NEWSWEEK COVER: The Pirate in Johnny Depp

NEWSWEEK COVER: The Pirate in Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp Says Talk That He Sold Out to Commercial Success Didn't Worry Him: 'If I Was Going to Do Something, It Had to Be on My Terms ... Because I Don't Want to Live a Lie. You Really Don't Want to Look Back on Your Life and Go, 'I Was a Complete Fraud''

Jerry Bruckheimer on Johnny Depp's Interpretation of the Part of Captain Jack Sparrow: 'The Studio Was, Like, 'Is He Gay? Is He Drunk? We Don't Know What He's Doing!''

NEW YORK, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- When news hit years ago that Johnny Depp was going to make the first "Pirates," the buzz around town was that he must be broke, and that Johnny Depp had finally sold out, writes Senior Writer Sean Smith in the current issue of Newsweek. Actor Johnny Depp tells Newsweek in an exclusive interview in the June 26 cover story "The Pirate in Johnny Depp" (on newsstands Monday, June 19), that he never worried about that. "Never, not once, and I don't know why, because one would think that I would have," he says. "I suppose it's because I feel like I have a voice. The idea of commercial success never bothered me necessarily. What bothered me was striving for that, and lying to get that. If I was going to do something, it had to be on my terms-not because I'm some hideous control freak-but because I don't want to live a lie. You really don't want to look back on your life and go, 'I was a complete fraud'."

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060618/NYSU005 )

Depp tells Newsweek that it was his desire to make a movie for his kids that led him to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," but studio executives were nonplused when they began to see the footage of Depp in character. Initially conceived as a young Burt Lancaster, Depp had reimagined Capt. Jack Sparrow as a debauched, vain, slightly fey rock star, inspired by Rolling Stones icon Keith Richards and cartoon skunk Pepe Le Pew. "The studio was, like, 'Is he gay? Is he drunk? We don't know what he's doing!'," says producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "It took a little while to calm everybody down."

Depp's off-kilter performance, of course, was the very thing that catapulted "Pirates" into a cultural phenomenon. "First of all, Johnny is a pirate in real life," says director John Waters. "It's the closest part he's ever played to his real self, but the fact that he played it kind of nelly was a big risk. If only real gay pirates were that much fun."

No one in Hollywood, it's fair to say, has worked harder at not being a movie star than Depp has, and yet he has evolved into one of the most adored actors of his generation not in spite of that persistence but because of it, writes Smith. "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" may have grossed $653 million worldwide, made Depp a $20 million man and earned him an Oscar nomination, but he still seems an unlikely addition to the A- list. Top-tier stars, even those who are great actors, stay on top by being true to their personas. They're more than actors. They're brands. Depp is almost pathologically unpredictable. But he is never the same. He's the anti- Tom Cruise. "Nothing against Tom, but Johnny may be a bigger star now," says Waters, who cast Depp in 1990's "Cry-Baby." "Nobody is sick of Johnny Depp."

"He's always been true to who he is," director Tim Burton, who has made five films with Depp, tells Newsweek. "He's never been ruled by money, or by what people think he should or shouldn't do. Maybe it's just in America, but it seems that if you're passionate about something, it freaks people out. You're considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just means you know who you are." Depp got a reputation for being outre and unbankable. "Oh, yeah," says Depp, with a verbal shrug, then rolls off the list of his crimes: "'That guy can't open a film. He does all those weird art movies. He works with directors whose names we can't pronounce.' But there are worse things they could say."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which opens on July 7, will likely be the highest-grossing movie of summer. And judging from Newsweek's first look in the editing room, it also promises to be a welcome blast of sunshine in a season when Cruise has crashed and burned, and "The Da Vinci Code" has proved a joyless blockbuster.

And he's not ready to let go of Captain Jack just yet. "He's a blast to play," Depp says. "I'll be in a deep, dark depression saying goodbye to him. I'll keep the costume and just prance around the house, entertain the kids." Or the rest of the world. "Maybe 'Pirates 4, 5 and 6'," he says. "If they had a good script, why not? I mean, at a certain point, the madness must stop, but for the moment, I can't say that he's done." At last, Depp has learned to quit fighting fate/fame/whatever. "I think everything happened the way it was meant to happen, but I don't know why," he says. "I remember every bump in the road, and I still don't know how I got here. But who am I to ask why? The fact is, this is where I am. So I enjoy it, salute it, and keep moving forward. None of it makes any sense to me, but then, why should it?"

(Read cover story at www.Newsweek.com. Click "Pressroom" for news releases.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13391041/site/newsweek/

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Source: Newsweek

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