When I say Johnny Depp graces the cover of the January issue of Vanity Fair, I do mean “graces!” Seriously, just look at the cover and you will know what I mean.
Depp can do anything. And he pretty much has. He has shined in some of Hollywood’s most intense, heavy and dark films (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Sweeney Todd, Blow and Edward Scissorhands) yet has also made us all fall in love and be dazzled and charmed by his light-hearted portrayal of quirky Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. OH, and who can forget his endearing performance as oddball-loner Sam in Benny & Joon? (Depp–If you ever read this, know that I may be your number one fan! Just sayin’. SO, thank you!)
Anyway, back to earth. In the interview with Vanity Fair, Depp talks about meeting Angelina Jolie for the first time on the set of their upcoming movie, The Tourist; the executives at Disney who didn’t like his interpretation of Caption Sparrow; and how he almost became a musician instead of an actor.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On Meeting Angelina Jolie for the first time on the set of The Tourist:
“Meeting her and getting to know her was a real pleasant surprise. You don’t know what she might be like—if she has any sense of humor at all. I was so pleased to find that she is incredibly normal, and has a wonderfully kind of dark, perverse sense of humor.”
On Disney executives not liking his portrayal of Captain Sparrow:
“They couldn’t stand him. They just couldn’t stand him. I think it was Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at the time, who was quoted as saying, ‘He’s ruining the movie.’ Upper-echelon Disney-ites, going, What’s wrong with him? Is he, you know, like some kind of weird simpleton? Is he drunk? By the way, is he gay?… And so I actually told this woman who was the Disney-ite… ‘But didn’t you know that all my characters are gay?’ Which really made her nervous.”
On ALMOST becoming a musician:
“Going into acting was an odd deviation from a particular road that I was on in my late teens, early 20s, because I had no desire, no interest, really, in it at all. I was a musician and I was a guitarist, and that’s what I wanted to do.”
I am sure Johnny you would make a fine musician as well, but thank God you picked the road that eventually lead us all to the world which includes your interpretation of Captain Jack Sparrow!