March 19, 1995
HOLLYWOOD -- Johnny Depp boasts an affinity for supermodel Kate Moss, tattoos, Marlon Brando, silly putty, stupid stunts, serious movies, Paris, practical jokes and an improbable lifestyle.
He claims to be no crazier - nor any more sane - than you or I. "I think everybody's nuts, to tell you the truth," Depp says as he ponders truths big and small one rainy afternoon. "I think everybody is absolutely out of their heads all the time. Watch people sometimes. Just watch people. People are absolutely insane. They just are. Look at us!"
Depp's activities, his image and his career all careen from punk to passion. He has been seen partying all night in Manhattan with hardcore bikers and indulging in little acts of kindness for homeless men outside the Viper Room, his notorious L.A. nightclub, the place where River Phoenix died of a drug overdose.
He catapulted to stardom as a babyfaced, leather-jacketed, undercover narc on TV's 21 Jump Street and then confounded typecasters by magically transforming himself in a series of strange and sometimes wonderfully offbeat films such as Edward Scissorhands, Benny And Joon, What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and Ed Wood.
Dubbed "the Gielgud of grunge" for his obvious talent and his self-destructive behavior, Depp has been arrested four times, most recently for trashing his room at the prestigious New York Mark Hotel last September. His quicksilver nature includes a hot temper.
But his friends lavish praise on him for a generous heart. And he shows up for interviews today with gentle on his mind, especially because he is promoting a new comic romance in which he plays "the greatest lover in the world," the title character of Don Juan DeMarco (which opens in Toronto April 7).
Set in contemporary times in an American city, this is the story of a flamboyant young man who claims to be a descendent and clone of the legendary lover Don Juan. Driven by heartbreak - he can't have his one true love - he decides to kill himself. Another legend, actor Marlon Brando, plays the psychiatrist who saves him and renews himself by exploring the young man's fantastic stories, which unfold in a dreamland mindscape.
Starring in Don Juan DeMarco was a challenge Depp relished, and not just because he was instrumental in getting Brando to emerge from his hermitage to co-star. The role is so far removed from Depp himself it's a marvel to him. "I think it's pretty easy to just walk in a role and play myself, you know what I mean? I like to try stuff. The idea that you could fail horribly - there's something kind of seductive about it."
The character is so convinced he is Don Juan reincarnate he wears the Zorroesque retro-gear of a Spanish-American nobleman. "Don Juan (has) a kind of strength in believing in himself that I can relate to," muses Depp, "but, at the same time, is so foreign to me that it was funny. He is a guy who says: `I'm the world's greatest lover!' I could never say anything remotely like that!"
Now that he is in love with supermodel Moss - "I have an affinity for Kate," he deadpans - he is open to questions about romance. But he laments that American society has lost touch with the intense, all-consuming style of love Don Juan displays in the movie. "I think that side of life, that beauty and poetry in relationships, has been missing for a long time."
On a personal level, he figures he combines romantic idealism and hard-edged realism. "I think I'm kind of a little combination platter," he jokes. "Because I am an idealist in a lot of ways, I believe whole heartedly in these things. I believe that, in a society where people get divorced every five minutes, you can stay married for 50 years. It's been done. It's beautiful."
But that's the dream. Reality bites. Depp, now 31, married makeup artist Lori Allison when he was 20; they divorced two years later; and since then he has been engaged three times, to actresses Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey and, most recently, Winona Ryder. Winona's name was tattooed on his arm, although he is undergoing the painful process of removing it, one letter at a time. When Ed Wood came out last fall, he had it down to "Wino" and was pleased with the progress.
Depp does confess that he adores women. "My parents (former waitress Betty Sue, now remarried under the name Palmer, and John Depp, now a Florida city engineer) split up when I was 15 and I was raised with two sisters around and I hung out with my mom.
"Also," he continues with a mischievous grin, "I played a transvestite (the angora-loving filmmaker Edward Wood) so I have a tremendous respect for women. I love women - and I hate angora sweaters. Have you ever inhaled that stuff? I was hacking up furballs!"
But just what kind of lover is he? "I'm very ... you've stumped me ... but I'm very considerate of other people's feelings. I was trained as a small child to always try my best at everything (he laughs). I'd like to think that I was raised well. And I like to have fun (he giggles). How much fun? Lots of fun! Silly putty; some string here and there; corn, off the cob - I don't want to hurt anybody!" More giggles. Don't forget he said he was crazy - like the rest of us.
The JOHNNY DEPP File
GO WEST, YOUNG DEPP: The actor just wrapped Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, an 1860-era western with Robert Mitchum and Toronto's Gary Farmer: "I think it's going to be a nice film and it is different for Jim because he's out of the street."
GHOSTMUSTER: Depp believes in ghosts: "I was staying in this hotel in England that used to be a hospital and I saw this evil surgeon's face come at me. And I wasn't asleep and I wasn't on any sort of stimulants. It scared me. It was great. I liked it!"
WILDE NIGHT: In Paris, his favorite city, Depp made a point of sleeping in the bed where Oscar Wilde died: "I was a little paranoid that I might be buggered by a ghost at four in the morning."
NO FUTURE: And that includes plans for marrying Kate Moss: "I'm not real good at planning for the future. It's not here yet. I'm much better right now."
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