disney’s initial reaction to Captain Jack Sparrow
He's the biggest star in the world. I
mean, it's fantastic.
I mean, he really is. He's a worldwide box office phenomenon. And he
deserves
every, every second of the fame that he's getting because he's a
wonderful
individual. He's great to work with. He's caring. He's generous. You
know, you
hear of these stories about Hollywood actors and actresses and the
dramas they
go through, and he's not one of them.
—Jerry
Bruckheimer
ABC News Now: Popcorn with Joel Siegel, May 2007
There is, of course, that
extraordinary beauty working for him
too. Beauty like his is not the same thing as sexual attractiveness,
notwithstanding all the stories about the fan mail he gets folded
around
strands of pubic hair. This is beauty of the kind fixed forever on the
side of
Keats' Grecian urn. This is the sort of Beauty that stands beside
Truth, an
eternal verity. It makes you draw breath when you see it, in a moment
of
something like reverence.
—Stephanie
Bunbury
The Age, Australia, June 2006
Johnny’s fun to work with,
though—it’s always something
different. He’s more of a character actor than a leading man.
It’s fun to work
with an actor like that, much more exciting than somebody who wants to
come in
and do the same thing every time. Johnny’s always wanting to
sort of hide
behind a character, become a character. I’ve always loved
great character
actors . . .
—Tim
Burton
Total Film Magazine, January 2007
I
respond to the visual. I'm not the most verbal, so
it's nice with someone like Johnny, who understands with only a few
words—there's that connective tissue.
—Tim
Burton
I
like people's eyes a lot and,
especially with a character
like this [Edward Scissorhands] who doesn't really speak, eyes are very
important. I remember Johnny was able to do something that amazed me. I
was
very close to him one day, watching him doing a scene, and the next day
we saw
it on film, and almost without doing anything he was able to do
something with
his eyes that made them glassy. It was if he was about to cry, like one
of
those Walter Keane paintings with the big eyes. I don't know how he did
it. It
wasn't something we did with the camera or the lighting, it was
incredible.
—Tim
Burton
Burton on Burton
He's always been true to who he is.
He's never been ruled by
money, or by what people think he should or shouldn't do. Maybe it's
just in
America, but it seems that if you're passionate about something, it
freaks
people out. You're considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just
means you
know who you are.
—Tim
Burton
Newsweek, msnbc.com, June 2006
I
went
on the Arsenio
Hall Show with Johnny once . . . Ten minutes of silence.
—Tim
Burton
[About
all the attention in 2003] It cracks me up.
It's as if he just arrived on planet Earth. I know where Johnny's been
for the
past two decades, but where have they been? I guess with good things
it's a
delayed thing, and Johnny's a good thing, but I guess he didn't fit
into any of
their categories until he got into a hit movie like Pirates
of the Caribbean.
—Tim
Burton
Strangely,
I had absolutely no idea if he
could sing. He said that he thought he could do it, but strangely I had
no fear
of that whatsoever. I worry about a lot of things, but strangely I did
not fear
that at all and when I got it, beyond that, he exceeded my
expectations. So I
was very lucky. I didn’t go through any angst on that level at all.
—Tim
Burton
London press interviews for Sweeney Todd,
November 27, 2007
We
did talk about his singing in Corpse Bride,
but he was terrified of
it. He’s musical for sure. It’s funny that he was
scared of that, but then he
wanted to make a big musical.
I
gave Johnny the soundtrack to see what he
thought of it. He said, “I think I can do it.” I
knew if he said he could do
it, he could do it. It was the first time in our [career
together] where he knew he could do it.
.
. . [lyricist
Stephen Sondheim was] very supportive. He was OK with Johnny
without
hearing him sing, because I think he knew Johnny could pull it off.
Johnny
and I always talk about old horror
movie actors, like Boris Karloff. They have a certain acting style that
you
don’t see much anymore, based on movement and
internalization. This part seemed
perfect for that.
When
I asked Johnny to do it and he said, “Yeah, I think I can do
it,” I didn’t know
if he could sing, but I knew him enough to know that if he
didn’t think he
could do it, he wouldn’t do it. It took a while. I
didn’t hear anything from
him for a while. He’s very private. I let him go and do his
thing and he sent
me a thing and I listened and it exceeded my expectations.
—Tim
Burton, from “An
Evening with Tim Burton: Cinema’s Demon Barber”
November 14, Lincoln Center
Every
time Johnny and I work together, we
try to do something different, and singing for a whole movie is not
something
we’re used to. You never just want to feel like, ‘Okay, that was easy.
What’s
next?’ Johnny and I always want to stretch ourselves, and this was
perfect
outlet for that.
—Tim
Burton
London press interviews for Sweeney Todd,
November 27, 2007
Well,
I’ll say that he tries anything. The
fact is that he’s not a singer, you know, he’s musical, but he would
try one of
the hardest musicals ever to do. It just says it all. He’s just willing
to go
out there, and believe me, something I’ve learned is singing is very
exposing,
especially if you’re not a singer, it’s a very exposing process, and
anybody
who can do that can basically do anything, you know? So for me, it’s
just an
artistic pleasure to see somebody try different things and actually
achieve it
. . . and achieve it beyond your expectations.
—Tim
Burton
Q&A with Nick Hutson for MusicalTalk, BroadwayWorld.com,
November 2007
We took cues from silent movies. When
Johnny walks into the barbershop, you just see the pain in his eyes. I find he
doesn’t have to say anything. It’s an acting style you don’t really see
anymore.
—Tim Burton
USA Today, December 13, 2007
C
Johnny
didn't ignore his fans, he brought them with him. He was smart about
it. He
took this large group of people weaned on formula TV and exposed them
to things
exciting and new.
—Nicolas
Cage
Seeing Tim and Johnny work together is very
special. They have almost their own language . . . like when you have your best
friend and you know what they’re going to say before they say it. So they can
get one word out before bursting into laughter. Which is funny sometimes and
other times you’re like, God, I wish I knew what was going on. It’s like, you
lost me when you said ‘the’ at the beginning of the sentence.
—Jamie
Campbell Bower
costar, Sweeney Todd, New York
Observer, December 11, 2007
Tim
helped a lot and is a very relaxed director,
though I was terribly nervous—and Johnny was great too. On the
first day of
shooting, I was standing with him on a boat in the middle of the
studio. And
I’m like, “Is this actually happening? Am I here?”
Now, Johnny can tell I’m a
wreck. I’m shaking while there’s this huge fan blowing our
hair wild. But then
he leans over and says, “Jamie, that’s our biggest
fan.” It was a great way to
break the tension.
—Jamie
Campbell
Bower, actor, Sweeney Todd
LATimes.com, November 2007
He would have much preferred to be on
something darker and
edgier. I never thought Johnny saw how good it was because he really
disdained
the show. He made it pretty well known that he didn't want to be on it.
I
remember once he came to the set dressed like Elton John. He had a
powdered wig
on and platform shoes.
—Stephen
J. Cannell
executive producer, 21 Jump Street,
Biography,
Fall 2004
OK,
Johnny Depp or Viggo—
[Quickly] Johnny Depp, hands down. I love Johnny
Depp. I have always
loved Johnny Depp.
I
know this is a
stupid American question, but do you ever see
him in
France?
Actually, I do. Well, wait, actually, no—I never
see him in France. But I
have seen him around on occasion, and we've worked together, and he
comes to my
shows, actually. He's always very, very nice. I love him.
—Belinda
Carlisle
as quoted in The Advocate
When I first saw Johnny he had a felt
hat pulled down and
these deep brown eyes peering out, with a coat that went to the floor.
He was
as cute as a bug's ear, but he looked like a waif. And I think that is
part of
his appeal: He can be waiflike, but his charisma comes through.
—Joan
Carson
21 Jump Street producer, US
Magazine,
June 1989
I don't always agree with him, but I
see where he's coming
from. He fights hard for what he believes in, and he has a tendency to
fight
for other people as well, which sometimes puts another strand of gray
in my
hair.
—Joan
Carson
21 Jump Street producer, US
Magazine,
June 1989
Johnny got down on his knees next to
the bed, and looking
over at my grandson, his eyes just softened. He said,
‘Awesome, just totally
awesome.’ Most men don't realize what a miracle a baby is,
but Johnny did.
—Darlene
Cates
What's Eating Gilbert Grape co-star,
People Magazine, October 1994
Johnny never left the
set until he checked on me and told me
goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. He did call me Momma when we were on
set, but
as I recall, he called me Darlene when we weren't. He was so good to me
and
treated me so sweetly. I really do miss him and wish I could visit with
him for
a while again.
—Darlene
Cates
What's Eating Gilbert Grape co-star,
in an exclusive Q&A with the Zone's ONBC, May 2007
Johnny was in character from day one.
He was Gilbert when I
met him. He had the hair, chipped tooth, and wardrobe. I often wondered
if I
really met Johnny or if it was Gilbert that was so sweet and funny. But
when he
held my new grandson and whispered, “Awesome”, I
knew it was Johnny and that
someday he would be a great dad, because he understood what a
incredible
miracle that little boy was. Johnny does have his private side and
there were
times that he just laid low in his trailer . . . but then we all did
that at
times. He did prepare for the scene when he tore up the basement. It
was the
only one I witnessed him prepare for.
—Darlene
Cates
What's Eating Gilbert Grape co-star,
in an exclusive Q&A with the Zone's ONBC, May 2007
There
are a lot of scenes in the movie that are in a
way the set-pieces of the movie, where he does all of the kind of overt
things.
But for me the beauty was: Walking down a street. Just the most simple
ways to
move, which you find throughout the movie. The way he would turn; a
reaction.
Just a very, very subtle openness; a sense of heartbreak.
—Jeremiah
Chechik
director, Benny
& Joon,
1998
He is so emotionally expressive,
doing what seems to be so
little. It was clear to me all along that he would bring a thoroughly
original
and exciting energy to the role of Sam.
—Jeremiah
S. Chechik
director, Benny & Joon
We hung around a lot together and
there was a lot of drink
taken in the middle of the night. We had a mutual appreciation society.
He can
recite the whole of Cracker and I
can
do Edward Scissorhands when I've
had
enough to drink. We did have a lot in common. Johnny is very
non-Hollywood and
a fan of the English style of acting, which is to just go and get on
with it
and stop measuring how big your trailer is.
—Robbie
Coltrane
From Hell co-star, January 2002
[In a visit
to the
Disney lot about five years ago, Johnny mentioned to studio chairman
Dick Cook
that he'd been watching a lot of Disney movies with his daughter, loved
them
and was hoping to voice a character in a Pixar movie. Cook mentioned
that the
studio was developing a movie based on the theme-park ride
“Pirates of the
Caribbean.”] He said, ‘Like a real pirate
movie? With swords?’ And I said,
‘Yeah—with swords.’ And he said,
‘I'm in.’
—Dick
Cook
Disney studio chairman, Newsweek, msnbc.com, June 2006
Johnny
Depp often runs late. To him, a watch would be
a handcuff. So I was pleased when he showed up less than an hour after
the time
we had arranged. He shook my hand and apologized, saying he had run his
motorcycle into a pink Ford Escort.
—Kevin
Cook
contributing editor, Playboy, 1996
He
led me into the quiet, dark Viper Room. We went
downstairs to Depp’s sanctum. We talked all day. I was
impressed by his
intelligence and earnestness. He was often tongue-tied, struggling to
shoehorn
his convoluted thoughts into sentences. Watching him grope for words, I
couldn’t help rooting for him to unearth the mots justes he
was trying for.
—Kevin
Cook
contributing editor, Playboy, 1996
[Speaking of
the Viper
Room] Here's how I look at it: Johnny's a frustrated
musician. I've seen
him play when the doors close and no one's there. I think it's not
unlike Dan
Aykroyd and the House of Blues. You've got a guy who, for all intents
and
purposes, is not taken seriously for what he's really in love with, so
he ends
up making a home for himself to have that, you know? A castle for his
kingdom.
—Morty
Coyle
frontman of the Imposters and Viper Room regular, Details, March 1999
[Speaking
of the Viper
Room]I've seen Chrissie Hynde hanging out barefoot, after
hours, talking
religion with Johnny. I thought that was really, really cool.
—Morty
Coyle
frontman of the Imposters and Viper Room regular, Details, March 1999
He
had IT in spades, more
than anyone I’ve ever met.
—Wes
Craven
on casting Johnny in A
Nightmare on Elm Street
He
just had a very powerful and yet subtle
personality. There was some sort of charisma about him. My teen-age
daughter
and her friend were there at the reading, and they absolutely flipped
out over
him. He’s got real sex appeal for women.
—Wes
Craven
on Johnny’s audition for A
Nightmare on Elm Street, 1988
Johnny has that magic charisma and he
doesn't have to force
it. I don't know if someone's born with that quality or if you have to
work at
it, but it's very rare.
This character I play, Mirtha, was a
lot different than the
kind of character I have played before. I was nervous about this movie,
but
Johnny really helped me. He kept telling me, ‘You can do it,
you can do it, you
are doing great.’ He was wonderful.
—Penelope
Cruz
Knight-Ridder Newspapers, 2001
—Penelope
Cruz
Blow co-star, quoted in Depp, by
Christopher Heard