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JOHNNY DEPP GOES MAD (HATTER) ON THE COVER OF THIS WEEK’S ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY CELEBRATES ITS 20TH BIRTHDAY WITH A LOOK BACK AT 20 YEARS OF OSCAR

NEW YORK – From the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland to Edward Scissorhands – Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton take a look back at 20 years of collaboration, friendship, and seriously kooky characters. They met twenty years ago as a frustrated young TV star and a wild-haired filmmaker, and since then the duo has worked on quite a few projects together. When they first met to talk about Edward Scissorhands, they both recall caffeine. “All I remember is coffee – a lot of coffee,” says Burton. “In fact, I think I’m still coming down the walls from that. I’d never seen [Depp’s cop show] 21 Jump Street, but meeting Johnny, I could sense that this thing was probably not why he got into acting or where he wanted to go. My impression was that he had something inside of him, but because of the show he was on, people thought of him in a certain way that wasn’t accurate. There’s a painful quality when you grow up and you’re not perceived correctly – and that’s what the character of Edward Scissorhands was about. It was an instinctual thing, but I could see that Johnny was that character.”

For Depp, he wasn’t sure he had already won the role in that meeting. “I was convinced there was no way I’d get it. Everyone in this town wanted to play that role – including Michael Jackson,” he says. “I’d had a great meeting with Tim and left zipping on coffee and chewing on a spoon, but then I didn’t really hear much for a few weeks. When I got the call saying ‘You’re Edward Scissorhands,’ I was just elated. I knew how important it would be,” he says. “It was a big risk for tim to take on some TV actor. With 21 Jump Street, they were trying to make me this thing, this product, and I couldn’t deal with it. When Scissorhands came, I knew even if immediately afterwards I was booted out of Hollywood and was pumping gas or working contruction again, at least I was on solid ground. I was exactly where I needed to be. And even if that was all I’d done, I was fine. I knew what road I wanted to go on, but Tim pushed me onto that road.”

Four years later, they reunited for Ed Wood. When asked about what he was feeling about his career at that point, Depp says “In terms of Hollywood, people were still wondering, ‘Why won’t he carry a gun and f— the girl?’ That’s all they wanted me to do: carry a gun and nail some broad, you know. I’m not opposed to that, but I thought there might have been other things to investigate.”

Depp and Burton share a similar sensibility. “There’s a similar respect for the absurd and things slightly left of center,” says Depp. “I’ve just always understood what Tim’s looking for, and he trusts me to go out there and do the stupid s— I do.” Burton responds “Like dress up as a scary clown. [Laughs] Over the years we’ve learned that we have similar tastes. We both like old horror movies. We talk about TV performers that scared us as children. There’s a lot of common ground.”

And for their latest project, Alice in Wonderland, Johnny Depp won’t even be able to watch it – at least not in 3-D. “I’m actually unable to see 3-D,” says Depp. “I’ve got a weird thing where I don’t see properly out of my left eye, so I truly can’t see 3-D. So I have an excuse [not to watch myself] this time.” (Cover Story, Page 26)
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