Johnny Depp’s Most Viral Interview – The World Is Listening

Well, you look great, you look youthful, and more importantly, you look cool. Thank you. Thank you very much. And being 50, it's supposed to be a landmark, but having gone through that myself, it doesn't really mean anything, does it mean anything to you? Absolutely nothing, no. No, it's just another decade gone by. The only, maybe the thing that one can look forward to when you reach 50 is a future that's slightly more irresponsible. More irresponsible? More irresponsible. People will allow you that because you're older? Well, yeah, they accommodate the elderly at times, you know. No one says, one day I'll be able to wear my pants up to here. And it's okay. Well, one day, what about today? I might as well start now. Excuse me a minute. Now, other cultures revere old age. I'm not sure that applies here in the United States. You've been to Miami recently? Yeah. Everybody my age has a story about, oh, Mom, what are we going to do? Oh, Dad, what are we going to do with Dad? And nobody really wants that project. It's sort of sad, isn't it? Well, keep them drunk, I would say. Keep the old folks drunk. Keep them loaded. Now, you talk about being more irresponsible as you grow older. Was there a time in your life when you were just crazily irresponsible? Yeah. When I was, well, younger. Because I'm incredibly responsible now. But when you say irresponsible, police involved? At times, yeah. I did meet a few policemen here and there. And I was given a tour of custody suites and such. Custody suites. Now, out of my business, do you mind if I ask what the infraction was? The violation? One was I made a gaggle of paparazzi walk backwards down a London street with a plank of wood in my hand. God, Paul, did you hear this? I'm shocked at Johnny. I can't believe it. This is wonderful. He wouldn't do that. You wouldn't do that. You took after him like a two-by-four and backed him off down an alley. Yeah, it was more like a four-by-four. Now I'm really shocked. I found it, though. I wasn't carrying it. What were you charged with for the love of God? Assault, attempted assault, assault. Various infractions that I didn't quite understand. Now, I know this is irresponsible of me, but nice going. Thanks very much. It had to be done. You had to take the law into your own hands. Somebody had to do it. Let's talk a little bit about the kiddies. I remember years ago, before I had my son, you described, I think, one of your kids at the time, I think he was about three years old, as like living with a drunk. Yeah. Have they gone beyond the drunken behavior stage? They've gone beyond the tiny drunk stage. And they've entered into a whole new arena. My boy, Jack, is 11. And very, you know, just simple, low-key. Solid? Solid. You know, one-word text. Yep. Nope. Same. You know, that kind of thing. And that's the boy. And then my girl, my daughter, Lily Rose, is now 14. And yeah, 14. Teenagers. Beyond the age difference, is there a behavioral difference? Well, I mean, at our very base, I think men are relatively, I mean, we're simpletons, really. I mean, we really are. And girls are infinitely more complicated and brilliant and, you know, they know how to maneuver and, you know, sort of manipulate Dad to the umpteenth degree. Are you, having said that, are you in a good space now with your daughter? Things good now? Oh, wonderful, yeah. No, perfect. Surprises along the way, though? You know, just the things you're, you know, that a father fears. Some greasy little horror showing up at your door. Some greasy little horror. Showing up. Yeah. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This movie, I've been awaiting this movie. I think I saw a trailer for it maybe a year ago, ten months or something like that. Probably before we finished shooting. Yeah, exactly right, I think so. Did it take a long time to film this? Yeah, about six months or so. Oh, my gosh, that's a lot of work, isn't it? Yeah, it was a long time. Now, I have many questions to ask you about the film. Can I ask them? Please. When a person writes a script like this and it comes time for action-adventure, on the screen it looks complicated and impossible, not just to shoot and create, but how is it written in the script? Does it just say, okay, now fill in some time here with action-adventure? Or is it carefully written out in the script? Carefully written out in the script. So somebody has to imagine it, write it down, and then the director has to do it. Indeed, yeah. Those enormous action sequences in the film were jumped up by Gore Verbinski and the writer Justin Heath. That's crazy stuff. Yeah. And here's another question for you. I think I was on that train or near that train that some of the movie takes place in. Do you reckon? Yeah. Was that in Colorado? Did that train exist in Colorado? It did exist in Colorado, actually, yeah, but most of it was done in New Mexico, and in great heat. Was the river, did that really exist, or was that a computer river? No, the river was... Now, where was that river? That was somewhere between Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, somewhere in there. I've lost track. It looked like a river I know. Was it the Animas River? I really don't know. However, it was wonderful. Thanks a lot, Tonto. Okay, so... Rio Grande? I don't know. Might have been the Rio Grande. And what about the trestle that comes down? That never existed, or did it exist? Or should I have not said that? I don't know. I'm not... There's two things that I have a problem with. One is I never read screen direction, which is the stuff that tells you what to do. How can that be possible? Well, I'd rather not know what they want me to do. I'd rather just figure something out. So you're kind of just guessing at what they want? No, I'm just sort of winging it at what I want. It's worked so far. But now, let's talk about... As beloved as the Lone Ranger is, there was always something not right about the part of Tonto, how he was portrayed. This has been rectified in this movie and documented. We saw the character of Tonto. Tell us about what went into the creation of that character with regard to Native Americans. Well, ever since I was a kid, I was a very little kid watching the Lone Ranger series on TV. I always had a fascination with the series and loved Jay Silverheels, loved the series. But I was always sort of perturbed somehow by the fact that Tonto was thought of as the sidekick. It just never... Kind of the errand guy, really. Errand boy. It just didn't set well. So it's been something that I've felt very passionate about for a long time. The idea that Native Americans have been misrepresented horribly throughout the history of cinema and television. So I thought it was a great opportunity to flip that cliché on its head and bring the respect back to these people, these dignified people. And when you created the character, did you then seek guidance or input or approval from Native Americans? Did you show them what you were up to? Oh, most assuredly, yeah. I had a very, very close relationship with the Comanche Nation and the Navajo who allowed us into their world as well. And, yeah, learned quite a lot. And they were very, very helpful. And pleased with this depiction of Tonto in the film? Yeah, so far. There's always going to be naysayers and this and that, which I expect. But the thing is, it was approached with only good intentions. And if there's 15 kids, 20 kids on a reservation somewhere who can watch this film and walk away feeling proud of their heritage, proud of their culture, and want to keep their language alive, their culture alive, if they get that, then I feel that my job is done. Have you spent time on a reservation? I have on several, yeah. I have just briefly. I can't claim anything other than just briefly. But it's quite an eye-opener. It is. And just even as a glimpse, the perspective is just like looking through a telescope and everything sort of widens out and you think, oh, my. Well, the strange thing is that when you visit these places where essentially what you're seeing is the repercussions of what happened 100, 200 or more years ago of people that have attempted to be beaten down or to feel lesser than. And that's what I want these kids to know, all kids to know. What do they say anthropologically about how long people were in North America, on North America, before white men came here? Was it 20,000 years? Was it longer than that? I have no idea. I mean, even if it was a year. It was in the high numbers for sure. Before Columbus came and made an enormous mistake, thought he'd hit India, and decided to call the people Indians. That's the whole thing right there. They didn't call themselves Indians, did they? No, they're the human beings. That's right. But I'm right in that the portrayal of Tonto and his life sort of mirrors that of the existence of Native Americans, doesn't it? Most definitely. Exploited and then crushed by the white man. Indeed. Damaged. I mean, a little boy damaged by white man's greed. Now, having said this, and I'm happy we can talk about it, the movie is wildly entertaining. Thank you. And what I was talking about, in the end, all of a sudden you appear on a ladder. You know what I mean? I do remember the ladder bit, yeah. And on a speeding train. Now, is any of that real? Oh, we were on speeding trains. Speeding trains, yeah. Absolutely. Strapped to the top of a train car that was doing about, I don't know, 50 or 60 miles per hour. On a ladder. Yeah. Also, a lot of trees, you know. Oh, yeah, the trees. A lot of ducking. Yes. And the scenery is spectacular. Monument Valley is the backdrop for a lot of this film. Yeah. Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, which is a Navajo land we were welcomed into, and it's just astonishing. Well, I mean, it's everything you want, and it's going to be an enormous hit. Let's take a look at a clip here. This is the Lone Ranger, and I don't want to take anything away from the Lone Ranger, but it really ought to be called Tonto. Could you have done that? Demanded? Well, you know, you're a guy who knows his way around a craft table. I don't know what that means. I don't know. I'm drunk. I've made a lot of macrame things. Made plates. Let's see. What is the clip here, Johnny? I have no idea. Oh, for God's sake. You're saying to yourself, that's not Johnny Depp. It's a clip from the film, you'll see it July 3rd, and it's the celebration of America's independence, but this is a great reminder of things that came before and mistakes that have been made, but also wildly entertaining. Have we shown the clip? Am I in it? Let's take a look. See, that's the kind of stuff I want to do. That's right. Now, just imagine that on the big screen. Big special effects, folks. A fat kid in chaps. Wow. Now, did that happen? A lot of that, yeah. Did you get hooked and pulled off by the chain like that? I was yanked off. Yes, I was. We're talking about something else, Johnny. Settle down here. For God's sakes, can you keep your mind on the movie? Every time I turn around. It's that clip you showed before. Yeah, I know. But it's a lot of fun. I'm sorry. That's all right. Pardon. This movie is so enormous. How does one know that one has everything one needs on film to make sense of this movie? How do you know after all of this? I mean, it's very intricate shooting. It is. You go to work and you do your day, which could be anywhere from a 14- to 16-hour day. So you're working on the train sequence, the action sequence, for example. You realize that you take about three weeks of those 14- to 16-hour days and it comprises about 17 seconds of screen time. Wow. Just in terms of the difficulty of the stunts. And somebody keeps track of everything that you film, so it's not like, holy God, we need a shot of him putting on his shoes. That doesn't happen. Exactly. We're like the birds backwards. The bird was backwards. No, the bird wasn't backwards. You had the bird on backwards. No, he didn't have the bird on backwards. Well, do me a favor. Go see this. And it'd mean a lot to Johnny as well. It's The Lone Ranger, July 3rd, ladies and gentlemen. Always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you.