September 13, 2005
Pirates' Depp Hangs On To Sparrow
Johnny Depp told SCI FI Wire that he's already having separation anxiety about leaving behind his Pirates of the Caribbean character, Captain Jack Sparrow, as he wraps the second and third films in the series.
It's weird, because sometimes separation is more emotional than others," Depp said at an intimate press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he was promoting Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. "I remember after [Edward] Scissorhands, and I really feel like a dunce having to say this, but it's the truth, ... I remember the last day of that movie, it had been 89 days or something, and I remember after we did the makeup, I looked into the mirror and thinking, 'Well, this is it. This is the last time I'll see you.' So it becomes very emotional."
Somehow, Depp said that he knew he'd play Captain Jack Sparrow again, even before he was nominated for a best-actor Oscar for the role in the first film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. "What happens to me is that with every character, once you've clicked into that character and you really know the guy, you become very close with him, and you love him," Depp said. "You enjoy playing him. So it's always very, very difficult at the end. There is that week to 10 days before wrap where you can feel and hear the clock ticking, and then you go through sometimes a really nasty kind of depression afterwards. There's an odd separation anxiety, because you've just been this person for a pretty good length of time, and then they're suddenly gone. For me, with Captain Jack, I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd see him again."
Depp said the new incarnation of his pirate role in the upcoming sequels will be a lot funnier than the first, and he said he wouldn't mind playing him again and again. The sequels are slated for a 2006 and 2007 release, though the script for the third one isn't even complete.
"It occurs to me that Jack Sparrow can be funny," Depp said. "So I'm going to try that this time. I'm just going to try and be funny. I don't know. The ideas of sequels and stuff like that was a very odd notion. I never quite understood the idea of doing that and stuff until you think as an actor that you've played a character for months and months and months. So I wanted to meet up with him again. I just wanted to be him again."
Depp added: "It's a very strange situation where you're as a grown man having separation anxiety with an imaginary character. It's worrisome, because you know it's not normal, but you can't stop yourself, because I just like the guy. He's a pal."
Posted by MK Magazine at September 13, 2005 11:49 PM