Johnny Depp : the collecting
translations by Corinne
Like this self-portrait, Johnny Depp accepted to reveal his own world and his sources of inspiration. An exceptional collecting that shows from the inner a special personality.
Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Lanzmann
" Fais pas ci, fais pas ça " (= don't do this, don't do that), " Les playboys ", " L'opportuniste "… Most of the songs Dutronc and Lanzmann worked together on are incredible. They were pioneers to their generation. In 1966, the Rolling Stones were said to be an outrageous band, but nowadays when you listen to their songs from this period, you obviously find the duet Dutronc/Lanzmann much more subversive. According to me, Lanzmann and Dutronc, could be called the first punks."
Antonin Artaud
He is the first one who said "Fuck you. I won't do what you tell me."
"He is the genuine expression of force. The force to challenge everything you have to face. Because, you know, Artaud never accepted any compromise. He has always been where he wanted to be. Even after being electro chocked fifty one times for his "subversive thoughts", he staid truthful to himself. In his work you can find either deep and wonderful feelings as others things I totally disagree with. He was a provoker, the first one, in a certain way, who ever pronounced this lyric from the band Rage against the machine : "Fuck you. I won't do what you tell me". It's such a wonderful way to live your life. How did I happen to know him ? Many years ago, someone gave me a book that used to belong to Jim Morrisson. In this book, some extracts from Artaud writings' were underlined. Somehow I became curious about it. So, I began to read it and man it was like I was stricken by the power of God. I felt a kind of sudden link : I deeply understand what Artaud meant. Artaud really succeeded in surpassing himself without in spite of himself. He wanted to go as far as he was able to go, to the point he couldn't even stand. I think his influence is very strong nowadays on everyone even though on people who do not know him. You can feel his influence everywhere when you listen to rock music, it's quite obvious, you can also feel it in literature and poetry and I must ad in some actor's acting."
Marlon Brando
"He's a great teacher but also a great friend. Without any doubt he is the most powerful and influential actor of the 20th century and beyond. He is also the funniest son of a bitch I happened to meet."
Buster Keaton
"I like Chaplin, but i prefer Buster Keaton to him. He was a great actor, a master of impresionism, a master with guts who could make you feel your deepest feelings inside, a master of the body language, of movment. I'm really found of this picture of him"
Lon Chaney
" A precursor. The first actor who turned into characters he played. To do that he used a lot of make up but he also went farther. If he wanted to change the way his eyes were, he would put wire under his eyelids. If he had to portray a legless cripple, he would pull back his legs up to becoming dislocated. And many times he suffered deeply in his own body and flesh because of that. He would have done any sacrifice to satisfy his art. Even, at his time, acting wasn't something everyone considered as an art."
Marilyn Manson
"He is a provoker, very clever with an inner resource. His big deal is denouncing hypocrisies everywhere, so many people think he is just a pain in the ass. Medias were very bad with him, they said he was nothing else than a demagogue whose only goal in life was to be worshipped by thousands teenagers. That's not true at all. Marilyn Manson denounces hypocrisies and especially the fanatic one coming from the religion. He knows very well the Holy Bible and is able to quote the most violent parts such as the one where it is suggested that you have to murder your own child if he happens to disobey you. The reason why so many people hate him is quite simple : he can see all your lies and see you as you really are. Even though these people pretend to be good citizens, they lie to themselves, who do you think they are kidding ? They do not care about the others, about their own fellows. In a certain way, I think Marilyn Manson found his place in the world we all live in."
P
"First of all, it's a band of pals who like laughing, having fun and being noisy together; There is no real leader for the band, each of us brings his best. Before acting, I used to be a professional musician. For years, I used to live of my music and the concerts I played. Getting involved in music and recording this record in 1995 was a tremendous experiment. It's been my salvation in a way. With P we also played at the Viper Room (see p. 91) and it was really fun. Recording a new album ? We did think about it, and not so long ago, I talked with Gibby (Haynes, the band singer). I would like so much to play country songs."
The secret
"I bought this statue in New York, few years ago. I really like it a lot. If you get closer to it, and if you really give a close look to the little box the young woman holds in her hands, you could read : "The secret" carved in it."
Tim Burton (Link)
Harry Houdini
"I've never dream of being a magician like he was. But to me, Houdini is much more than a simple illusionist. He has been a great guy of mystery. He lived and died in mysterious circumstances. A fascinating guy and, once more, a pioneer. Astonishing. In fact a great actor."
La mer (the sea)
"The most beautiful song in the world, according to me is "La mer" by Charles Trénet. The sea you can see dancing along clear gulfs has silvering reflects, the sea, changing reflects in the rain. The sea, under a summer sky, mixes its white sheep with the so pure angels. The sea, Sheppard of the infinite sky…"
E.M. Cioran
"A great book. There's a bit in "The temptation to exist" I always keep in mind. I'm not sure I can quote it in the real words, but it's something like "You can only go beyond and reach real life once you have torn apart the link you have with God." It means, once you get rid of God and the guilt that goes with him, there's a chance you can exist for good. He doesn't say God has something to do with it, he says it has something to do with the way people understand God. Most of the times, people use the idea of God as a weapon to lie to you or make you quite. This belief rests on fear and submission. It's really the wrong way to live your life. Worshiping is the worst thing in the world."
Vanessa Paradis
"We were already going out when she finished shooting "The girl on the bridge". At the same time, I was shooting "The ninth gate". We saw each other every single night, every single day, we couldn't stay far one to another for long. You couldn't possibly tear us apart. When I first saw "The girl on the bridge", I was deeply impressed by what was coming out of the movie, beyond the image on the screen. You can't see her method of acting, no real effort, no work; she is just the most alive person, a genuine one. I was truly and deeply impressed. I'm quite sure, the day our Lilly-Rose (their daughter) will be in age to understand and see this movie, she would feel the same pride I feel for her mother. There is something really rare and precious in this movie."
Iggy Pop
"Iggy is everything. A way of life, a hero and so much more. He is what I would call the American Antonin Artaud of this century. He is always deeply involved in what he does, he doesn't care of himself and goes beyond his convictions. You can't possibly destabilize him, or lead him to a different path from the one he wants to follow. Since, let's say, my childhood, he's been my hero. And now that we know each other so well for years, that we became friends, to me he is much more a hero than before. You can find an inner truth deep inside of him, so rare… Today, we meet when we travel the same places. But there was a time, let's say 5 or 6 years ago, when we saw each others quite a lot, when I was in New York. We would go out every night between dudes Iggy, Jim Jarmush, I and Jonathan, a tattooer who worked a lot on me. We had diner together, we drank and talked about anything such as music, movie, painting, television, nonsense, anything… These evenings were so special, so creative. A really great memory."
The Viper Room
"I bought the Viper Room for only one reason : I was looking for a real so called bar. A place where you can listen to good music and have good bands playing. A place where, if I felt like having a drink with friends of mine, we wouldn't be hostages of bad music such as these ridiculous music these so called simple minded DJ said to be "in" play. A place where you do not have to support this horrible feeling of rage you can feel when you have to stand the bad taste of the others. A place where you wouldn't feel like being insulted by this unbearable stupid techno music… and believe me you can't escape that when you go to the so called decent bars. I was looking for the right place to go out."
The Brave
"Kreka, Kusturika's decorator, found this tag. He saw it by chance on a wall in Los Angeles while we were working together on the shooting of "The Brave". I suddenly fell for this image. To me, it is the animal human. The ultimate questions of our existence : Where do I go ? What do I do ? What is this all about ? … this kind of eternal confusion. And more than this, this drawing also represents the idea of always questioning the things you do. Never stop questioning. Don't you ever stand without acting, you have to face the things that will happen to you, you have to face off the medias, the governments, the people who pretend they know everything and who say they can hold your life. Questioning, exploring and looking for everything by yourself, that is the key. Never give up."
Allen Ginsberg (LINK)
Jean Cocteau
"I can't possibly say there's something about him I do not like. At least of the things he did I know. I love his movies "Beauty and the beast", "Orphée", "The poet's blood" and also "The two headed eagle". I'm also keen on his drawings : they are both light and so expressive, very honest too. But there's more, his writings and a special one "Opium" I say to be a masterpiece. There's a bit in this book I really love. An ordinary man asked an opium addict "Why do you do that ? It would probably kill you. It's like jumping out of the window." And the opium addict answers : "No way, I'm floating." And the other one insists : "But your body is going to smash on the ground". And the opium addict finally answers : "Never mind. I will smash the ground later."… The separation between the soul and the body is a really beautiful way to describe this feeling you can have when you are under these substances."
Taraf de Haidouks
"I met these Romanies musicians recently when we were shooting "The man who cried". To me they are an ideal in the way you have to face things in real life. No matter what they went trough or what they had to face, I'm talking about racism against Romanies and Gypsies everywhere around the world nowadays and that has survived centuries, despite this, these guys can play a music so full of intensity, a genuine joy. They have a gift : they make you fell alive. They belong to the most extraordinary people I happen to meet."
Chuck E. Weiss
"He is a long time friend. Chuck E. has been living in Los Angeles since ever. He is a singer and a writer, and for years he did his best to escape from success, being a successful singer and can you believe he also tried not to sign up with a records company. Last year, he finally accepted to make a record I really like a lot. He is a great composer, no matter he is not famous and doesn't play in the charts."
Vanessa and Lily-Rose
My reasons to live from Johnny Depp's handwriting.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat doesn't suit everyone. Either you like him or you hate him. You love him passionately or you hate him with contempt. I have never heard anyone saying about his work : " Yes, it's not that bad, but…". I do not say this can't happen with his work. His art can't live happily, according the rules, like a kind of discreet neighbors, never looking for trouble at the end you can't stand anymore. The art of Basquiat is like a bullet hitting everyone soul and flesh, no matter you are an old art amateur fed up or simple minded pretending you know everything about it. And that is his goal. It's a sort of game : you are touched by his art or you do not care. And when you are touched by this son of a bitch, he got you for good, in different ways. Some of his work really kills me and I do not feel anything for others. But once he got you, you can't feel no emotion, or on the contrary you can be dead laughing painfully. Of course it has something to do with his honesty, his sense of history, his past you can feel in his drawings, his paintings, his objects or his writings, but most of all you feel his incredible sense of humor. Even in his most harrowing work, his incredible sense of absurdity bursts without any interference. You can feel the same talking about his moving lost illusions on humanity and his hope for them. […] Nothing can replace the moments or the warmness of Basquiat's poetry, or the existential questions and the truths he has established. The beautiful and disturbing music of his drawings, the cacophony of his silence that aggresses our senses will survive far beyond our breath. Basquiat was and still is a music… primitive and ferocious."
Absinthe
"I've heard that absinthe was prohibited in France at the beginning of the century, because it was bad for your health and that people became mad or die of it. Truth is absinthe was cheaper than wine - that also explains why most of the consumers were workers and artists - so the powerful merchants of wine (fearing for their business) influenced government so that they claim absinthe outlaw and prohibited. It's just a story but it certainly shows you how business can be almighty."
François Villon
"The first time I came to France, in 1989, my brother recommended me a list of French authors, and I remember that a minute before I left he said "Try to read this dude, François Villon, a 15th century poet. I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it." So I looked for everything he wrote or at least that was translated in English. And what I found was so amazing. He wrote about people such as farting people, prostitutes, thieves … So shocking I couldn't even imagine people at this time could read about it not even at our time. Obviously, this guy is out of line, out of his century, stupendous !"
Dr Hunter S. Thompson
"I've read many of his books. I admire him. "Fear and loathing in Las Vegas" is what I call one of my cult books, and that was a long time before I started the shooting of the movie. The first time I met Hunter, he had given me an appointment in his bar, near Aspen in Colorado state. I've been waiting for ten minutes when all of the sudden the doors opened, you know like when you enter a saloon in these western movies. Then I saw him, with his glasses on and a cigarette in the mouth, holding a kind of electrical saber and shooting flies passing by with it. He kind of acted hectically and people run and jumped over to avoid his thrusts. The perfect image. I would have never dream of a better one."
Serge Gainsbourg
"I discovered Gainsbourg, not a long time after his death, during my first journey in Paris. It was in 1991, during a pause on the shooting of "Arizona dream". I fell for his work at first even though I couldn't understand all the words, I felt like I could deeply understand it through his music, his voice or its intonation. Since my moving in Paris, in 1998, I really became an addict of his work and I've really done my best to understand or at least try to understand his words. Since that it's been a kind of revelation. I found a dimension far beyond of everything I could have ever imagined. He is so witty, so quick and so smart. To me Gainsbourg is a kind of untouchable. And most of all, he is the one who has said the most beautiful sentence I've ever heard in my whole life "Ugliness has this so superior to beauty and that is it lasts forever". Isn't that wonderful ? There is two people I wish I could meet : John Lennon and Serge Gainsbourg."
The Indian tatoo
"The blood inside my body has many origins : Irish, German but also Indian. My grandfather, I was very intimate with and who died when I was 7, was a Cherokee… In United States, quite everyone can pretend having Indian blood. Sometimes it's true and others it's not. What I think is interesting about having Indian blood running through your veins is that there's a great probability that somewhere in your genealogy you were born after a rapture. Maybe one of your relatives took part in the slaughter, to these barbarian acts and one of your ancestors has been raped at this time 150 or 200 years ago. There has been violence, there's been assault, and that violence is still alive after years from a generation to another one. That probably explains that rage in this country and nobody can control. I realized that not a long time ago, but a long time after having this tattoo on my arm."
Bob Dylan
"One of the three great poets of the century according to me, with Allen Ginsberg and Shane McGowan, singer of the Pogues band. More than a poet he is a prophet. When he wrote "The times they are A-changin", in 1962 or 1963, it was just before kennedy got murdered. And this song really sounds like a prophecy, the prophecy of changing times coming. The words said that so clearly and can you imagine nobody understood that. When Kennedy got murdered in 1963 it was the end of innocence. And Dylan, you know, he saw that before everyone. Few years ago, not a long time after "Ed Wood", someone called me on the phone and told me he was working with Bob Dylan. He said Bob Dylan did see some of my movies and really liked them and he wanted to meet me. Of course I wanted to meet him so I joined him on tour. He talked about his desire to see one of his song from "Knocked out loaded" LP : "Brownsville Girl" adapted on the screen and he wanted to know if I was OK to play in this project. He told me two screenwriters worked on it and one of them was Jay Cocks; who wrote the screenplay of "A time of innocence". I was flattered, so impressed Dylan knew my work. He is a nice guy, so kind and so fascinating."
Paris
"Strange the way things are. For years, since I was a kid, I've felt this deep desire to discover Paris. It's even more stronger than a desire, it's a kind of magnetism that appeals me, something I couldn't think about or imagine. Being rational, I can say "So what Paris is a beautiful city, after reading "The tropic of the cancer" by Henry Miller and "Paris is a celebration" by Ernest Hemingway I couldn't pretend not being under their influence. And truly the myth that goes with Paris can partly explain my attraction to her. But I repeat it I can only partly explain it. Because today, I think I can explain what appeals me so much to her and that has to be Vanessa and Lily-Rose. In a certain way, it's like a part of me had always been in Paris and I didn't know it since now. When I came to Paris, I had this feeling I was coming for the search of something I've lost or that I lived there in one of my formers lives. But that wasn't true, I was looking for my future, my family. But I only realized this not a long ago, when Lily-Rose was born."
William Saroyan
"To tell the truth, I don't really remember how I came to read this short text by William Saroyan and published in the late 30ies, as an introduction to one of his plays "The time of the your life". It is quite an extraordinary text I always have with me and I read again and again. A sublime text I deeply believe in. It fits to all of the characters I played. I wish I was able to write it by myself, if only I was gifted in writing. The fact is that if I was the author of such a text I would have stop everything after. No more movies, no more music, no more painting. Nothing else. Full stop."
The boot
"I often paint faces of the people I admire the most or I feel connected to. My boot is like an old girlfriend. We are always together and we lived so many things together ! I just wanted to give her an homage for its loyalty and being there."
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