NEW YORK -- Johnny Depp and Tim Burton would have run with different crowds in high school.
Depp probably defined hip in his school. Not a jock, but respected by the sports types, he just seems like the classic rebel. He likely stopped traffic in the hallways - the geeks pinned to their lockers with fear, the girls melting on the spot.
Burton, it seems safe to say, likely didn't start many games at outside linebacker. He's too old to be a goth (and that would be too easy), but the outsider label seems well within the realm of possibility. You can see Burton serving voluntary solitary confinement in his room, drawing and watching TV and movies.
They may never have noticed each other in the hallways, but the 39-year-old Burton and Depp, who is 36, would hang all night at their high school reunion.
One of the most versatile film actors of his generation and a director of seemingly boundless imagination, Depp and Burton mark their third collaboration with the release of Sleepy Hollow, based on the famous Washington Irving tale, on Friday.
"I think there is a connection on many, many levels, kind of a chemistry that is almost unexplainable" said Depp in a recent interview. "Certainly there is an emotional shorthand. We understand each other. He knows the kind of thing I am going for and I know the kind of thing he's going for and the blending of those two creative forces works well together. "I think we do look at the world the same way.
A major triumph
Depp and Burton first teamed for 1990's Edward Scissorhands, a delightful riff on the Frankenstein legend that, thanks to Depp's poignant portrayal of the boy with the scissors for hands and Burton's visually arresting style, was a major triumph for both men.
Four years later, they teamed again for Ed Wood, a hilarious and even affectionate biopic of the filmmaker considered the worst to ever point a camera - Wood made the amazingly bad Plan 9 From Outer Space. Ed Wood was a commercial flop, but won an Oscar for co-star Martin Landau (who played the morphine-addled film star Bela Lugosi at the end of his life) and enhanced the actor and director's reputations for taking risks.
The two films also suggest a fondness for seriously offbeat material that, according to Depp, goes way back. "I think there were similarities in our upbringings. We both had a fascination with horror films and horror characters from when we were very, very young kids," said Depp, who shows up for an interview dressed down in jeans and a workshirt with a large P painted on the back - presumably it stands for the name of the band he plays in whose members include ex-Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers. "We were both exposed to the dark side at a very young age.
"I can remember being totally fascinated with Bela Lugosi and the Dracula films when I was five years old. I can remember sitting in class in first grade and getting into trouble for drawing pictures of Dracula and Frankenstein.''
These days, Depp, who became a father earlier this year after the birth of his daughter Lily-Rose (with French actress Vanessa Paradis), and Burton collect fat cheques for dreaming up the things that used to get them into trouble in school.
Not surprisingly, the two rave about making Sleepy Hollow, which is about, of course, the Headless Horseman who terrorizes a small town. For Depp, the prospect of a big hit during the holiday movie season must be enticing - despite the usual good notices, the actor's last two films, The Astronaut's Wife and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, were certified flops and he ruefully admits to an almost unbroken string of failures at the box office.
(He may not be picking up $20 million a pic but Depp works non-stop. He has two films in the can, the Roman Polanski thriller, The Ninth Gate, and the Second World War drama, Man Who Cried, with Sleepy Hollow co-star Christina Ricci.)
"It's just amazing for me going back to work with Tim. It's like returning home after a war," said Depp, perhaps leaving a clue about the recent course of his career. "He's a dream for an actor. He's not totally rigid."
Burton said he admires actors, "who transform, and Depp's really a transformer. He doesn't really care how he looks and he's willing to try anything and it just makes the process exciting and easier for me."
The director had a plan
Depp illustrates how the process was exciting for Burton when he recalls a morning during the shooting of Sleepy Hollow when the director had a plan.
"We're gonna strap you to this thing that's attached to two horses and we're going to drag you 250 yards across the soundstage. How do you feel about that?" Depp says, recalling what Burton said to him.
"I'm going to need more coffee, Tim," Depp told him. "And we did it all day."
Obviously, just a couple of guys who really understand each other.
SLEEPY HOLLOW FACTS
Budget
Approaching $100 M US - probably not for Depp's salary, but those severed-head effects can't be cheap.
Notables
Besides stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, the impressive cast includes Miranda Richardson and a few other British actors whose names you won't recognize but faces you will, including Michael Gambon and Michael Gough.
What's At Stake
Depp desperately needs a hit, and director Tim Burton, who used to make hit after hit could use one, too. A box-office success would also catapult Ricci to the front ranks of young actresses in Hollywood.
Hit Factor
Burton's version of the old Washington Irving tale is not intended for family audiences and that may hurt its bottom line, but it is still a dazzling and hugely entertaining ride.
More Artists
