Johnny Depp
Pleasant sight / star, actor Johnny Depp was born on the 9th of June 1963 in a small town in Kentucky. He is the son of an engineer and a waitress. His family moved to Florida when he was 7, where he, as a teenager, quit school and started his turbulent show business-career as a rock artist. Later of course there were movies and on his list as an actor are movies like Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Don Juan DeMarco. Last year he made the movie theaters unsafe with The Ninth Gate and The Astronaut's Wife. His latest movie is Sleepy Hollow from Tim Burton.

The 36-year old actor was linked to beautiful women like Winona Ryder and Kate Moss, and recently he has had a daughter with Vanessa Paradis. This exclusive interview took place in New York. Depp is dressed in a black t-shirt, blue jeans, black leather jacket and brown boots. He has got long brown hair, a little beard and two gold teeth. On his hands are little tatoos and he is wearing a silver ring on his ring finger. He smokes a lot during the interview and he seems to be in a good mood.

Congratulations with your daughter. How do you feel, now you have become a father ?
Johnny Depp : Becoming a father seems to be something wonderful. And it seems like I am a real cliché-father. I have never thought that I could have such deep feelings, such a love, such a feeling of connection for this unbelievable beautiful creature. She's an angel. (Sighs) Now I've got a daughter to care for, it's like for the first time I'm worried about the future.

When did you decide you wanted a child ?
I actually never made that decision. I really believe that the child decided to come to us, not that Vanessa and I said 'OK lets make a baby'. Everything happens at the right moment, I really believe in that.

Does fatherhood mean to you that you're finally grown up ?
I'm not so sure about that.

You're wearing a wedding ring. Did you get married to Vanessa ?
No. (long silence)

Do you ever want to get married or is that decision up to Vanessa ?
Actually, that decision is up to our daughter. She controls our life now. (laughs)

You are living in Paris at the moment. How do you like it there ?
Most of the time it's fantastic. I find living in that city very relaxing. Of course you have to deal with the usual things like paparazzi who try to take pictures of Vanessa and me with our daughter, something that I find very irritating. I mean, do whatever you want to me, do whatever you want with Vanessa when it come to taking photographs, but leave our kid alone.

Isn't there anything like a privacy law in France ?
Yes, it does exist, but there's one horrible magazine which has broken the law and placed my daughter's face in their paper. I really went mad about it. I have taken some legal steps against them once, but when they abused my daughter I stepped out of the legal system and really threatened them.

What was it like working on your latest movie Sleepy Hollow ?
Well, I grew up with that Disney cartoon being broadcasted every Halloween. And I read the book when I was a child. All really scary, I thought back then. I remember we had to read the book from the teachers. Actually it was very dark literature for children.

Your character mostly gets portrayed with a long nose and big ears.
When I read the script and thought back at the book, I really wanted to play the character the it was described - with a prolonged nose and big ears. I rang everyone of the crew and told them : 'We have to get the best make-up people, and prosthetics makers. Get a long nose and giant ears, and we can prolong my fingers as well.' After I said that to them, there was a long silence on the other end of the line. The bosses from Paramount weren't very enthusiastic about the way I wanted to play the part. Probably because they already found it bad enough that they had casted Johnny Depp. (laughs).

In the movie you spend a lot of time on the back of a horse. Never had any accidents ?
I almost daily had problems with those horses. There was a horse named Gunpowder. He didn't have any respect for movies, movie makers, directors or actors. The only thing he wanted to do, was eat, sleep and do nothing. Gunpowder really had a bad character : he tried to bite me, he tried to throw me off his back, it was even difficult just to climb on his back. In the middle of an attempt he would go running off. A terrible horse.

The direction of The Ninth Gate, the movie who recently played in the theaters, was in the hands of Roman Polanski. What was it like to work with him ?
A very intriguing experience. He's really out there. It wasn't an easy movie to make, especially because Polanski is very strict in his directing. But it is a fantastic man, very fascinating. He is very intelligent, very funny and he knows a lot about culture. But he also is very stubborn. He's a bit rigid, you know.

Did he submit you to rehearsing the lines ?
No, luckily he didn't torture me with that, because I would not have been responsible for my actions. I would probably still be in jail.

How do you look back at your performance ?
I don't know. I thought that the character I had to play was very interesting. He has got a slimy persona, but can be very charming in his own way on the outside.

What did it feel like, after working with Polanski, to work with Burton again ?
It felt like an exorcism. I was tortured. Don't get me wrong, I found it very pleasant to work with Polanski, but he and Tim are just two different directors.

Do you think that the Hollywood-machinery appreciates someone like you ?
I don't think they like to see me come.

But you're constantly working, how can they not like you ?
I can't give an explanation for that, they just don't like me. Maybe I'm paranoid.

Is there a project where you would like to see your name on the billboard ?
I have got a few in my sights. Again, they are not commercial projects, at least I don't think so. I would like to play Rasputin, a very interesting character I think.

Your name was linked to the Howard Hughes project, what's the truth in that ?
I really can't say anything interesting about that. What I hear, is that there are about 25 projects coming and for 5 of them Hughes has already got an actor. At this moment it's something unrealistic.

You once said that your career is built on mistakes.
That's right, but there has been nothing I haven't had control over. It goes together with the fact that I'm surprised that I still get scripts and from big names in the movie business. You see, there is a certain top ten in Hollywood and I am one of the names that tumbles off it regularly and gets back again by accident. I'm still wild when it comes to such things.

Where do those tattooed 'skull rings' come from ?
Those were a present of one of my friends, a real artist when it comes to tattooing : Jonathan Shaw.

What else are you doing ?
The Man Who Cried. A movie from Sally Porter that I made with Christina Ricci and where I play a Romanian gypsy.

Those gold teeth, are they real or just decoration ?
I had them made by a guy he puts them directly on the tooth, and what I hear it's a rather violent thing to get them removed again, so I think I'm going to keep them for a while longer. There just are some things I just want put off till later, and an appointment with the dentist is one of them.

How did you find it to act with Christina Ricci ?
She's wonderful. She's just a great kid. I first got in contact with her on the set of Mermaids. She was a real sweat thing, funny, intelligent and I have had the privilege to see her grow up. I does give a strange feeling to have to look at her now as a love interest.

Is there something on the program for your music group ?
We have been talking about recording a new album.

You are 36 now, how does it come that you still look so young ?
Pure life. I now am somewhere balancing on the edge.

Are you busy yourself with managing The Viper Room, your club ?
Yes. I make sure to make some time for it each time I'm in the city. Now a days, I have to say, each time I am in the States.

Hasn't it become a tourist attraction, in the meanwhile ?
I don't think so. (laughs)

It is mentioned in the where to go places for LA.
Well, my house is in it as well, you know.

How often are you in the States ?
Not much, really. I can regularly be found in France, for the last 2 years anyway. And I'm starting to get to know my way around England as well, because of doing Sleepy Hollow there.

How does it feel to be back in well known America ?
It feels good. There are indeed some things I miss. But it has to be said : I certainly don't miss the fact that every time I turn on the television I'm being confronted with murder, rape and terrible disasters, whether they are caused by nature or not. Such things you just don't see in France.
Recently I watched the news in Los Angeles and I was really shocked. In New York, the same thing. The television was put on during dinner, and yes, my sister and I were confronted with some sort of a most frightening car chase accident program. We were watching it, completely disgusted.

Are you happy you don't have to raise your daughter here ?
Very happy !

When people want to get to know the music of your wife, which album would you suggest ?
They're all good, really. In the States they aren't easy to find though. I prefer the album Serge Gainsbourg worked on. He wrote the biggest part of the songs. But she's going to record one soon, and since I'm privileged, I was able to hear some demos. I think it's going to be another fantastic record.

Does she sing for you at home ?
No, but she does sing for our daughter.

To end this, any good promises for the new millennium ?
I decide to smoke more. Normally I'm a Drum person, but here I usually smoke Valet Shag.

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