Johnny Depp Speaks About Playing Willy Wonka  6/26/05

NEWSWEEK: Johnny Depp Says When He Got the Part of Willy Wonka, 'I Was Ecstatic, Man. I Was Doing Snoopy Dances'

Director Burton Says After Depp's Success With 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'It Was the First Time I Didn't Have to Talk a Studio Into Him. It Was Like He'd Landed On the Planet for the First Time!'

NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Actor Johnny Depp tells Newsweek that he was stunned when director Tim Burton, with whom he's made several movies, asked him to play Willy Wonka in his version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." "Tim and I have had this long relationship, and he's fought some brave and noble battles [to cast Depp in his movies], but I didn't think they would ever come to me for a project this size," Depp says. "I was ecstatic, man. I was doing Snoopy dances."

Depp, after years of being a critical darling but a box-office deadbeat, had suddenly become bankable after the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean." "It was the first time I didn't have to talk a studio into him," Burton says. "It was like he'd landed on the planet for the first time! He's been doing f---ing great work for years, but...whatever. I guess it's all box office for them."

Depp tells Newsweek Senior Writer Sean Smith in the current issue that the hardest part of playing Wonka in the film version of Roald Dahl's classic children's story was trying to erase any memory he had of the 1971 film with Gene Wilder. "And then you go, 'Christ, I can't erase it, so I'll just have to make a very, very sharp left turn'." When asked about competing with the 1971 version, Burton tells Smith, "People want to pit the two movies against each other and turn this into 'Celebrity Deathmatch.' Like we're wiping out three generations of childhood memories. It's not like we're burning DVDs of the old movie. Anybody who loves it can watch it."

Dahl's widow, Liccy, had been intrigued by the thought of casting Daniel Day-Lewis or Kevin Spacey, Smith reports in the July 4 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, June 27). She tells Smith that she is thrilled with the film and says her late husband "would have adored it." She's happy with Depp's performance, too, although she admits she doesn't quite understand the actor's sex appeal. "Women just adore him, don't they?" she says. "I have to be honest, I think he's a little too pretty. Terribly nice, but he's no Robert Mitchum."

Depp talks to Smith about the success of 2003's "Pirates" which took in $652 million worldwide. "I had never experienced anything like that -- where you meet a 75-year-old woman who had seen 'Pirates' and somehow related to the character, and then five minutes later you meet a 6-year-old who says, 'Oh, you're Captain Jack!' What a rush. What a gift. That's the challenge with Wonka, too -- to be, in a sense, like Bugs Bunny. I find it magical that a 3- year-old can be mesmerized by Bugs, but so can a 40-year-old or an 80-year- old. It's a great challenge to see if you can appeal to that huge an age range."

For this film, Burton and Depp chose to give Wonka a backstory, making him the son of a dentist, who -- because he never got to eat sweets -- became estranged from his father and obsessed with candy. Over the years, Wonka has become not just reclusive, but almost autistic in his inability to connect with others. "He's not a father figure -- he's a mess," Burton says. "There are lots of people who are geniuses in one area, but have complete deficiencies in other areas of their lives."

In deciding how to build the Wonka character, Depp began thinking about the kind of folks who host game shows and children's TV programs. As for his look, that flawless pale skin, perfect pageboy, and slightly feminine air have had some people wondering whether Depp found inspiration in Michael Jackson. "That never crossed my mind," he says. "I never thought about it once, honestly. But it's interesting, people's perceptions."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8359196/site/newsweek/

SOURCE Newsweek

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