Johnny Depp Interview, Alice in Wonderland 3D

MoviesOnline took a trip down the Rabbit Hole this weekend with Johnny Depp, one of Hollywood’s most compelling actors, who talked to us about his new film, Alice in Wonderland. The epic 3D fantasy adventure directed by the visionary Tim Burton offers a magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time.

Depp stars as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska plays the 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world, the Underland, that she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: The White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter.

The all-star cast also includes Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Crispin Glover as Stayne-Knave of Hearts, and Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Providing the voices for Underland’s menagerie of inhabitants is an eclectic and impressive mix of acting talent, including Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Alan Rickman as Absolem the Caterpillar, Timothy Spall as Bayard, Barbara Windsor as the Dormouse, Sir Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky, Michael Gough as the Dodo, and Paul Whitehouse as the March Hare.

Johnny talked to us about his character, his continuing collaboration with Tim Burton, and the status of his upcoming projects including The Tourist, Dark Shadows and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Q: This is the 7th film you’ve done with Tim Burton. When he came to you and asked you if you’d like to play the Mad Hatter, what was your reaction? Why did you want to play that character?

Johnny: To be honest, he could have said Alice and I would have said yes. I would have done whatever character Tim wanted. But, certainly, the fact that it was the Mad Hatter was a bonus because of the great challenge to try to find this guy and not just be a rubber ball that you heave into an empty room and watch it bounce all over the place. [I wanted] to find that part of the character but also [add] a little bit more of the history or gravity to the guy.

Q: There’s a tragic nature to the Mad Hatter that you bring out which I’ve never seen before in Alice In Wonderland.

Johnny: There's the whole Hatter's dilemma, really, which is where the term, "Mad as a Hatter," came from. The amount of mercury that they used in the glue to make the hats was damaging. So, in terms of looking at Hatter from that perspective as this guy who is literally physically and emotionally damaged goods and a little obtuse, I took that and decided that, as opposed to just this hyper-nutty guy, he should explore all sides of the personality at an extreme level. So, he could go, from one second, being very highfalutin with a lot of levity, and then straight into some kind of dangerous potential rage, and then tragedy. It was really interesting trying to map it out.

Q: Was there a time in your own career where you felt like you were Johnny In Wonderland?

Johnny: My whole experience on the ride since day one has been pretty surreal in this business and defies logic. I'm still completely shocked that I still get jobs and am still around. But, I guess, more than anything, it has been kind of a wonderland. I'm been very lucky.

Q: Did you dream that it was going to be that way when you started?

Johnny: No, not at all. I had no idea where anything was going. But, you can’t -- it's almost impossible to predict anything like that. I had no idea. Truly, I felt after I had done Crybaby with John Waters and Edward Scissorhands with Tim that they were going to cut me off right then. You know what I mean? I had felt, at that point, I was on solid ground and I knew where I was going and where I wanted to go, and I was sure that they would nix me out of the gig. But, luckily, I'm still here.

Q: You’ve collaborated with Tim Burton before. How did your professional and personal relationship with him grow on Alice In Wonderland?

Johnny: I was Tim’s worst nightmare. [Laughs] Each time out of the gate with Tim, especially with Tim, the initial thing for me is to obviously come up with a character. But then, there's a certain amount of pressure where I go, "Jesus, will this be the one where I disappoint him?" You know what I mean? So, I try really hard, especially early on, to come up with something that's very different, that he hasn't experienced before and that we haven't experienced together before, and that will stimulate and inspire him to make choices based on that character. I try not to embarrass him, basically.

Q: You've created so many memorable characters. When you take on something new like the Mad Hatter, do you have to look back at your own work to make sure that you don't repeat anything?

Johnny: You definitely have to, I mean, at a certain point, especially if you’re dealing with…. I've played English a number of times, and used an English accent a number of times, so it becomes a little bit of an obstacle course to go, "Oh, that's teetering into Captain Jackville," or "This one is teetering over into Chocolat or Wonka." You've got to really pay attention to the places you've been. But, hopefully, also, that's part of it. That's the great challenge. You may get it wrong. There's a very good possibility that you can fall flat on your face, but again I think that's a healthy thing for an actor.

Q: If your next project required you to wear a motion-capture suit, would you do it?

Johnny: I don't know. What color is the suit? It's black? Well it matches my eyes. I suppose. I don't care. I mean, I'll put anything on. It doesn't matter to me, obviously. [Laughs] Look at me. No, I don't mind.

Q: Of all the films you've worked on, which one is your children's favorite?

Johnny: My children’s favorite? It's funny because they've seen it, but they have a difficult time watching it because it's their dad and they make that connection. Edward Scissorhands is, by far, my kiddies' favorite. They connect with the character, and also I think they see their dad feeling that isolation and loneliness. He's a tragic character, so it's hard for them. [Laughs] They bawl when they see that.

Q: One of the earmarks of a really great happy dance is that it's completely unique to the person. Was the wonderful happy dance your character does in the film part of your own personal repertoire?

Johnny: No. Tim had a very curious vision for the happy dance. And then, I can futterwack with the best of them.

Q: Was there a lot of personal preparation and mirrors for that?

Johnny: [Laughs] No, I tend to avoid mirrors at all costs. No, we had to treat that like a stunt.

Q: You seem to be going through the entire canon of 19th century fantasy literature in your films -- from Edgar Allen Poe’s Sleepy Hollow to James Barrie’s Finding Neverland and now Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Johnny: [Laughs] I’m hoping to do The Hashish Eater next.

Q: What is the attraction to that era's literature to you as an artist and as an actor?

Johnny: I just adore it, from certainly J.M. Barrie and the wonderful characters he created to Lewis Carroll, but even French literature. When you read Baudelaire, or over in the States, Poe, it’s like Tim said about Lewis Carroll, you open those books, or you open the Flowers of Evil, and you begin to read, and if it were written today, you'd be absolutely stupefied by the work. It's this incredible period where the work is timeless and ageless. So yes, I love all those guys. It’s my deep passion, you know, those great 19th century writers.

Q: When did the original book, Alice in Wonderland, first come into your life and how did it influence you?

Johnny: Even though you can't quite place when the book or the story came into your life, I do remember vaguely, maybe when I was roughly 5 years old, reading versions of Alice in Wonderland. But, the thing is the characters. You always know the characters. Everyone knows the characters, and they're very well-defined characters, which I always thought was so fascinating. Most people who haven't read the book definitely know the characters and reference them. For me, I went back -- ironically, it was only maybe a year prior to Tim calling -- and I had re-read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and what I took away from it was all these very strange, little cryptic nuggets that he'd thrown in there, and I was really intrigued by them and became fascinated by them because they were asking questions that couldn't be answered almost, or were making statements that you couldn't quite understand, like "I'm investigating things that begin with the letter ‘M.’" That took me through a whole stratosphere of possibilities, and then doing a little research and discovering that the M is mercury. And then, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Those things just became so important to the character and you realize it the more you read the book. If I read the book again today, I'd find a hundred other things that I missed the last time, so it’s constantly changing, the book.

Q: Can you tell us about The Tourist and what you enjoy about working with Angelina Jolie?

Johnny: I haven't done anything yet.

Q: When does that start shooting?

Johnny: I think Tuesday.

Q: How do you think it's going to go?

Johnny: I think it will be swell.

Q: What was it about the part that you liked and made you want to sign on?

Johnny: I liked the French film a lot. My friend played the part in that and I liked it and thought it might be interesting to explore this character. But, I mean, you never know what's going to happen. I suspect there may be a few paparazzis in Venice. [Laughs]

Q: How is Dark Shadows going?

Johnny: It's coming along now.

Q: Do you definitely see Dark Shadows going this year, or is it one of those that’s still on the fence?

Johnny: No, I see it going this year. I hope it does. I do, yeah.

Q: We’ve heard there’s no Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom in the next Pirates, will there be more of a Jack Sparrow presence?

Johnny: Yeah, there is no Keira or Orlando in there. I don't know. I don't think we'd ever throw too much Jack Sparrow in there. There will be just a little bit of everybody.

Q: You were wavering after Dick Cook left. Have you regained your confidence, or what reassured you?

Johnny: One thing that I found very reassuring was a very good conversation with Dick Cook, who is someone I admire greatly. That helped a lot, and also knowing that we're coming at it from a different angle at this point. Rob Marshall has a totally new take. It's a new story.

Q: What did Dick Cook say after he left?

Johnny: He was a perfect gentleman about the entire thing.

“Alice In Wonderland” opens in theaters on March 5th