Production: VH-1 and Channel X co-production
Produced and directed by: Chris Cowey
Recorded: 1993 at The Viper Room
Running time: 22 minutes
Transcript by: Irene

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INTRODUCTION: Jonathan Ross at an outdoor pool-side location

JR: Hello. I'm Jonathan Ross.

You know, I think that Hollywood is the most remarkable city on the face of the earth. And I'll tell you why. It's because Hollywood doesn't actually exist. Sure, there's a geographical spot on the map called Hollywood, which is where I am right now. But when we talk about Hollywood, we're not really talking about 'Hollywood the place'. We're talking about 'Hollywood the dream'. Hollywood as a state of mind.

And the millions of people who come here each year have this one thing in common. They all want to be cool. But I must tell you one thing, my friend. 'Cool' is something you can't acquire; you can't buy. 'Cool' is something you are born with. And the man I'm about to meet now has more cool than just about any other human being on the face of the earth.

John Christopher Depp II - or Johnny Depp, as he's better known to his legion of fans and admirers - is so cool, well, frankly it's almost physically painful for me to talk about him. But, you know the coolest thing about Johnny Depp? The one cool thing - over and above the many great movies he's made, and the way he looks on camera? The coolest thing of all is the fact that he really couldn't care less about being cool. Now, that's cool.

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TITLE SEQUENCE: JONATHAN ROSS PRESENTS JOHNNY DEPP
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Dark interior at The Viper Room

JR: Johnny, I appreciate you taking the time out to talk to me. Let's talk if we can about John Christopher Depp II when he was a young man --

JD: Alright.

JR: -- before he came from Florida over here to Los Angeles. Quite a long haul. Uhmm... I believe you were occasionally in trouble at school, that you were an extreme character? Is that correct?

JD: Ah, no. No, I mean, I wasn't in a lot of trouble. It - it just didn't work so well for me, y'know, as it works for others. I didn't, er, feel particularly comfortable. I didn't feel inspired to, er, learn much at that time.

JR: And where are we talking about, here? Where actually did you grow up?

JD: This is Miramar, Florida.

JR: Small town?

JD [nodding]: Very small.

JR: What kind of size are we talking here? Big stores, plenty of things to do? Or...?

JD: Ah, no. We're talking about, y'know, like a grocery store - couple of grocery stores; a couple of drug stores; a card and gift shop; ...um...y'know, a bakery...

JR: So it's a real Small Town America.

JD: Kind of, yeah.

JR: And what kind of things then did - As a young person growing up, when you're going through your wilder years - what kind of things did you do to enjoy yourself, in a place like that?

JD: Oh, we used to do crazy things, y'know, like, er... We used to do things that... Y'know, blow fire... [smiling] Stuff like that.

JR [incredulous]: Blow fire??

JD: Yeah, you know: put gasoline in your mouth; blow fire. It's a really awful thing. I wouldn't recommend it.

JR: That's not a good thing to be doing!

JD: No. I lit my head on fire once doing that.

JR: Your whole head??

JD: Yeah... My... [gestures] my face was on fire, yeah.

JR: And this was just for fun.

JD [smiling]: Yeah! It was out of boredom... Just total boredom.

JR [laughing]: Now, you really have to be QUITE bored to get --

JD: Yeah: bored and stupid! [laughing] Stupid goes with it; it's kind of a combination...

JR: But that's behind you now?

JD: Yeah, it's all behind me.

JR: But it must have scared the life out of your parents, didn't it?

JD: They didn't know at the time. I told them... I told them I got too close to a firecracker, or something.

JR: So then you came.. you moved eventually with a band, I believe. Was that The Kids?

JD: Yes.

JR: And you came here to Los Angeles.

JD: Yeah.

JR: Hoping to make it big, as a band member?

JD: Yeah... We were, er...We wanted to be able to make a living, doing that... playing music and stuff. So we came here in search of the... er... 'the big record deal' and...er... It wasn't around. It wasn't around, like it is nowadays. A lot of people get signed these days if you... You know, you don't have to be that great to get signed these days.

JR: It's more... Now, is that a bitter old man talking there, or do you think genuinely that that is the case?

JD: Well, it's always a bitter old man talking! [JR starts laughing] I always speak as a bitter old man. [smiling] But no, I just think that today the music... Everything is so kind of confused, it's like a big bowl of soup. And it seems today that a lot more people get signed based on their haircuts [gesturing] and stuff as opposed to what kind of noise they make.

JR: Presumably, though, I mean it's kind of turned out OK for you, anyway, without the signing?

JD: It's been alright, yeah.

JR: So what about the acting, then? Your first film part... What was it? There were two films... [consulting his notes] ...I've had a look. One was 'Nightmare on Elm Street', which I've seen you in. And the other one was 'Private Resort', which I haven't seen.

JD: At the time I was... I was in the band and I got this offer to make 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. And I thought: "Wow! I'll make this movie; I'll make some money and support this, y'know, music"... and stuff like that. And the same thing with 'Private Resort'. It was like... I mean, really... It didn't make any... I didn't care, really.

JR [with heavy irony]: It wasn't a project which you had longed to do?

JD: No, I didn't really... I mean, acting or... None of that: movies, acting... Any of that stuff didn't really... I didn't care about it.

JR: Well, presumably sometime around then you decided: "Well, this is fun, and I would like to do this, and I could..."

JD: Yeah. After... After that, the band broke up and I... I didn't want to go through the process of starting another band and doing all that whole thing. Umm... It didn't feel right without those guys. So I just figured: "Well, I'll just continue this acting thing." And, uhm... started studying and did the whole thing.

JR: Do you ever have the feeling that maybe one day this will end, and you will then have to 'find a proper job'?

JD: Yeah! I mean, there's always that possibility. This could all go away. But I... It's still basically y'know: stepping in front of a camera; making a few faces; doing some goofy stuff. And then they cut.

JR [laughing]: So it still beats working for a living?

JD [smiling]: Yeah, and you get paid for it... So.

JR: Well, now... If we're doing a kind of chronological thing, let's look after the first two movies, then 'Jump Street' came about.

JD: Right.

JR: '21 Jump Street': the big series which you did for... four years?

JD: Ah, four seasons. So, yeah, three years.

JR: And this was something which, uhm... although it brought you immense fame, and stardom, and attraction, you appear to have hated with a violent passion.

JD [emphatically]: Yeah! [smiling] I did hate it.

JR: Curious situation to be in.

JD: Yeah! There's...there's an interesting thing that happens. I think it probably happens all over the world... You sign your name to a piece of paper [mimes the action] and suddenly someone owns you, you know? They own you lock stock and barrel. So you're kind of... And anything beyond that, you're in danger of being sued for, y'know, amounts of money that you never even... That you couldn't figure out by drawing them on a piece of paper... You know, the amount of zeroes! Umm, so basically I was stuck in a situation where I had to... just deal with it.

JR: Keep churning it out.

JD: Yes, just deal with it. It's real assembly-line stuff. And it has nothing to do with helping people. Umm... I mean, they... they give you the impression initially that, y'know, this could help people; it could do this; it could do that. But, er... There are a lot of hypocrites involved and stuff, and I felt like one of them and I just didn't want to be there. You have no control over it, y'know? And they want to do... And then they want to do, like, the whole thing: lunch boxes [laughing] and stuff like that! And, er... [gesturing] I couldn't... THAT I couldn't...

JR: Now, so what would...? I'm curious to what would have actually... I can understand, to an extent, but what would have bothered you about, say, seeing your face on a lunch box? I mean, it wouldn't be SO terrible, would it?

JD [smiling]: Yeah! It WOULD have been terrible. [JR bursts out laughing] It would have been terrible. It would have been terrible.

JR [still laughing]: But if it makes a child happy, when he or she has her sandwich and her apple... It's not the end of the world, Johnny.

JD [smiling]: Well, no - it's not the end of the world. Not by any means. But it's... I don't want to be remembered in, er, y'know, in the year 2030, y'know, for being... on a lunch box or --

JR: The Lunch box Guy.

JD: -- some kid's thermos, y'know. That kind of thing. I... I couldn't stomach it.

JR: So this character they were trying to portray you as. What were they saying? It was a kind of a "Tough but tender"...?

JD: "He's a rebel," they say... er, "Teen Dream"... or whatever those things are, y'know?

JR: So: "Teen Dream Moody Rebel".

JD: Exactly! Brooding... Brooding... [JR laughs] Y'know? That broody stuff!

JR: But, since then, the film choices you've had have, er... And I think, very cleverly! - and I wondered how shrewd you're being here: whether this is actually part of a game plan, or whether it's more of a kind of an instinctual thing - they've sort of distanced you, quite successfully and quite remarkably from that image, from that role. But at the same time, never really alienating people who might have liked what you did in that. Because they're still...[pauses] They're films that you can grasp. I mean, they're complex films, but they're films which have...y'know, have a purpose over and above just kind of... the kind of 'shooting and banging' that went on in 'Jump Street'.

JD [delighted laugh]: Shooting and banging...!

JR: You know what I mean.

JD: Yeah, no no. Sure. Umm... Well, you know what happened is... Doing that show and being involved in such a kind of assembly-line thing...uhmm... and desperate to get off of it, and desperate to do the things I wanted to do... I just swore to myself that I would only do things that I wanted to do; the films that I wanted to be in, y'know... At any cost! I mean, if I... If it all went away then it went away, and I would go back to whatever: pumping gas, or playing guitar, or whatever. Y'know? So, luckily I've just been able to do those things, y'know. I mean, with... whatever it is, with a lot of luck and, er... I've been able to work with the people I've wanted to, y'know.

JR: But if in 20 years' time they're doing - I think I already know the answer to this, but it would just please me to hear you say it - in 20 years' time they're planning a HUGE revival 'Back to the 80's 21 Jump Street', big-budget Hollywood feature film --

JD [perking up]: Oh, like 'Return to Gilligan's Island'? That kind of thing?

JR: That kind of thing, or 'The Adams Family' - all these things they're doing now. And they're making the big feature, and they say: "Oh, wouldn't it be cool... You know that old guy, Johnny Depp?" --

JD [smiling]: Right...

JR: -- "He's still around somewhere. Let's see if we can find him, and get him to drop a few pounds..." [JD laughs] "...and he could play the father of the guy he used to play."

JD: Wow...!

JR: Would you do that?

JD [pauses, rubbing his face]: Ah...Yeah! But I'd have to... I'd have to... I would do it. A bit like: 20-30 years from now? Yeah... I'd come out... [JR laughing] ...I'd come out of the old folks' home and do that. Sure.

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COMMERCIAL BREAK
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JR: Umm... 'Edward Scissorhands', which is a fabulous film. I mean, it really is a beautiful film. And it looks beautiful and just about every performance in it I think is remarkable... uhmm.... But must have been quite a risky project to take on, I would have thought? Because it's a very strange concept. [JD nods] After the event, it's one of those films where you say: "Yeah! Of course, I knew that would be popular, and I knew people would like it." But beforehand... I remember when I even heard the premise, I thought: "These people, they're just throwing everything away now." [JR pauses and JD glances across at him quizzically] Well, that's what I thought, maybe --

JD: Yeah!

JR: -- Y'know, it just seemed so weird. Here's a guy with no hands, and there's a castle... And they live in... And, y'know, it's like... And it's Tim Burton, who's --

JD: Uh huh...

JR: -- Let's face it, I know people; I could have him put away like that [snapping his fingers] tomorrow! Y'know?

JD: Yeah!

JR: You as well. We could do it, couldn't we? [JD starts laughing] The guy is walking out here, just he's lucky to still be out on the streets!

JD [still laughing]: Yeah, we all are! We all are.

JR [laughing]: But did you think at the time: "Well, this is TOO risky... Too big a risk to take", maybe?

JD: Oh, no no no! I... I didn't see that film as a risk. I read the script and thought immediately that I HAD to do it. But I thought that Tim would never... would never see me as that... as that character. Especially being --

JR: Why did you feel that? Because of your 'Jump Street' past?

JD -- especially being a 'TV Hunk' y'know, kind of thing... So. When I read it, I thought: This - I have to do this, y'know? Uhmm... I didn't see it as a risk. I didn't think that anyone would see it, even though it was Tim, y'know, and Tim has this kind of track record for every film... Everything he touches... y'know, he's like a... Turns to gold.

JR: Big success.

JD: ...Midas. Uhmm... But I didn't think anyone would see it but I just wanted to do it real bad.

FILM CLIP from 'EDWARD SCISSORHANDS'. Late at night. Edward sits on the sidewalk and clips the fringe of an Old English sheepdog.

Voice-over of JR: What was the toughest part about the shooting? Because presumably it was uncomfortable and arduous, having those prosthetic end-limb things on?

Voice-over of JD: Yeah. Uhmm... The toughest thing was really the heat in Florida. And wearing... I was wearing leather from the neck down. It was about 100 degrees, 110 degrees at times, y'know. So it was the heat.

JR: I was, uhm, in my local video store the other day and I noticed there is a pornographic parody --

JD [smiling]: 'Edward Penishands'!

JR: 'Edward Penishands'.

JD: I think they've done three of them, now!

JR: I think they're working on the fourth, perhaps.

JD [grinning]: Is that right?

JR: Well, I... I've put my name down, and I'm waiting for that call!

JD: I hope so, I hope so.

JR: But what an incredible thing!

JD: Well, actually, I'm waiting for my call too. I want to do a cameo in it.

JR: What an honour!

JD: Yeah!

JR [pauses]: 'Benny and Joon' --

JD: Yeah.

JR: -- is a movie I didn't see when it first came out. I missed it and I got it on videotape, and enjoyed it immensely as well.

JD: You hate it. Go ahead...

JR: No, I liked it.

JD: ...You can say it. You hate it.

JR: No, I'm a big Buster Keaton fan, you see.

JD: OK. For me, Keaton is the one. I mean, Keaton was never recognised fully for the .. his contribution, for the stuff that he did. The stunts that he did, the camera stuff that he did. Uhmm... the choices he made, and what he was able to do as an actor without saying anything. For me, is beyond Chaplin.

FILM CLIP from 'BENNY AND JOON'. Sam entertaining the crowds in the park.

Voice-over of JR: Did you immerse yourself in Keaton when you were preparing for that role? I mean, I know it's not ABOUT Keaton, but certainly it's kind of 'Keatonesque'.

Voice-over of JD: For me it was... For me, y'know - kind of selfishly - it WAS about Keaton. It was my way of being able to salute him. I watched tons of Keaton; I watched... I got hold of, y'know, some really rare short films by Keaton, and I just watched them. Y'know, hundreds and hundreds of hours of stuff...

JR: It's amazing. There are only a few people making these sort of strange movies here in North America. Most of the films seem to... They normally involve a very heavily-muscled man and another, er, very heavily-muscled gentleman. And one of them tends to get shot or hurt in some way, but then keeps getting up. [JD lights another cigarette] And that seems to be the basic premise that drives these films along. And a fine and entertaining one it is too! [JD laughs quietly, exhaling cigarette smoke] And then your films go off into very strange, erm... personality disorders, and people who don't quite fit in, and people who have odd - not disabilities, but anomalies... And it just seems to me that you seem one of the few people who either is WILLING to get these films made or is ABLE to get these films made. Is there pressure on you to accept more mainstream roles? Do people try to steer you that way, ever?

JD: There is at times that pressure....of... er...y'know... Because there's a Catch 22 here in Hollywood, which is you have to maintain a certain box-office draw to be able to get films made, or to be able to be in films... So... But I've been real lucky that, y'know, films like 'Scissorhands' did OK at the box-office and 'Benny & Joon' did alright, y'know. Uhmm... But there's the danger, y'know... So there may be some point... I may have to put on a big muscle-suit and, er... y'know, shoot at people.

JR: Are there ever moments when you're working with someone who you've perhaps, I imagine, seen before you were in this business - when you were a kid growing up in this, er.. tiny part of the world - and you'd seen them at the movies or on tv?

JD: Yeah.

JR: And now you find yourself suddenly... you're grappling with them!

JD: It's pretty strange to be sort of... er... you know...[pauses] ...kissing Faye Dunaway, and then suddenly you realise she's Bonnie Parker! You know, when I was a kid I watched that film and, y'know, I would have... I would have destroyed, y'know, people to get to her.

JR: Whole communities to get to her!

JD: Absolutely! And then, y'know... Suddenly... [smiling] ...y'know: your tongues are jammed down each other's throats.

JR: And what is it that manages to keep you from grinning insanely when you find yourself [JD bursts out laughing] in that sort of position?

JD [still laughing]: "Grinning insanely!" Ah, well, no - you DO grin insanely. [JR starts laughing] You do grin insanely! As much as possible!

JR: Let me ask you about your disgraceful habit of smoking profusely --

JD: Yeah! Uh huh...

JR: -- whenever and wherever possible --

JD: Yeah! [reaches into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes]

JR: -- What sort of volume are we talking about here? Are you... Do you keep count?

JD: Er... I don't really keep count, but I smoke too much. Definitely. [Puts a cigarette in his mouth] And it'll probably kill me. I'm quite happy and comfortable being disgraceful... No, y'know, it's obvious that it's not good for you, and stuff like that... We all know that. But, er, I mean if people choose to smoke, they should be able to smoke.

JR: I've never smoked.

JD: Yeah.

JR: I'm not saying this to... No, no --

JD [holding up his lit cigarette]: There ya go! C'mon...!

JR [laughing]: Yeah, well...! That would be lovely... But: what is it about it, then? What does it do for you? 'Cos I tried it once--

JD: It's the --

JR: -- and it was an uncomfortable burning sensation.

JD: -- It's an... [laughs] It's an addiction...[laughs again and abandons what he was about to say] Well, a lot of things are uncomfortable burning sensations!

JR [laughing]: Woah! And you don't go back and do them again!

JD [grinning]: Well, some people do!

JR [still laughing]: Some people do...

JD: Er...[twirling the cigarette in front of him] It's good... I don't know. I don't know: it's a drug addiction. It's nicotine, it's a drug, and I'm addicted to it.

JR: But is cancer something? I mean, presumably there's a higher chance, I would have thought, of you getting cancer than I.

JD: Yeah.

JR: Uhmm... Although [laughing] sitting this close to you during the interview I suppose I've blown my chances anyway!

JD: You're filled with it now.

JR [still laughing]: I'm riddled!

JD [laughing]: You're riddled with it! Well, y'know, there's --

JR: It's not something we should laugh about, of course.

JD: No no no! Absolutely not! Cancer's not a laughing matter. Er... It'll probably - yeah, it might... I mean, it might get me, y'know. But, er... y'know, I could walk out the door, y'know, and be, er... Have my head chopped off by a... y'know, a passing --

JR: But that's always --

JD: --by a passing man with a machete.

JR: But I've always thought that was the LAMEST excuse of all. Whenever people say to me: "Well, you know, I could get run over tomorrow!" But, if you went out and saw a man coming at you with a machete, YOU'D DUCK! [JD laughs] Right then, or you'd cross the road --

JD [still laughing]: Well, maybe you would...! But maybe... What if you didn't SEE the machete?

JR [laughing]: MAYBE you would??

JD: Maybe you would... Maybe, you know... maybe you might not... You might want to see what it's like having your head chopped off. [JR laughing] You never know! YOU NEVER KNOW...!

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COMMERCIAL BREAK
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JR: Your relationship with the press. Because they've written about you as 'Moody Rebel' in the past --

JD: Oh, yeah...

JR: --and at the moment you are carrying, I would have thought, the unenviable in many ways, but in other ways quite... quite attractive title of 'The Coolest Man in (I think) The Universe'.

JD: What is it?

JR [smiling]: The Coolest Man in The Universe.

JD: Oohh, wow! 'Cos I thought this week I was 'The Worst Dressed' --

JR: Well, that's part and parcel, you see --

JD: --and 'The Most Likely to Need a Bath' or something, from Us Magazine. [JR laughs] So, 'The Coolest Man in The Universe' is... [shakes his head]

JR: OK, alright: I'll be honest. I made that one up.

JD: Oh, OK [laughing]

JR: But that was the impression I got from reading the others, and I --

JD: I keep up on all these things. I want to know! I want to know what Us Magazine thinks. I wanna know!

JR [laughing]: People Magazine and --

JD [smiling]: All of 'em! Because they... They mould my future, and I wanna know!

JR: And, then of course you had the relationship with... erm... Winona Ryder --

JD: Mmmm...

JR: -- a spectacular actress and a fabulous-looking woman [JD nods] and this was made to be incredibly public! And I wondered whether that was something which you had anticipated, or whether that took you by surprise and made you unhappy?

JD: Well, I just didn't...er... What happened was... I mean, y'know, here I met this girl and we get together [gesturing] and we like each other, and we fall in love... and bing! We're together and it's official. And then the next thing you know, it's... It just becomes...That becomes the focus... of the press and of the people... And, uhm... People are more concerned about your relationship than they are about the work that you're doing. So it doesn't become about the work any more. It becomes about who you're hanging out with and, er... how many times a day you ...er...y'know --

JR: Hang out with them.

JD: -- become horizontal. [Drums his hands on his boots] Y'know. So.

JR: So, in future would you keep... Would you be more guarded about people you're seeing and what you're up to in your private life?

JD: Well, I've always tried to, y'know... I've always tried to keep that, er... y'know, low-key. But, er... It doesn't.... I've come to realise that it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're with someone or not. I mean, they're going to write about something either way. I mean, every person I've made a film with, every girl I've made a film with... You know, they've assumed that I was having a... y'know, this huge love affair with them. Which is not true, but that's what they write, y'know.

JR: Is there a fun --

JD [shrugs]: It doesn't matter.

JR: Is there a fun side to it? Do you sometimes read that stuff and think: "Well, I'm kind of... I'm kind of pleased that they assume that of me."

JD: There was one story I read in one of those magazines that I thought was hysterical, and it was about... [slow smile] Oh, it was about me and Madonna. That I'd [laughs]... That I had flown to Miami; got off the plane; went over to her house; ripped my shirt off... [JR starts laughing] We started, you know... er.. slobbering on each other, apparently, and then the static between... The electricity between us was so intense that we jumped in the pool and all the lights went out! [Grins]

JR [laughing]: And this was actually as it appeared?

JD: That's... that's what they said, yeah.

JR: And this was not a true story, I understand.

JD: This was, er...not a true story. Ah... Unless I blacked out for a few days and didn't remember, but ... er...

JR [smiling]: And what part of it wasn't true, Johnny?

JD [laughing]: Well... I didn't rip my shirt off! That's untrue.

JR [laughing]: OK. But the power did go!

JD: No. There was a lot of these... There were these midgets, and they came and they ripped my shirt off. And then... Yeah.

JR: Yeah, I've been in that situation with that very woman. OK, let me ask you one final thing, then. This is one of those big End-of-the Interview questions, which is: How would you choose to be remembered?

JD [pausing]: How would I want to be remembered?.... [drumming his fingers on his boots] ...I don't think I would want to be remembered.... Maybe... I... If I'm remembered, maybe just put a pigsfeet... y'know [miming the action] put a pig's foot on my grave or something, once I'm dead, y'know...

JR: That's a quote from a song, I believe.

JD: Yeah. Pigsfoot. "There was a pigf... a pigfoot in a bottle of beer." So that would be probably pretty good.

JR: Not a big ambition... But a telling one. [pause] Thanks for your time [shaking hands with JD] and good luck with the movie.

JD: Thank you.

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CLOSING CREDITS

[Close up on JR's red & white chequered shoes]

JD: Every time I see you, you have the greatest shoes, y'know. Always!

JR [laughing]: I'm thinking about adding to my collection, you see.

[Close up on JD's scruffy brown boots with tape wrapped round their upper parts]

JR [leaning close to investigate JD's boots]: What's going on here? It seems like masking tape on here? That's a very shabby...

JD [displaying the boots]: I know. [sounding sad] These have been around for so long, I couldn't... I just got them re-soled, y'know. I was afraid that they were going --

JR: The sole's great! I'm not picking on the sole at all; I'm just looking at the tape area!

JD: No... Well, they're, y'know... falling apart!

JR: Insulating tape?!

JD: So I had to fix 'em up a little...

JR: Very smart.

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