A Conversation with… Johnny Depp at Zurich Film Festival

keep it coming keep it coming keep it coming sit on the microphone the chair could have been a hard the spinning sat on it Johnny welcome thank you very much it's good to have you here it's nice to be here and you just said I think outside when we had a couple of words that you just been here recently with your band yeah yeah with the one person deserted yeah with the vampires vampires about what was the reception like I mean you I mean you can see that people just completely in awe and in love with you but what was it like being on stage playing with the Hollywood vampires in Switzerland in Zurich I mean it was amazing it was a gas the the the the crowd was very welcoming they were very responsive I had a good time everybody had a good time so you know it was a memorable memorable gig that brings me to my first question because you said in an interview a couple of years ago that actually music has been your first love and yet you adore you know being in a band and playing rock songs how come I mean why did you fall in love with music and what is so special about music in comparison to the great stuff that you do in the big screen well I'm not sure about great stuff I've done on the big screen I haven't it's very kind I haven't seen very much of it so I don't know what it is but all of them have seen everything basically so thank you but thanks for doing thanks for going in my place I mean there's a huge difference between my day job as it were you know making films and then playing music the one thing about music is that it's immediately I mean it's instant and it's there's one take you know so it's all about yes or trying to deliver something some feeling to the audience in which they in return give something back so that that happens in a very immediate way and then cinema when you're when you're working on a film you know when you're working on a set essentially you do the bit you know you do your work and you explore various possibilities of the scenes so that you kind of covered all our bases in terms of giving options to the filmmaker you know and in that once the scene is done then once the film is done its I sort of feel like it's none of my business what happens after yes it is that in a way because the way that you explained it and described it is that in a way frustrating that maybe the response that you get playing music up on stage is as you've been saying it immediate and with the movie you can't really tell afterwards yeah because I mean as I said it's immediate so there's an immediate exchange with the with the audience when you're playing and you're communicating through notes and lyrics and and such on a film you you're in the trenches you do you do the work you've you know that you've committed yourself to doing and then the reaction let's say of the audience comes about a year later when the film's is done and in the cinemas so at that point it's like you know it's that's long gone so all you all I have is the the memory and the and the experience of playing the role so I or making the film so I just walk away with that experience and that's I don't know sort of plenty for me I'd rather not I'd really not I'd rather not see my stuff cause it's just yeah it just makes me uncomfortable you know I don't like watching myself I think sorry watch your stuff plenty of times it's only you know talking about acting you know keeping that in mind that you say that the response is immediate play music what triggers your interest when it comes to scripts and characters because if you look at the variety of characters that you've played it's just amazing what you've done but what what does a script or movie or producer a script writer need to bring to you to get your interest you liked I mean it's it's it's it's you want to be surprised by something you want to be surprised you want to you you look for something that's not necessarily based on something that's altogether formulaic you look for a character that that someone is painstakingly written and offered you to play so that that's really what I get from it is the actual work you know the actual yeah diving into the character locating the character building a character and fine you know trying trying if at all possible to do something at least to try to do something that maybe hasn't been done to death you know that's maybe just a bit different there is there is a bit of you know peril in that I mean there's but I think that that's also something that's incredibly important for an actor I think that to walk in and do this or the same thing every time every film have you know every character so this version of yourself and they are versions have made all these characters but to go in and I think one must attempt the possibility of tempt to the possibility of a falling flat on your face you know so taking risks it's important yeah I think if you do if you don't I mean if you don't explore fully commit yourself fully to the to the character and to the director's vision and to your vision and the author's vision you you oh that I feel that I owe it to the people you know to try something different because as a I'd hate to bore you you know so if if if I don't try something that could be potentially disastrous I don't feel like I'm doing enough of the work you know we prefer when Studios are scared okay you know I have an example for students being scared let's pick one particular pirate and Captain Jack Sparrow I mean you could have played him like a typical hero pirate but you made him into this crazy surprising was he crazy a great character and defin legends about you know what Disney thought about it when you first stepped on set maybe you can maybe you can tell us a little bit about how you went in creating Captain Jack Sparrow and and how it went sort of from that the the initial thing I mean captain Jack was written in the in the original screenplay he was just written as a kind of a swashbuckler you know just you kind of you know pirate who swings in so it fights a little bit and then you know swings out grabs a girl and that's it I mean I had different ideas for him Captain Jack was this is gonna sound weird he was actually born in a sauna it's true Captain Jack was born in a sauna yeah he was I was I was who sauna am i Sean okay you saw it's now his I thought about this this guy who I was just looking at various aspects of the character and I figured this is a guy who's been in you know on the sea you know high seas for probably all his life the majority of his life at least and therefore had probably dealt with a lot of inescapable heat to the brain makes sense [Applause] so I so I by trying to sign up to about a thousand degrees and and I sat and I sat in there for as long as I could until it started to affect me mentally which is to say it was very very hot as was my brain and then what happened is while I was in there you in that kind of heat you cannot stand still but the worst of it is if you move it kills you you know so that VAT in itself sort of gave me this kind of yeah I mean his his brain has been parboiled to some degree and and then also in terms of his his body language I felt that he would on a ship he would be fine I mean the thing could be you know bounding away you know but he would be fine he's got his sea legs but when he gets on land he cannot get land legs and Disney disagreed but for how long did they disagree I mean it did well until the film was done and so they were pregnant with me yeah they they they had made some some comments about we did you know you need a film test hair makeup wardrobe all that and you and you and you present the character and when the some of the executives came down to watch the tests and see what the actors look like there was this sort of large eyeball effect what's he doing and and then I got phone calls like you know you've got to lose the things on the chilly dangly things you got it I mean you you know what's that sore on your face and then they kept then I got phone calls like please what is he what's going on is he it is he just like you know mentally just gone has he just left the building a long time ago is he is he is he just incredibly drunk or is he gay you know and so my answer was I'm sorry didn't you know that all my characters are gay [Laughter] that was the last question I asked and you know they were uncomfortable and I and I put it to them that they were welcome to fire me you know and replace me if they wanted to and because I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna change what I built because I believed in it you know I believed in the character wholeheartedly I felt that I was I don't know I felt very comfortable with him and I felt I was on to something and also the fact that every time they complained or or gave me that or gay you could see them even peripherally while you're doing it seems like the the writers going that's not in the script and you could see all these worried faces it actually I found fuel in it you know it gave me fuel to go further so I did and then I think the next thing I heard I was hearing about Michael Eisner who was running Disney at the time screaming at the top of his lungs DEP is ruining the film we're gonna have to subtitle them nobody can understand what he's saying what is he doing oh my god I understand their worries because the film that they had released prior to that was the country Bear Jamboree which I was not a part of I mean that was I think almost 1516 years ago and since then you've made a couple more pirates movies and I mean even all the rides at the Disney World parks I mean they're focusing on Captain Jack Sparrow it's weird that isn't yeah yeah range probably the greatest thing is and I think that is something that you do so well and that is something that is in your DNA is that you visit kids dressed up as as Captain Jack Sparrow and sort of talk to them at hospitals and everything so having created that character with all those difficulties and all these people who told you basically not to do it how does that make you feel that a character is so dear to people's hearts and makes people so happy I mean kids and adults it was it was something that was completely and totally unexpected for me because I essentially had a career of with regard to the business like terms in terms of Hollywood in the business and films that make money at box-office and all that I essentially had a career of about 20 years of failures in their eyes you know I mean they Ed Wood was a flop to them and or you know any of this sort of stranger films or whatever I mean when I initially thought about Captain Jack another thing to keep keep in mind is I was I was just I would had a I had a three-year-old daughter lily-rose was three years old at the time so for three years I'd watched nothing but animated edwart cartoons you know so what's tongues of cartoons a lot of Tex Avery and watching these things you start to think well why why are the parameters so wide why is it that Wiley coyote for example when he's chasing the roadrunner he can have a boulder dropped on his head and then you cut to the next scene and he's just got a little bandage on it but people buy it you know it's that's that's the suspension of disbelief you got five-year-olds who loved Bugs Bunny you've got twenty five-year-olds you've got 74 eighty-five year olds who love these cartoon characters because they can get away with things that we can't and so that was that was really my approach was how do i how do i infiltrate that that kind of performance or instigate that kind of performance where again maybe you can maybe maybe people from 5 to 85 or 95 or whatever can appreciate it because it's he represents the he represents the the side of us that we aren't able to get away with he can get away with things that people just we can't get away with in everyday lives you know he can say anything and it makes no sense and people just go right [Music] so I suppose yeah the ultimate irreverence was what I was looking for and I found it but going to hospitals firstly thank you after I mean I was so so appreciative of of people you know taking Captain Jack into their lives like you know this this they saw something they found something in him they could relate to something in him and and it was all generations it was it was fascinating so going going into hospitals where there's you know very very very sick kiddies you know little kids and their parents and they're facing adult pain they were facing the most difficult thing in life that any one of us will face which is death so if I can if if there's any way for me to go into a hospital hospital like that and at least take them out of that or you know give them some kind of you know jolt of you're gonna be alright kind of thing you know I just you know fight it keep fighting the good fight and all that and then you see these you see the courage in their eyes the courage of these children and you see these big smiles on their faces and and then you look in the corner and you see the parents melting you know just just dying themselves yeah I have I have to do it you know I feel like I feel I owe them at the very least you know so for me it's it's um it's satisfying to meet these these amazing people and it's heartbreaking but if you've touched someone's life for just a second or a minute you know it's that's that's I'd I'll do that for the rest of my days you know Thanks so we hope that Captain Jack Sparrow will return on the big screen as well that Captain Jack Sparrow might return on the big screen as well I would like to touch upon two topics that you just mentioned one is death and the other one is you know being able to say things as Captain Jack Sparrow and then being able to get away with it you brought in a brilliant movie to the Zurich Film Festival Richard says goodbye and it has sort of in that sense you know because Richard is facing death in that movie and on the other hand he sort of starts to get away with doing stuff that he didn't do before you know prayut is to being diagnosed with a terminal illness is that something that you said is a challenge and the character that you like because it's interesting that he does all that stuff but at the end you you kind of sense that he is a lonely person and he he kind of he just wants to be loved by his wife and his kids and everyone around him and he's just you know things go a little sideways for Richard yeah yeah what attracted you to the character I mean what did you like about Richard first and foremost I had met with the director he's right here this is Wayne Wayne Robin Roberts a writer director and we sat down to talk about it and you know those meetings last for about I don't know normally an hour and I think we were we ended up sitting and talking for about nine hours you know just talking and riffing and the script I just thought was beautifully beautifully handled you know with it's rare that within the first 30 seconds of a film the sort of the main character is given the news that he's about to croak you know like anytime soon and that there's no chance and then you know there's what I loved about it is he never he never took a moment to sort of feel sorry for himself he never you know he was I think it's it's a very smart thing to do to avoid asking the question why if you're in that situation why me why you why everybody you know so I think in a weird way he was he was making peace with it and and and and from making and making peace with it therefore being able to have a sense of humor about it and and then saying oh man I've never done this before maybe I should try this or these you know things present themselves and he just goes yeah sure so what you're seeing is is the guy just trying to to keep all the all the pieces of his life together until he can find a way you know to to wander off into the distance and exit that's this one line when he sits down with his students at the bar and he basically says to them listen we all know that we're going to die why don't we live it's it's it's it's it's the it's the death it's the it's the news of his death his impending death that gives him the opportunity the freedom to to live you know to actually say all right this is what I got these are the cards I was dealt I'm gonna make the best of it you know and were I in the same situation I would do exactly the same thing I just yeah go out and live go out and live and experience as much as you can and you know avoid you know bitterness and experience people have a good time and that's sort of what he what he did especially by trying to make his boss as miserable as possible he found great fun in that it's a great movie you have to check it out Wayne Roberts thank you so much and Johnny as a main character Richard I agree I would like to jump I would like to jump back to like one of the first characters that you have created vodka yeah I have gin Cheers it's vodka good have more what what you know the first collaboration with the person that you've probably worked with the most Tim Burton [Music] [Applause] yeah he's a special he's a special breed though at Edward Scissorhands [Music] you know you you've been talking about Captain Jack Sparrow in the way that he created him and basically went about him and that you've finally found him and that you didn't want to sort of split with him Tim Burton is probably the same kind of breed as you he does things that are just amazing and creating these these movies and telling these stories how do you two work together and especially how did it come about with Edward Scissorhands and was it sort of love at first sight between you and Tim I don't know it was it was it was it was weird it was strange I am I flew to Los Angeles to have a meeting reluctantly flew to Los Angeles to have a meeting with Tim because I thought there was no way in the world that he was gonna give me that gig you know at the time I was on a TV show that I was desperately trying to get fired off of and they weren't interested in firing me for some reason and I did far worse stuff on the television show that I've ever done for any character I mean you show up on set with a George Washington weighing in it and a rubber band tied around the back of your tongue so you have a speech impediment as a character so I started using like you know character choice and singleton oh wait a minute now you you can't you hired me to play this part you can't you can't mess around my character choices that's just not gonna happen still they didn't fire me so I met with Tim thinking this is a waste of time and it's heartbreaking because I'd read the screenplay to Edward and literally that did the thing the thing touched me deeply I mean like you're reading this thing that tears pouring out of your eyes and I knew the character very just knew the character I knew what he what he needed to be and so I flew met with Tim at this coffee shop I didn't know what he looked like so the joint was packed you know and I look looking around and then I I see I see this fidgety the skinny fidgety dude with like sprigs of hair sticking out all over the place and and he was kind of like you know and they're playing spoons and drinking coffee and kind of you know drawing and then I went oh yeah that's him that's the guy and so I went over and sat down and we proceeded to talk about the role and about stuff and child our childhoods and listen and remarkably similar backgrounds and we spoke for like three and a half hours and drank I don't know 15 pots of coffee so we're both singing out of our skulls on on caffeine and Tim's arms were like all over the place you know and I literally walked out of the coffee shop chewing on a spoon like this metals and I thought well listen it was great to meet the guy he's really cool and I didn't hear anything for a month and then I the phone rang and I just heard this voice say Johnny and I said yeah I said you Edward Scissorhands month later you know blew me away you know so then went full Tilton and into finding Edward and and Edward was sort of based on well newborns and and and toddlers who sort of see things for the first time and who who can find the beauty or the fascination with like you know resin grapes or that you know or everything's new you know remote control Wow and and and the dog that I'd had who who was just the he was he was the dog that I had was unconditional love you know even even if you reprimand them to scold them and they and they sort of slither away into a corner the second you called him back eyes are eyes are filled with love you know so that dog became so yeah my my basis for the character and and I think it was the first time that Tim or the screenwriter Caroline Thompson had ever had an actor start cutting out 85% of the dialogue they were they gonna actors always want to speak more you know it seems to me that Edward had a his vocabulary would be limited certainly and and but limited to inner inner in a kind of an innocent way like instead of I believe Dianne Wiest in and when she comes and finds me in the in the in the cat in the castle she asked me where my father is and the line is written was he's dead he died and I thought that was maybe too knowing of Edward so I changed it to he didn't wake up which which I think opens up a whole other area of purity or innocence to the character because death is it doesn't exist in his mind you know it's just he didn't wake up I don't know why so and tim-tim was very patient because I think you know even the first couple of weeks if Edward I think everyone was really flipping out even Tim was nervous but you know seems seem to work out you've done I think all together nine movies now do you and Tim I think I think so yeah movies um starting with Edward Scissorhands so how would you describe you know after all these movies your working relationship and your friendship is it more friendship and you work with a friend and oh yeah a working relationship and how does huh its own is it completely trusting from his side and does he let you run freely yeah he does I mean he that's the whole that's the whole thing between the most important thing between a director and an actor is is the element of trust you know that you know the guy trusts you or the part of the person trusts you you you you know that you can it's it's it's set up in such a way that you can try anything some things maybe you might fail which is alright you know but in in that trying things you might just find something that hasn't hasn't been free it's not prefab housing or it's not you know pre-chewed food it's something that's fresh and and happens in the moment you know so yeah it seemed to our relationship obviously as friends and brothers as has solidified you know hugely over the years it's been christ yeah we did situations in ninety you know and there's a there was and from the beginning there was a shorthand because Tim Tim has a bit of a he has a bit of a stammer you know I have a bit of a stammer so are we developed this weird shorthand that I've had I've had like you know grips or you know electricians on the set come up to me and say I just watched you in Tim I listened to your conversation over the last 15 minutes didn't understand a word he said to each other and his and in the same the same same since his direction to me is it's to this day it's still the same it's like you know he'll he'll just look at me and go mm-hmm you know and I get it you know do something like what you know like when he so that's there right and then oh yeah I got you and and it's still that way to this day you know anything on the horizon with you and Tim that we can look forward to that you are talking about we've talked about a number of things you know and I'm sure we'll there'll be something down the road that will that will figure out to do together I certainly hope so but Tim's Tim's one of those guys that if he if he literally just picked up any piece of paper or several pieces of paper and wanted to shoot it I would I would gladly do it I don't care what the subject matter is I would do it yeah there's there's something I mean he's he's my best friend in the in the world really it's very very lucky he's there he's very special Johnny we've been talking about you know fictitious characters that you've created for movies but you've also played real people basically for example George young and blow FBI agent Johnny Pistone and Donnie Brasco John Dillinger and Public Enemies the the gangster James Bulger for black mass yeah I mean they they are completely different and the great thing about about what you do with them is they're not bad and they're not good but you sympathize with them and you you you dive into their story and you at the end you kind of you know you want them to succeed even though it's it's something bad that they want to do but what attracted what did you like about those characters and especially knowing that they existed and the research is completely different how did you go about preparing for those characters and roles it's really dependent on only on the character and it also depend on what was what what what was available to me with regard to the peppery you know preparation of the character like for example with Joe Pistone in Donnie Brasco I had the opportunity to spend a good few months with him prior to the film and then and he was also with me on the set every day it was interesting because the months in preparation and then also through the shoot in the daytime I'd be hanging out with Joe Pistone the real Donnie Brasco and then I would at night I would be hanging out with these mob dudes some of the day it was Joe in the FBI and that night I'd go out with the Mafia go to their club houses go to their houses go to dinner just go eat and then the strange thing is I found that they weren't all that different really they just had different objectives but they're not all that different as people they really want so that was incredibly helpful and in playing a character that's actually existed or exists there's there's a huge amount of responsibility to that person to not just to be as accurate to be accurate for them because yeah I did the movie but they got to live with that for the rest of their days like George Young and for the film blow I went to what was her name was I went hung out with him in some prison in upstate New York and spent a bunch of time with him there and got to know him you know and he was super helpful during I just throughout the shooting of the film yeah you know get these collect calls from the person and it would beat you know George how's it going John you know Jimmy Bulger Whitey Bulger for black mass was I contacted his lawyer and asked if it would be possible to sit down with Jimmy Bulger because there's there's footage of him but there's very little of his there's very little audio of him and he very respectfully I gotta say declined to sit with me because his in his reason was that he hated the book that the film was based off which is understandable but I guess ultimately and Dillinger Dillinger who I always thought was not I always believed he was not what he was made out to be by authorities in history so you approach them with like Jimmy Bulger if you think about it yeah did he kill a lot of people apparently so but I don't think that the guy woke up every morning and he was shaving looking in the mirror saying I'm the most evil human being on the planet and I'm gonna go out and just destroy someone today it was actually for him it was it was the business that he chose that was his business and the only way to stay on top was to decimate the other side and he was very successful and even successful at splitting and getting away with it for 16 years you know living anonymously in Los Angeles so again like characters who are or what we think of as bad people or whatever they they they all have a side where there is a kindness and there is love and there is deep emotion you know and and and and then that's really what I sort of focus on because it's a it's it's it's an interesting high wire act you know it's a it's a very interesting tightrope to play a character who is as violent and unforgiving and attempt to make him you human enough with a heart I mean human enough to where the audience is a little confused at why the goal is you want the audience to like him somehow and so that's the tightrope you know and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't I don't know I haven't seen him so I don't I don't know if it worked or not have you had any response to the portrayal of any of those characters from the from the real people I had a very interesting letter that I got out of nowhere from she was the the last remaining sibling of John Dillinger it was his youngest sister and she wrote me a letter after Public Enemies came out and she said I've seen the movie that you made about my brother I didn't like it I didn't like the film at all she said but I loved what you did with him i I really loved the fact that you showed that that Johnny she called him had a sense of humor and he he actually was more of a kind of a Robin Hood type figure you know I mean he goes into a bank farmers are trying to hand him their mommy says I don't want your money man I want my money it's in the safe you know so he'd get it and that was the you know during the Depression or during you know he was he was it was like a rock and roll star Dillinger so yeah you just try to make them human and take them away from from maybe some of the kind of the poisonous biographies that have been out there Jony before we start talking about upcoming movie says one other name and one other person that has been a huge influence and a great friend of viewers Hyundai s Thompson you know if you met Tim Burton and you've had a great run and you still continue to have that great run and Hunter Thompson has been someone who's been very special indeed throughout as well how did you two meet and and what clicked we met we met long before there was an idea to do to do Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which was one of my favorite books in Hunter which has always been one of my favorite authors or favorite journalists favorite writers I happen to be an aspen colorado one winter and a mutual friend of this dude that i knew knew hunter and he said you know i'm just gonna be at the Woody Creek tavern tonight do you wanna would you like to meet him so yeah sure so I showed up to meet woody Creek tavern at midnight and sat way in the back you know to kind of stay out of the way and and about half hour later I saw the front door bound open and then I saw people then there was a commotion and then I saw sparks like electrical sparks shooting out every which way and I heard out of my way you bastards oh no way and and he's swingin in one hand he's got a stun gun and in his right hand he's got a cattle prod which is about two and a half feet long and the sea parted people were jumping out of the way and he he walked up to the table put down his weapons and put his hand out you know and just said hi I'm hunter yeah Johnny and we we started to talk about we found that we were both hail from the same state we you know which only about three other people in the world that come from Kentucky I think so we talked about Kentucky which he always referred to as the dark and bloody ground that's the that's the native translation of Kentucky so we had a good time we had some drinks and he said come back to the farm you know come back to our farm and hang out so we went back and I made mention about there was a he was a gun free counter and there was a silver there was a nickel-plated 12-gauge shotgun on the wall and I said that's a very beautiful shock and he said oh you want to fire it it's 3:30 in the morning now we have been drinking and said yeah yeah sure I'd love the fire so he went and got some propane tanks and then some little boxes about yay big look like a match boxes you know I've got a cigarette hanging out of my mouth and he said alright take this box to the to the propane tank okay the box to the propane tank and now I'm knowing that we're gonna cut and shoot these propane tanks so as I'm putting taping this box to the propane tank I said well these little boxes were taping he says oh that's a that's nitroglycerin so so I just without even thinking I just went and I chucked my cigarette out of my mouth before we all went up in flames and we took them outside and got about I don't know 20 yards away and he anomie the shotguns it was almost like this rite of passage you know it was like this test I put one into the into the barrel and boom you know I mean this 80-foot fireball shoots up into the sky good shooting man yes and from from that moment on we became good pals you know he appreciate he appreciated my shooting I think I think only I think in in me luckily I don't know how but in hunter found a kindred spirit that would would would deal with him you know there's you know his madness and and and and and be a be a partner in crime and because the most people were afraid of it and rightfully so there were some rather fuzzy situations we got him that I probably can't speak about but yeah he would always he was always like he was looking for a partner in crime so I ended up going on so many strange adventures with him you know he called me once when I was doing Sleepy Hollow in London and he said he used to call me colonel DEP colonel because he had made me an honorary Kentucky Colonel which which he was very proud of it which by the way any one of you can become a Kentucky Colonel it's easy but he's very proud he called me colonel and he called me up he said Colonel what are you doing I said I'm in London working man I'm gonna need you in queue oh yeah you gotta meet me in Havana in April and I had like it there was a window or a door so I traveled to Havana and met Hunter there and you know worked on a story with him and knew him we were very very close all the way up until his his exit you know I even even built me a bedroom downstairs in his basement which was I lived with a brown recluse spider and after about two weeks I realized that the nightstand were my where my ashtray was and my matches Laura was a full keg of gunpowder so haven't found him I said can I show you something man bring him downstairs I said we look at my nightstand and he looked at any gold oh Christ that's where it went I could have blown us off I could have blown Aspen off the map that man he was that kind of guy so youyou instantly fell in love with him he was he was he was pure he was insane but but but bright and quick and witty and he was he was a great great friend and I think about him every day I miss him every single day he was fun hunted he was always always fun the only we are sadly running out of time but I want to talk to you about two movies that are coming up one is fantastic beasts Grendel wards and the other one is the one with Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson that you've been working on yeah tell us about the the Grindelwald experience and especially entering that sort of universe that you've been it was amazing it was it was it came out of nowhere that someone said that JK Rowling would like to talk to me and so I spoke to her producers and her director and I spoke to JK and we had a very very long conversation just about stuff basically and then the character and this is not and and she said something that I did not expect to hear from Jo Rowling who's obviously I mean her detailed to two characters or detail they lit details - to - to those worlds that Wizarding World is astonishing but I was blown away by the fact that she said I can't wait to see what you do with the character you know you know just hand it off to me with with that degree of trust I was I was really touched that's blown away by that and so jumped in to the sort of located the character had my ideas and came in and all seemed to work out you know he's an interesting character Grindelwald again he's he's his intentions are in his mind for the greater good but there have been other people in in sort of world politics and such that felt the same way he's a bit yeah he's very dedicated to his beliefs and he's not a funny character he's not funny but did you enjoy playing him I loved it yeah I loved it because that's really an arena where you can fly around and try try different things and and and do thing in and approach a character with a lot a lot more of us to take someone who is hugely teetering on fascist on this sort of yeah he's a fascist in I mean he's he's one of those but to play him as a as a sensitive and concerned yet manipulative and powerful wizard the possibilities in that world are wide open so you can really try anything so it was it was a gas and I look forward to the next with the will I think we start the next mid next year and if there's a film that I'm getting ready to to go to with it's a it's based on there's a Nobel Prize winning author named JM Coetzee who wrote a book called waiting for the barbarians and it's to be directed by Cyril Guerra whose fantastic filmmaker and it's with someone who I admire greatly Mark Rylance I think a genius and really truly one of the one of the finest the best here's what's amazing about Mark Rylance he's considered and is probably the greatest leading Shakespearean actor today and he refuses to acknowledge that he makes sort of fun of it so it's you have Mark Rylands myself Robert Pattinson yeah super excited so we're going to shoot that in in Morocco and yet towards the end of October very sorry great John the last question to round it all up getting back to the music if you could give your life a rock star song title or album title which one would it be what a lucky dick ladies and gentlemen the great Johnny Depp thank you so much thank you so much Tony thank you for having me

Channel: ZFF Zurich Film Festival

Views: 555,308

Rating: 4.9021764 out of 5

Keywords: Johnny Depp, Interview, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow

Id: ptkJKeTyuFg

Length: 58min 58sec (3538 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019