Movie Star Magazine
June 2001
by Jean Cummings
Photographs by Jadran Lazic
(Excerpted translation by Kyoko)

Johnny Depp, who appeared wearing a casual wardrobe, was also wearing his favorite knit cap as usual. And he didn't take it off when we asked him to take it off for the photo shooting. But we didn't feel bad, even when he said "no." Thanks to his warm personality and friendliness, we cannot regard him as an uncooperative person. He hardly ever visits Hollywood recently, but I managed to meet him twice during the Chocolat promotion. He is always punctual. His clothes are always casual. Worn pants and short sleeves on long sleeves are kind of his trademark. His long disheveled hair was held down by that knit cap forcibly. He said jokingly, "I'm wearing this cap in order not to drop my wig down." Since he may lack consciousness of being handsome, he had shaved sloppily, which was charming though. He, who is cheerful, was greeting ones who spoke to him during the interview. He is a person who is willing to autograph, every time he was asked, though his autograph is almost unreadable. He still cannot stop smoking, so he was smoking through the interview.

Johnny Depp (Johnny) : Smoking is one of a few things I'm good at, so I won't stop that.

-- But you said you were going to stop it, didn't you?
Johnny : I've been wanting to, but I still can't. (Laugh) If I stopped it right away, I would get neurotic on the spot. (Laugh)

-- How did you get a role in this film (Chocolat)?
Johnny : I needed a job. (Laugh) Yeah, really. It's a small film, but the script was terrific and my role seemed so interesting.

-- Your character is an Irish gypsy. Have you ever been to Ireland? Did you refer to anything for the role?
Johnny : I've been there many times. I stayed in Dublin almost all the time, but I've been to Dingle passing through Limerick. Also I went to East Cork, which I loved.

-- Did your experience affect your acting in Chocolat?
Johnny : I knew Ireland, so I wanted to make a gypsy guy from Ireland. Ireland has had various problem in Europe, hasn't it? Gypsies also have had a lot of problems in many countries. I thought if the gypsy or the wandering minstrel was set as an Irishman, I could depict how Ireland had been oppressed.

-- Villagers in the film didn't welcome the gypsy group you led.
Johnny : Yes. That is what I want to say. Gypsies in the film didn't come to the village in order to provoke trouble. In fact, in the actual world they aren't traveling to provoke trouble. either.

-- You are playing the guitar and singing songs, but was it the first time you sang songs in movies, while you are singing in your own band?
Johnny : Yeah. It's the first time I really played. In Cry Baby, I only pretended to play the guitar. This time, I really played the guitar, which was shot on the spot. That was fun.

-- Was playing the guitar your idea?
Johnny : Playing the guitar in the film was discussed in the first place. That was almost decided before I got the role.

-- That suits your character. The gypsy group wasn't planning to stay in the village for a long time. They just stopped by the village. So as you said, the character you played was certainly a minstrel, wasn't he?
Johnny : Early in the shooting, we decided to set Roux as a wanderer. Roux is a wanderer, who is moving from place to place. Roux doesn't have roots. He is a guy who isn't interested in staying in one place for a long time.

-- How did you decide the music you played and sang?
Johnny : I searched for old blues records and found out about old masterpieces, such as Robert Johnson's or Big Bill Broonzy's. I practiced some of Django Reinhart, too. I practiced various blues musician's pieces, which was fun.

-- This is an inevitable question on this film and chocolate. Do you regard food as a metaphor?
Johnny : Regard food as a metaphor?

-- Yes, do you regard food, especially chocolate, as a metaphor?
Johnny : Well, at a certain place or time, food is regarded as a metaphor, isn't it? In this film, chocolate means there is some ability for people to challenge something in their life. It means trying or experiencing new things.

-- Then, do you think chocolate looks different for everyone who has seen this film?
Johnny : Yeah, they may come to think chocolate is an interesting thing.

-- What kind of chocolate do you yourself like?
Johnny : I like the cheap stuff. (Laugh) Those real cheap chocolate balls are my favorite. Rich chocolate is too luxurious for me. I like the cheapest stuff.

-- You usually choose rather small, non-blockbuster films, don't you? Is there a film you wept at involuntarily among those you were in? Or whatever you've seen?
Johnny : Among films I've seen? Wow! A movie which made me weep? I weep so easily. Yes, really. I'm truly a crybaby. I might have told that to you, but I'm really stupid. I can weep even about trifling matters. But I can't remember any film I wept at in a flash.

-- How about ET?
Johnny : Yeah, I wept seeing ET. But that was a long time ago. So I can't remember a recent one. Sorry.

-- How about Chocolat?
Johnny: Chocolat? No, I didn't weep at it.

-- You also weep listening to music, don't you?
Johnny : I've just remembered an interesting thing. It was during the Scissorhands shooting. When I didn't know not only the final film, but also any music used in the film, I visited the place where Danny Elfman was making the music. It was a huge orchestra. I was moved then. There were a lot of musicians. It was just when they were playing the theme music. I burst into tears. A lot of tears came out and they fell down my cheek. That music beat me completely. Absolutely. Even now my eyes are filled with tears.

-- Did you feel similarly when your daughter was born?
Johnny : I always says this, but I feel I was wandering in a kind of a fog. I sort of only existed rather than lived. Only like I was breathing, at least. There hadn't been anything definite, anything I was living for, until I met Vanessa and our daughter was born. My daughter made me reborn rather than we gave birth to her. I think she came to our place rather than we made her.

-- I guess you are feeling more grateful to your parents, being a father of a child.
Johnny : You have something that happened in your childhood you remember still now, don't you? I think my parents tried to tell us as far as they knew. From parents to children, from children to grand-children, what they have been learning is taken over. Being a father, I can realize they have been taken over for hundreds of years.

-- When you knew you and Vanessa were going to have a baby, did any of your family members give you some advice?
Johnny : When I told my brother that Vanessa and I were going to have a baby, he told me two things. "Listen, I want to tell you two things. Number one, Congratulations! I believe that will be the best thing you experience in your life. There is no boring day in your lifetime after having a baby." He said that first. I said, "I want never to make a mistake on whatever. I want to be a good father," then he said, "You can do it. One more thing I wanted to tell you is to do the reverse of what our father and mother did." (Laugh) Of course, he was kidding. Our parents were the best for us.

-- If I ask you what is beauty for you, then you would answer it's your daughter, wouldn't you?
Johnny : What do I think is beauty? Well... Yeah, it's my daughter. My daughter is really beautiful. My daughter is beautiful, my life is beautiful, my family is beautiful... There are a lot of beautiful things.

-- That's the opposite of beauty, but I think there are often dark phases in your movies including Chocolat. Your character in Chocolat has something gloomy, doesn't he? What kind of part of your life is a trigger that has made you play such characters?
Johnny : My upbringing made me as I am now. But I can become merry and happy at once. There were many years I was feeling at a loss about my life or how I grew up. I couldn't understand what is right or what is precious. At that time, I was so miserable and self-defeating. I was feeling angry with various things. My anger came up to the surface then. I don't say such tendency has disappeared. Even now there are anger and the dark side in myself. But it's the first time I've been so close to the light.

-- What makes you angry?
Johnny : Usually... As I've said many times, I think ignorance brings out my anger. Ignorance, greed, viciousness or so on. Also I get angry at unfairness.

-- How about the collapse of your family? Because of your parents' divorce, the anger might have been produced and have stayed in you.
Johnny : I wanted my parents not to get divorced. I hated they were getting divorced, because once they got married.

-- They got divorced when you were a teenager, didn't they?
Johnny : When I was fifteen years old. I'd noticed vaguely for some years that they were going to get divorced. I somehow understood that when I was seven or eight. I was just a small child! That was miserable. After all, they got divorced, though they had maintained their relationship till I became fifteen.

-- So, had you been prepared for your parents' divorce?
Johnny : At that time, I thought that's ok. I thought their divorce wasn't such a big matter. After my father left, my mother became ill, which I think natural. It was a mental illness. Leaving a person you've lived with for a long time would hurt you in such a way. As her condition became worse and worse, I really hoped she would become fine, thinking about her all the time. My brain was occupied with that, so I hadn't noticed for a long time even that I didn't have time to grieve that I lost a part of my family. It was a long time later that I realized kind of the hard fact that our family had collapsed.

-- Does 'long time later' mean after you met Vanessa?
Johnny : Vanessa is really like a miracle for me. I've been with her for three years, and I'm feeling as if I had met the person I had searched for since I was a child. She is kind of the person I found out, searching for all over the world, the real significant other, or the person I can feel as if we had met somewhere sometime. I'm truly happy with her. Vanessa understands me so much. Getting along well with each other for three years is amazing. (Laugh) I'm feeling as if I only were following my destiny.

-- I think you are busy at your job, but are you thinking about marriage?
Johnny : Vanessa and I are sort of married already, only we haven't gone through the procedure. We haven't signed on the paper, but we believe we're married.

END OF ARTICLE

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