Site menu:

M — N — O



M


I see a lot of Johnny in Tom [Hanson]. He's shy, yet he has that great sensitivity—and he's very chivalrous with women. People don't expect someone that good looking to be down-to-earth. I don't think Johnny's even aware of how handsome he is. He's genuinely puzzled by the attention.
—Sharan Magnuson
Fox publicist, YM Magazine, March 1988

He was fantastic, a real professional. Came to set prepared every day. A lot of fun. His last day in the Bahamas, we were on the Black Pearl and there were lots of extras—there must have been 180 people on the deck of the boat. It was completely jam-packed—it was like a concert. You couldn't even walk through it. We were up on the stern where he finished his scene, and he literally shook the hand of every single person between him and the exit. He stopped and said, ‘Thank you.’ That's just the kind of guy he is. Later, outside a California soundstage, there were hundreds of people screaming his name. After working a 14-hour day, he sat outside and signed autographs for every single person before he left. It took like 3 1/2 hours.
—Daniel Malone
Director of marine and underwater operations for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, May 2007

Johnny has matured, but he still has all the spark of being a kid. Lily has helped him be even more of a kid because now he has a playmate.
—Marilyn Manson
LA Times, April 2001

When Johnny walked in, the energy in the room changed. There's something really amazing about him, his generosity of spirit.
—Mary Stuart Masterson
from the set of Benny & Joon, July 1992

[Speaking of the Viper Room]I think Sal and Johnny extended themselves to their circle of friends in such a way that people who were musicians and artists felt like there was this open venue for them to come and try things out. I mean, that's where the Counting Crows debuted their new music. They invited their friends to come and see what the response was. Or people would just come for an evening of fun and find themselves onstage. But it was a safe place. You knew the owners weren't calling the press and saying, ‘So and so is playing at the Viper Room tonight.’ It was really respectful.
—Samantha Mathis
actress and Viper Room regular, Details, March 1999

Johnny Depp manages to steal the show (as he always does), still in character from the summer's Pirates of the Caribbean. Impressively it works once again, adding a hugely comedic element to the film. (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) His wardrobe is one to be reckoned with and should have gotten credited as a character on its own.
—Daniel McCord
Film Review, September 2003

I’m working on a project with Johnny Depp called Inamorata. I didn’t know Johnny. He knew The Changeling. He got in touch with me about this, showed me this book and it’s fantastic ghost story again. It’s a supernatural love story. It has all the elements The Changeling had, and all classic ghost stories had, but very little happens. It’s all in the mind, and psychological and real. Hopefully we’ll make that movie in the next year. He’s not in it. It will be the first movie he produces. He’s fabulous and wonderfully committed—a very simple person. Big stars surround him. He’s fabulous, but most approachable and sincere. When you’re with him, no one else exists when you’re talking with him.
—Peter Medak, director
iFMagazine.com, October 2007

I have had a total crush on Johnny Depp ever since I was a young girl. Oh my God, first of all, there's that beauty factor. I'm sorry but Johnny is one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen in my life. I have to admit, I am totally in love with him. And another thing that surprises me is how funny he really is. I know you saw him in the movie, but in person, he is really naturally funny as well. He is just so dreamy.
—Eva Mendez
Once Upon a Time in Mexico co-star, 2003

There was a test screening of the movie [Private Resort] and no one affiliated with it would go anywhere near the theater. Depp and I heard about it and wanted to see it. So we dressed up in the weirdest possible way. He had these dorky glasses on and a knit hat, and I put cotton in my mouth so my face puffed out. We walked right past the executives who knew us.
—Rob Morrow
Private Resort co-star, quoted in Depp, by Christopher Heard

When asking a question of Depp, be specific. A generic one put to Depp by a journalist at the press junket led to the following exchange:

Question—Can you talk about your teeth?
Depp's response—“Talk about my teeth? Well, I've had many problems over the years. Several root canals. Once they found an eight millimeter, the tip of a drill bit in one of the canals. That was horrible. That was a six hour ordeal. I'm sorry, go ahead . . .”
—Rebecca Murray
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies, July 2006



N


Johnny Depp is an extraordinary human being, an extraordinary actor, and he embodies so much of what Shantaram is. So when he asked me to direct him, it was just a great honor.
—Mira Nair
director, in an interview with Reuters, 2007

People who have known him for long will tell you that he is a humble soul with great curiosity about the world. And those were my impressions, too. He loves taking risks, and that is why you see him in big films such as the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and smaller films like The Libertine. You never get the feeling that you are dealing with a movie star when you work with him. He is down-to-earth and very humane.
—Mira Nair
director, on her first impression of Johnny Depp in an interview with Arthur J. Pais

He’s a very polite, very gentle person in all sorts of ways. I also think he has a devil in him. Underneath this wistfulness, you feel a sanction of violence. So there’s this terrific mental energy going into keeping these two mutually antagonistic things in balance. That’s what keeps you coming back.
—Mike Newell
director, Donnie Brasco, 1997

Johnny is, in part, a great impersonator. When he met Joe Pistone, I could see him latch on to certain characteristics within seconds. Joe is a man whose exterior is stony—he’s not a gentle soul, with these dead, stone, impenetrable eyes. I would not want to get beaten up by Joe, truly. Johnny took a great deal from Joe.
—Mike Newell
director, Donnie Brasco, 1997

Johnny doesn't suffer fools gladly. He tends toward a choice of material that's going to interest him intellectually, and has always said to himself that the career comes second.
—Mike Newell
director, Donnie Brasco, Vanity Fair, February 1997

He trod on my toes a couple of times. He doesn't like people who are ill-prepared. He HATES cliché. He just didn't . . . he found the shot really boring . . . [shrugs] Nobody likes having that stuff pointed out to them.
—Mike Newell
director, Donnie Brasco, 1998

He bit my ass a couple of times, and to this day I don't know what I did. He suddenly fell completely out of love and was vile. The reason it was disconcerting is that he is so sweet the rest of the time; he's so hard working, so sensitive, with all the right vibrations and just a couple of times he comes on like the bloodbeast terror and you don't know where you are.
—Mike Newell
director, Donnie Brasco, 2000

What Johnny does is he stands one pace behind you with his cap doffed, you think he's tremendous and all the time he's taking notes. It is one of the ways he works. He's presentable, he's well mannered, he's gentle and he doesn't come on too strong. I think that he becomes a sort of favored son.
—Mike Newell
Esquire, February 2000

Johnny's a brilliant man, and a wonderful man, as well as an exemplary co-worker. When I first arrived, we worked out a few scenes together; there were some small accidents and he's extremely inventive, he never stops working. He's fabulous to work with.
—Bill Nighy
Pirates of the Caribbean co-star, 2006

It must be one of the most popular performances of recent times. Not only is [Depp] an assassin in terms of comedy and everything else—he's a brilliant guy—but he brings to it, and to the movie as a whole, a big-heartedness. It has good spirit.
—Bill Nighy
Pirates co-star, Associated Press, June 2006

He's an exemplary man, both as a colleague and as company. He is terrific company, he is a gentleman, a democrat—I don't mean in the political sense, I mean in terms of his general sensibility—he's funny, decent, conscientious, a lovely guy and an assassin in terms of comedy. He's just entirely wonderful.
—Bill Nighy
Madeinatlantis.com , June 2006

The first film is more than just a fond memory for people, it's kind of beloved. And it is largely to do with Johnny's performance. And it occurs to me that it is a performance that has entered the language in a way that very few performances do. And it is a performance that will survive down the years—we will show our grandchildren this performance. We will show these movies and we will claim the performance as our own in some ways, you know when your parents like to sit you down and watch whoever. It's a huge contribution Johnny has made and it has everything—it's profoundly funny and witty, it's daring and bold, it's affectionate and fond and it's iconic. And you can't say that very often but he really has pulled it off and it will survive.
—Bill Nighy
Madeinatlantis.com , June 2006

He's an exemplary guy and so very, very cool. I think [Depp's Capt. Jack] is a rare thing. It will be referred to down the years. People will show it to their grandchildren. They'll say, ‘When we were younger, a guy did this. Take a look.’
—Bill Nighy
AJC Staff, July, 2006

You have to understand what it's like for 10,000 or 25,000 people to yell your name. Think about it for a minute. Then think of what it is like for Johnny Depp. I think it scares him sometimes. But I think he senses a responsibility to these people. He doesn't want to appear irresponsible.
—Bill Nuss
21 Jump Street Producer, 1988



O


Johnny is a very sweet person and fun to be around.
—Lena Olin
Chocolat and The Ninth Gate co-star

[In response to a question about kissing her co-stars] Kissing someone you don't feel for is unpleasant. Many, however, were very pleasant. Like Johnny Depp. I don't think a lot of women would have a problem kissing him. [Laughs heartily] He's a good friend of ours, by the way. [Lena is married to Lasse Hallstrom, who directed What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Chocolat.] He's not exactly in the Connecticut neighborhood a lot, since he lives in France, but we often see each other at the Oscars and film events.
—Lena Olin
June 2005








Back