Johnny Depp

Today, for your reading pleasure, here are some great Johnny Depp quotes from various interviews over the years.

“I can remember being totally fascinated with Bela Lugosi and the Dracula films when I was five years old, and I can remember sitting in class in first grade and drawing pictures of Dracula and Frankenstein. I remember it like it was yesterday,” Depp says. “And when I was a kid, in about 1968, I was completely, utterly obsessed with a television show called Dark Shadows.”

That gothic soap opera featured ghosts and werewolves. Its central character was a vampire named Barnabas Collins. “I wanted to be Barnabas Collins,” Depp laughs. “And I wanted the cane with the wolf’s head on it. For my parents, that must have been a very scary thing. ‘Where did we go wrong?’ ”

Sleepy Hollow interview for the Winnipeg Sun, November 1999

One of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten in my life was from my Mom. When I was a little kid there was a kid who was bugging me in school. And she said, “Okay, I’m going to tell you what to do.” She said, “The kid’s bugging you. He puts his hands on you, you pick up the nearest rock, or whatever you can get your hands on, and you lay him out.” And I did! And I felt better. And it worked. So, for me, that was a great lesson because someone had invaded my space; invaded my being, you know, and was doing something against me that I didn’t want to be done. So I took control of the situation and I ran with it.

And many years later, after being turned into a product by a very huge corporation that had their hands all over me and I couldn’t escape it, I promised myself that I would continue to move forward and do my best not to compromise in any way whatsoever; not allow anyone to put their hands on me and affect me in that way. So that’s the best advice that I could give, is just to keep moving forward, and don’t give a shit what anybody thinks, you know. Just keep moving forward and do what you have to do for you.

Johnny Depp, Inside the Actors Studio, 2002

Charlie Rose: Why ‘Lily-Rose’?

Johnny Depp: In fact it was the only name that we’d come up with for a girl, ‘Lily-Rose’. We both loved the name ‘Lily’, and I think Vanessa’s mom suggested the ‘Rose’ part. My mom’s name is Betty-Sue and we wanted something that sounded kinda like ‘Betty-Sue’, that sort of southern thing. So ‘Lily-Rose’. And ‘Melody’, which is her middle name, was after a Serge Gainsbourg song called ‘Melody Nelson’.

Charlie Rose: So her name is Lily-Rose Melody…

Johnny Depp: Depp. She’s something!

Charlie Rose: Man, you really look happy!

Johnny Depp: I’m floating… I’ve never, ever in my life - I haven’t lived before that day. I was not alive. I existed. I imagine that I drew breath and exhaled and all that stuff, but I don’t have any particularly fond memories of it. I mean, I don’t think I took a real breath until my daughter was born.

Charlie Rose Show, November 1999

There’s that word that you don’t quite understand what it means, which is ’satisfaction’. Then there’s that great big question mark: What’s it all about? What’s it all for? You start thinking, ‘Am I just an actor? A puppet? Am I one of those ambitious cretins who’s just looking for accolades and applause and recognition?’ I’m happy to say I found out that I’m not.

Johnny Depp, The Big Issue February 2002

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