HOLLYWOOD -- Even Johnny Depp admits his feminine side is showing these days.

He's gushing about his daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp, who was born a year ago in Paris, and about partner Vanessa Paradis, and about France, all the loves in his life.

"It's not enough to say becoming a father is the best thing that ever happened to me. I've never been that good at finding words, but this time they really do fail me.

"When I saw my daughter being born, it was the first really totally selfless moment I'd had," he recalls.

"I want 100 more children. If Vanessa is willing, I'll certainly try."

Actually, the gossip press in Europe has already reported that Paradis is pregnant again.

"We figured it out the other day and according to those magazines, Vanessa is now in her 18th month," says Depp.

The smiles, the infectious laugh and the relaxed posture are no act.

Depp, 37, is genuinely happy.

"It's a bit girlie of me to talk like this but it's how I feel.

"I had always wanted kids, but it didn't seem to be working out for me. My siblings already had children and I was in my thirties with no real prospects of it happening for me."

Then Depp got a call from director Roman Polanski to star in the Satanic thriller The Ninth Gate. It was a rough shoot, with the two disagreeing on almost every aspect of the film.

One night Depp was in a Paris bar trying to ease his depression when he spied Paradis, a French pop star and actress.

"I wasn't brave enough to go over and ask her to join me, so I got a friend to do it for me."

Paradis accepted the invitation and, within weeks, they were a couple.

"You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on.

"It was destiny, kismet. All the math finally worked."

Part of that math was setting up residence with Paradis in France. They have an apartment together in Paris and a home in the South of France.

"I love our house in the country. I can walk to the nearby village and have a coffee and no one pays any notice. I'm just another dad with my daughter on my knee.

"The time I've spent in France with Vanessa has solidified my belief that I can keep a major distance from Hollywood and still keep in the game. Acting is my living, but I don't want to live it.

"Living in France is the first time I can honestly say I feel at home."

And directors, studios and producers are coming to him as never before. In the case of Lasse Hallstrom, who insisted Depp play Juliette Binoche's lover in Chocolat, it was a genuine surprise.

Depp had worked with Hallstrom in 1993 on What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

"I couldn't believe he wanted to work with me again. My brain on Gilbert Grape was a little unpleasant. It wasn't a good time in my life. I couldn't wait to get off that film and I suspect Lasse felt the same way."

But Depp insists Chocolat was a joy.

"Juliette is a doll. She's a wonderful actress, but, even more important, she is a good person. And then there was Judi Dench. I fell in love with her immediately."

In the fact-based drama Blow, which opens Friday, Depp plays the central character George Jung, who is serving a 20-year prison term for importing and trafficking cocaine.

Jung was the first American to work for the Colombian drug cartels and, for a few years, he was drug czar Pablo Escobar's right-hand man.

While the script interested Depp, he insisted on meeting Jung before agreeing to star in the film.

"I wanted to see if I liked him and if he liked me."

It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but Depp was intrigued because "George recognizes the mistakes he's made. He doesn't see himself as a good guy or a bad guy, just a guy. Best of all, he's not a broken man. He's actually strong."

Depp is currently in Prague filming the final scenes of the Jack-the-Ripper thriller From Hell, and will work next with director Griffin Dunne on Nailed Right In.

"I play the inspector whose tracking him. It's a great script because there are eight candidates for the Ripper."

Once he's completed From Hell, Depp will begin work with director Griffin Dunn on Nailed Right In.

He still hopes to make the Chuck Barris bio flick Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, but is adamant he is not going to play Charles Manson.

Depp insists he has not had a falling out with his longtime friend and collaborator Tim Burton with whom he worked on Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow.

Rumours began surfacing when Depp was not cast in Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes.

Mark Wahlberg is playing the role of the stranded astronaut that seemed tailor made for Depp.

"When Tim was saddling up to do Planet, I was working on Blow and I had already signed to do From Hell, so it wasn't even a consideration for either of us."


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