PREMIERE, June 1998 [French edition]

Johnny Depp

A 'gonzo' interview with the hero of the Cannes film festival and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

By Jacques-André Bondy. Photos Michel Haddi.

Production SUMO, Stylist DELPHINE TANDONNET, Groomer PATTY YORK, Location QUIXOTE STUDIOS

Twenty-seven years ago Hunter S. Thompson left in his convertible to cover a motorcycle race near Las Vegas. Much more interested in characters he meets on the way and in the differences among the drugs he's swallowing with his lawyer, an oddball just like him - as sun lotion this one uses beer - he'll write only three lines about the race.
Thanks to its murderous realism towards 70's American myths and illusions, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream became a literary monument of pop-culture. This 'gonzo' journalism, which throws more light on the personal delirium of its author than on the event itself, upsets the rules and becomes a cult book. Who better than Johnny Depp, Hollywood's rebel, could have incarnated its creator as viewed through the surrealistic and humorous eye of director Terry Gilliam?
Getting this interview with Johnny Depp for Premiere was an unceasing struggle. Not, as you could think, because of the star's "temper" - often wrongfully shown as a I-don't-give-a-damn, willful or restless guy - but because Johnny, who hasn't been on holiday for years, was at last getting ready to set off before going a few days to the Cannes festival and then joining Polanski in Paris to act in his movie.
Monday noon: Here we are! After spending days and days negotiating, hoping, organizing, canceling, reorganizing, all that under an axe provided with turbo, we get informed that HE will finally offer us two hours. Tomorrow, 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m.: I arrive at the studio on Santa Monica Blvd & La Brea. The place isn't unknown to me. Some months before a sudden liking for benevolence had led me here to help a mate who had to audition six dozen models...in one day! I've lost some illusions here, I've learned how you can change from a Tex Avery style excitement (for the first 30) to the deepest boredom of the world (during the following 70) and I discovered that girls are sometimes "compelled" to smile to you. The murderous realism, "the savage journey to the heart of the American dream": I was already in its middle.
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m.: a call: "Sorry, old man", the voice says. "We have to delay. Johnny Depp arrives only at 5 o'clock." He just left for a ride...Michel Haddi, the photographer, shows reassuring: "We'll make it, we'll make it!" No doubt, but we had decided to shoot outdoor, on the studio's roof, where Michel had arranged a surprise for Johnny and at 5 o'clock the light is no more the same. Out of the question securing the interview first and then taking the photographs. We have to shoot as soon as possible. But it needs time! Will it remain enough? Michel promises to be supersonic. We wait again. A long time. It lets us have a look at the heap of clothes the stylist brought. The make-up room is a real store. Fairly a showroom, with lots of jackets, pants and shirts hanging on wheeled wardrobes, in impeccable order. Very pro.
Tuesday, 4:50 p.m.: One of Johnny's publicists (American version of the press agent) lands to reassure us: HE is on the road in his car, HE will not be late. Hollywood publicists are often women, and the bigger their client is the more their panoply - portable, 4x4, Armani suit - looks like cliché. But, it's a man. In jeans. T-shirt. Young. Calm. And, what's more, he dares smoke cigarettes like us in a town where a smoker is a junkie. That's maybe a good sign. Besides he's alone. Stars of Depp's mettle are generally constantly preceded, followed and surrounded by a pack of assistants of various rank whose circus can, according to the circumstances, annoy or amuse. The height of ridicule are those eternal earphones and walkie-talkies with which they communicate to each other without bothering the star. Nothing like that today. Or nothing like that with Johnny? The question is open.
Twenty minutes later a guy, with a loose Rasta cap falling on his head, arrives on his own, discretely, walking quiet, and begins to introduce himself to everyone. It's him! Neither horde nor earphones. You may not be fascinated by the stars, but you are compelled to recognize this boy has got an "aura" much above the average. What strikes first is his features' fineness. You'd say he is 25 - ten years younger than he is - and his glance only makes him look older. You remark his quiet voice too. Quiet, very quiet. He economizes his words. He says nothing unnecessary. Maybe speaking bothers him. But his tone shows it's not so. He chooses, it's only that, no bullshit. He looks human. Suddenly you rather feel like leaving him in peace.
A bicycle's chain coming out from one of his beige jeans' pockets and some motorcycle's grease on his arm let you think maybe he was just doing a repair on one of his motorcycles before he comes. The motorists know how much it gets on your nerves to not take care of an old vehicle. He casts a glance at the clothes they propose to him. The make-up artist sees the grease and begins to take it out. It annoys him a little: "Let it be!" he says.
Then they hand him two big leather jackets, a beige one and a black one. He hesitates, slips on one reluctantly, then he explains his embarrassment: "No, it makes me a bit too… Matthew McConaughey!" We all are in stitches, what turds we are, but we are actually in stitches. He relaxes. With a quite English humor he balances his at first freezing verbal economy with clownery. At last he votes for a black T-shirt. He always votes for a black T-shirt.
We go up to the studio's roof that serves as an outside parking too. A white convertible Mercedes is waiting for him for the photos. It was the surprise. Even if it's clear that Johnny doesn't love being photographed, he follows Michel's instructions very professionally. What bothers him is to take off his glasses. When he does it, with the sun in his face, he opens his eyes one or two seconds, then he closes them ten or twelve. You have to release the camera at the right time.
PREMIERE: Did you know Terry Gilliam before the movie?
JOHNNY DEPP: Not very much. We met several times. We talked to each other too, but we didn't really know each other.
Did you know he was American and not English?
I knew he was an expatriate.
Had you already seen his movies then?
I saw some really quite good. (Johnny doesn't see many movies.)
Is it your sort of cinema?
He's a great filmmaker, the sort of guy with whom I always wanted to work.
(While the camera is crackling, I have to lie on the ground and take every sort of positions in order not to be in the field. It amuses him, Johnny, very much, he begins to relax. He kindly suggests he can hold the tape recorder so as to let me hear him better and he presses the button himself when we have to break off.)
The Monty Python?
I saw it on television when I was a boy.
There is a relationship between the Monty Python and Fear and Loathing's tone, isn't there?
Yes. There is a sort of freedom. Freedom to be honest, to speak frankly.
Did you know Hunter Thompson before you play him?
We met sometimes. And we spent some time together, we two. I had been one of his big fans since my teens. Since I read his book.
How old were you when you read it?
I was about 15 or 16.
Has the adaptation been planned for a long time?
I think it's come into question for twenty-five years. Since its publication. But no one did it before. I like that very much.
Was it Gilliam who came and proposed it to you?
No. I was actually already joined to the project when Terry arrived. We were lucky, you said it!
What was your reaction when you saw those huge jets, which were said to spit and keep mountains of dust suspended for days, landing on the set?
I had seen this sort of tricks before, but not in the middle of the desert. It was very strange, this idea of letting tons and tons of sand spit in your throat, and for a miles all around!
Wasn't it too hard to play in such conditions?
Actually, no! It simplifies everything: you think only of making a bolt because your lungs are completely impregnated with that horrible dust. For hours, days, weeks.
Terry Gilliam filmed you in a very particular way.
Yes, he made use of big wide-angled lenses and he filmed from close-up. In order to create strange effects in photography. And Nicola Pecorini is the director of photography. He is very, very good. I adore him.
(Besides the "camera in the face" Gilliam and Pecorini stuck some transparent plastic sheets on the lenses in order to recreate the drugs' effect. To keep Thompson style Gilliam chose to make Johnny Depp tell the movie in voice overs.)
How did you work with the voice overs?
I made the recording before shooting. And as my play had to be synchronized, to know when I had to speak or to react, I had an earphone on.
Was it your idea, Gilliam's idea or a Brando's suggestion?
(Brando's legendary ignorance of the text led him to have an earphone on as a prompter, like on the set of "The Brave".)
It comes from me. Rather than having someone behind the camera reading the text to me, it was better I had my own rhythm in the ear.
Did you talk to Brando about it?
Brando uses this trick. It's really very practical. I've actually learned it from him, indeed.
What other detail will you remember in a few years?
(He looks at the sky, wondering for a long moment interrupted by some smiles full of reminiscence.)
Frankly, I think I will remember every day. "It was fun, great fun…" But very hard too.
How that?
Yes, it was very fun, but terribly hard too. A lot of work. In a very short time. If we had had some more months we probably could have slept too. It was very intense.
What do you think about the comparison they will certainly make with Easy Rider?
Easy Rider? I don't think you can compare the two, no. Easy Rider is a great movie, but very, very different. And then, it was done thirty years ago.
The book has as a subtitle A Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. Has Las Vegas ever been a part of your dreams or do you share Thompson's opinion about that "hole"?
(Sad voice.) Vegas, it's an odd meeting place for everyone who...I actually find Vegas very sad. You can see people there wasting all their social security, their pensions, inserting their last nickel into the slot machines, sitting endlessly.
Have you ever gambled there?
I gambled only one time, yes. Just to say I've done it. It wasn't..
Is it then one of the best places in the world where you can see how low two chaps can sink?
Yeah!
And you, where would you go for that?
To see how much people can throw themselves to nothing? I think it happens every day in Hollywood! No need to travel far for that! But Vegas.. At every moment there is someone sinking low in Vegas (a little cynical laugh). I don't love those places full of people! It makes me claustrophobic.
Was it good then that the shoot took place in the middle of the desert?
Desert, yes, I adore it! And then, the good side of the shoot was I could have some of my motorcycles there and I could drive them. It's great fun. Besides you can simply run away on weekends, crossing the desert far and wide in a jalopy.
Are you like Thompson and his Hell's Angels, or a lonesome rider?
I leave with a friend. (Not too much Harley, rather Ducatti, Triumph and other European ones.)
Did you know that Jarmush had recorded a CD audio version of the book with Harry Dean Stanton?
Yes. And Harry Dean was the storyteller in it. Harry Dean appears in the movie too.
The 'gonzo' journalism, did you know it?
Yes.
Did you read Thompson in Rolling Stone Magazine?
The book was published in Rolling Stone in 1971. I was 8! I didn't read it, no. Not yet.
How was your first day with Thompson?
Wonderful! We.. made a bomb in his kitchen. And then, we went in his garden and shot at it with a shotgun. (He laughs, pleased with himself.) For fun! Just for fun. Yes, it was the first thing we did, we two.
Other festivities?
Oh, yeah. You know, we went to buy some powerful guns. We both bought the same and we shot with them in his garden.
Do you share his preference for 44 Magnum?
I can't remember the gauge of mine, but it was a Freedom Arm. The most powerful gun with which I've ever shot.
Is it true that you two passed yourselves off as each other? That you drove his car while he was parading in Beverly Hills in your Porsche Carrera 4 passing himself off as you?
(The evocation amuses him, makes him laugh still.) Yes, I actually drove his car back from Colorado to Los Angeles. We said to each other it could be a good idea. We wanted to use his real car in the movie. Even if it's not the same he had when he wrote the book, it remains Hunter's old car. So I could have the good feeling. Then, when he came to Los Angeles I lent my Porsche to him. Yeah.. And he drives very well, Hunter.
Did you prepare the part pinching him the cash?
Yeah. I spent about three months in all with him. I stayed with him; we went together at the hotels. We had a very good time for three, four months.
(A chopper is flying noisy over us. A glance is enough for him to realize the noise avoids him being recorded. He kindly stops speaking and presses the pause button of the tape recorder. As soon as the chopper loiters, he glues the mike to his mouth, restarts the recorder, plays vibrating his lips at super high speed with his fingers, uttering very odd sounds like a dromedary. Unfortunately this original music is untranscribeable.)
Is it true that Thompson has got a leg shorter than the other is?
I'm not informed on this subject. But I did my best to have his very feeling. So, I did everything he did.
Like drinking? (Exaggerated tone.)
(Very quickly, like a boy confessing.) Raahh! Yeah, maybe just a little then.
He loves every extremely amplified music too.
Yes. Yes. Me too. We share that.
His favorite drink is...
(He interrupts.) Wild Turkey, Chivas Regal on the rocks, big glass, a lot of ice-cubes! Me, it's rather...Rubbing Alcohol.
What!?
(A large smile, proud of himself.) Rubbing Alcohol. It's the trick for cleaning the heads of the K7! My favorite drink is actually a French one. No, not a French one, but you can find some in France.
Vodka Zubrowska ? (Better to pronounce "jo-broofka".)
Yeah! (He says it in French:) Herbe de bison [bison's herb]. It's really nice. At the moment I prefer.. er? Porto. It's French, isn't it? No?
Rather no. In his book Thompson tells he loitered in Las Vegas with two sort of oddballs: a 150 kilos Samoan lawyer (from Samoa islands then). Did you meet him?
He is presumed dead! He's not been to be found since 74. (That is Oscar Zeta Acosta, played by Benicio Del Toro.)
And the English designer Ralf Steadman, which drawings seem to have inspired the poster?
I met him only once. Very nice, very funny. His character isn't in the movie. In fact, the poster is inspired by his drawings.
Did you see Where the Buffalo Roam, also inspired by Hunter Thompson's stories? With Bill Murray playing your character?
Yes. Many years ago. Bill did a good job.
After a bet and thinking he was Houdini, the magician, Thompson nearly drowned him by throwing him into his swimming pool, fastened to a chair.
Really? I didn't know that!
(Maybe a Thompson's new "virtual information" then?)
Did something worse happen to you with Thompson, apart from the bomb?
Ah no, that, it was fun! I don't recommend it however, but.. No, I don't see.
Nothing dangerous?
Everything! Everything is dangerous with Hunter!
Your most stupid bets?
In San Francisco we were holed up in a hotel room for five days. Without going out! Yeah, five days. Just in the room. So, a lot of crazy shit went on there.. (He collects pots of memories with a smile.)
Just like in the movie, I suppose?
Yeah, very similar.
Did you wake up aware?
I survived. Let us say so. I survived.
It was the training for the part.
Yes. Trying to spend the most time with Hunter and learning. Trying to steal his soul. To borrow his spirit, I could say.
How did you give the drugs' effect on the screen?
It doesn't need too much time. Photography creates the atmosphere, but I have to show it too. An actor has to re-act to what is facing him, that is to the camera. You have to show it on your face, on your body.
Should a different atmosphere correspond to each drug?
I saw only the first editing of the movie, long time ago. Maybe Terry did so. I don't know. That's really not within my province.
After playing Thompson Bill Murray had awful troubles in leaving the part…
Yes, he had great difficulty. Me too! Hunter is indelible! He is like a disease you've got. He slips under your skin, takes root into your blood and your pores. Hunter impregnates you. He haunts you. His rhythm, the way he speaks, his language are very interesting. And it's hard to get rid of it after mixing with him for a time.
And now?
I've got rid of it. But if I could speak to him again I could fall down again a second time. Give me just a cigarette case, a smoke and I fall down again on the spot. Once you've got it, I think you won't get over it.
In the book there is a scene of destruction of a hotel room. And in the movie?
EVERYTHING is destroyed in the movie. Everything.
Fed up with being always reminded of that hotel room you destroyed? Aren't you afraid people will talk over again with you because of this scene?
Bah! (In French:) Ça m'est égal! [It's the same to me!] Yeah, I don't give a damn, it's ridiculous! On the other hand, I'd do another hotel room, if I felt like that! Or anything else! Why not? Everybody should do that: it's human nature, isn't it?
Do the studios put pressure on you for being you?
I don't feel it much. Sure enough, you want your movies going off well, people going see them, and enjoying them, etc., but it's not my problem. My job is to do things I believe in, to play parts that give me the opportunity to bring something interesting. As to big movies, yes, there is a pressure, but it's not my business. I have nothing against the idea of taking part in a big budget movie if the story is good, if the director is good or the character is interesting. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense. I will never do any, if it's just to survive in the community (of Hollywood)!
How come you're seen in Cannes every year?
(He's surprised too.) I don't know, look! Very strange. It is one.. two.. three.. four.. Yes, I've come for my four or five last movies, I don't know why.
Maybe because you like it?
Yes, I like it.
Have you already thought of living in France?
Often, yes. I'm still thinking of it.
Which town would you go to?
Paris. But I love the South too, the Provence. And Nîmes too, the coast and the hinterland. I realize I've actually spent more time in France than in my native town for height years. I go there more than anywhere else. I adore France's way of life. Food is good, people are good, and wine is good.
Why do you live in Los Angeles then?
I love the sea. I love being near the ocean. I need to be near water. And then, I don't love living in a limited, oppressive environment. Paris can sometimes be like that, but a little air still remains. In New York, for instance, you always have someone upstairs over you.
And a [tuamotu] in Tahiti? Or an island?
Right! Yeah, I thought of it. I've already asked many times about buying an island. After all, it's just where I'd like to pass away. I think that Brando is right.
(The publicist comes back at the second sharp when the interview was planned to end. "It's good? Everything OK?" On the lips of a Hollywood publicist it means: "Time over. I fetch my star and save him from the dreadful Calvary of the interview." It seemed to go well with Johnny. Then, I dare say: "Ten minutes more?" Normally they must answer to me: "No, sorry. We really must go." The star apologizes and leaves you with his watchdog taking the blame. The publicist glances at Depp who answers instead of him: "It's all right. Let's go." Then, turning to me: "Ok, no problem. It's cool." Johnny rolls himself a fourth cigarette after refusing one of my Camels. A Marlboro's chain-smoker, then Marlboro Light's at the rate of three packets a day, he rolls some Drum into dark-brown leaves. They've said to me he attaches no importance to dying in a sound body, but when the conversation falls on alcohol and our photograph, Michel Haddi, talks about the prohibition the doctor made him of it, Johnny comes out with: "If the doc said to you it's bad for your liver, then listen to him.")
How did you go through the commercial flop of The Brave?
"Commercial flop", it doesn't mean anything to me. How I've already said to you, it's not my problem. A movie is a movie, like a drawing is a drawing. A big success means only that: someone, somewhere, is going to pocket the dough. And that's not the reason why I did the movie. I didn't do it to please anyone, apart from my actors and myself.
Are you preparing another?
Yes.
When?
Next year. Maybe. I want to do one, just to piss off the critics. I would do no matter what to make them crazy. And I like stealing two hours and 30 minutes of their lives!
(It amuses him. Me too, because I suppose he's also hinting at the troubles and at the time we spent in organizing this interview.)
But if that reassures you, I'll have about twenty hours work more to transcribe the interview and give it a shape.
(He adds.) Good! Then I'm very glad to know I'm stealing some more of your time!
Do you detest press?
No, no! I'm joking. No personal vendetta. It's just the "critics". What a funny idea to do this sort of work! Isn't it? What sort of qualifications do you need to say if a movie is a good one or a bad one? I don't understand. Either people react to a movie or people don't react. But no school or knowledge allows the power to say, "It's good" or not. It's just different. You can say if it's boring or interesting, but good or bad, it's depends on the director's aims. In short, anyone has the right to have his own opinion. And opinion is gratis.
How is your shoot with Polanski going?
I'm super enthusiastic about the idea I'm going to work with him. He's a director I admire.
Had you already had some project together?
No, we met in Cannes last year, when I presented The Brave. The idea of working together interested me, of course. Six months after he sent me the script. I said yes.
Have you read Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel?
No, I haven't read Club Dumas yet, but I'm going to buy it and get down to it.
What did you think of Travolta's desertion of Polanski's previous project last year?
I really don't know what happened; I don't know the details. But I think it's a pity he didn't do the movie. For an actor it's a real chance to work with Roman Polanski.
Which Polanski's movies do you prefer?
My god, they are all good! Knife in the Water, The Tenant, Rosemary's Baby...Ah, yes, maybe Chinatown. It's one of the most perfect movies you could hope for. I adore Frantic too.
Did you see Death and the Maiden?
No, not yet. I will see it. But, you know, I don't see many movies after all.
Is it a lack of time or of will?
Neither exactly. It's because that's the last thing you want to do when it's your job. A guy who polishes bowling alleys doesn't dream about playing there on the weekends! I feel so. Like those guys working for McDonald who eat no more burgers.
Have you seen Titanic?
No.
You are said to have chosen DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape.
Lance Hallström (the director) and I have been examining many boys for the part of my younger brother, and it was Leonardo who was chosen.
Have you met again?
From time to time. We cross.
He is in a critical moment of his career. What advice would you give him?
He's a good kid. I'd say to him: "Do what you really want to do. Don't play their game. When they want you to rush to the right, tack at top speed to the left! Don't do what they want you to do. Have your own way!"
If Tim Burton would ask you to play Superman?
I really love Tim Burton, but I don't know if I'd like to see my mug on Burger King's or McDonalds cups. (He bursts out laughing.) I prefer to avoid it, you see? To avoid that horror to the planet.
The girls would be glad maybe...
I'm not sure of that. I'd do anything for Tim. But playing Superman.. I'm not very sure I'm able to.
When people compare you to Brad Pitt, do you mind?
Yeah. I don't give a shit!
Are you mates?
Yeah. We have known each other for years. He's nice. But, you know, we all are in the same prison. We are all striving for a living, you see? There is no big mystery or...Everyone tries to do what he loves to do, that's all. Brad is nice.
It'd seem you love Beaudelaire.
(In French:) Les Fleurs du Mal, yes! Yes, I really love him very much. I love many French writers: Beaudelaire, Artaud, Rimbaud...
Do you read very much? Apart from the scripts.
(It makes him laugh.) I prefer books, it's sure! Yes, I read very much. Probably because I didn't ever read anything when I was a boy. I left the school early. Reading is an escape for me.

We are alone, we two, leaning on the Mercedes. It's hot, I offer him some water: "No, thank you." I kid him: "You don't love it? Do you drink any sometime? - But yes, it happens to me!" It's time to go. As usual with him Johnny thanks and shakes hands with everybody, as he does with his movies' teams. It's quite rare in Hollywood. Coming down the parking descent I jolt hearing a motor roar. I turn, a black Porsche rushes over me. In his Carrera 4 Johnny plays the fool, goes faster and brakes twice, three times to impress us and to let us admire his engine's noise. He puts his cap on and it clashes with the Porsche. He is cheerful, it's contagious. Look, he has had the good taste of avoiding the personalized license plate, like Johnny 1. He lets down his window and waves to me.

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