ohnny
Depp misses home. His chain-smoking provides a hazy but persistent
hint that "home" can't possibly be anywhere in the
cigarette-stomping United States. No, for the star of Blow,
the place he feels most comfortable in is the south of France. His
handsome face wreathed in a beatific smile, Depp says: "This is
probably the only time in my life where I've been able to say I feel at
home."France has really given me the opportunity to have a fairly normal and simple life. Each morning, I can go to the little village not far from my house, have a cup of coffee and sit there with my girl and not worry about the paparazzi. I want to raise my baby away from all the weirdness," says the father of two-year-old Lily Rose Melody Depp, who has returned for a rare U.S. visit to publicize his movie Blow.
Depp doesn't hesitate to explain. "I mean, I love the USA and what it could be and what it has been in the past," he says. "There are a lot of great people in this country, especially those in the middle, like the farmers and people who just work and try to get by and get on with their lives. But America is also about violence, ignorance and greed. I can't live here and stay sane. It's such an ambitious, gluttonous society. In France I can breathe." And he can commute to his day job: movie star.
"It solidifies me if I can keep a big distance from Hollywood and the game," he goes on. "That's what I do for a living. I don't want to do it in my personal life. Yes, movies are the way I bring home the bacon and they are what I do to keep my brain occupied. But I don't want to live and breathe them every day."
Depp, who's more sought after by movie producers than ever, says he reached his breaking point years ago. "I remember back in the late '80s, after I did 21 Jump Street on TV and had started doing movies," he says, "I started to see myself on the cover of all these magazines. I would see my friends on the covers, too. And I remember thinking, 'You know what? There's nothing positive in it.' And the only positive thing I can do is take myself out of it. I remember getting on a plane to France, just walking away from this life as a movie star and thinking, 'No more.'
"Since then I haven't read a film magazine. I don't know who is popular or not popular. I could care less about who is winning awards. I didn't even watch the damn Oscars. And I'm really, really happy."
Part of Depp's happiness stems from the fact that he's thrilled to be coupled with singer Vanessa Paradis and to be Lily's ever-lovin' papa. And Blow finds him at the peak of his acting career. The title refers to the street term for cocaine.
"It's the true story of coke dealer George Jung, who worked for drug kingpin Carlos Escobar," he says. "George is blamed for almost single-handedly switching America from pot to coke. In the 1970s, he figured out how to import the white powder to the US."
Based on the book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million in the Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All by Bruce Porter, the film also stars Ray Liotta as George's distraught father and Penelope Cruz as his money-grubbing wife. These days Jung is still serving a 15-year sentence in a federal pen. Depp says he felt compelled to visit the real George in prison.
"It was an experience," he says. "You go into prison and hear these large clanging metal doors behind you. I had to empty my pockets and go through metal detectors, which is the norm. I guess the only weird thing is that I signed a couple of autographs for the prison officials."
But it was worth it to Depp because Jung was very picky about the actor who would play him. "The real George was telling his agent, 'You're not going to get one of those fruity actors to play me,''' he says, grinning broadly. Even so, Depp wasn't entirely sure he could play a dope dealer doing a life sentence. "He's as human as any of us," he says. "I also saw a victim in George. I saw him a victim of his parents, of his upbringing and the conditioning. I saw a strong guy, a funny guy, a smart guy and a broken guy."
Depp understands despair. John Christopher Depp II was born June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Ky. His parents divorced when he was 15, leaving him a bit of a nomad. "I don't even have a mental picture of the homes I've lived in. There were so many," he says.
Bored with high school, he dropped out and eventually packed his prized possession - a guitar - and moved to Hollywood. Depp sold ballpoint pens and demonstrated Yo-Yo's in a five-and-dime until pal Nicolas Cage recommended him, and he made his screen debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984.
Three years later, he became a teen idol as Officer Tom Hanson on the series 21 Jump Street. Movies including Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Sleepy Hollow followed. So did a few "incidents." Depp had well publicized relationships with Kate Moss, Sherilyn Fenn and Jennifer Grey. He was engaged to Winona Ryder from 1990-93, and when they split, he revised his "WINONA" tattoo to read "WINO."
In 1994, he reportedly trashed a $1,200-a-night hotel room in New York and was arrested on charges of criminal mischief. Depp blames it on "demons".
"I was looking for peace of mind."
As Depp tells it, he's now found it. Part of the process is that he doesn't even read reviews any more. "If you read the good ones, you have to read the bad ones," he reasons. It follows that Depp doesn't know that he got raves for Chocolat - a part he admits he never thought he would get. "I remember when Lasse Hallstrom, who directed, came to visit me on the set of Blow. He said he had this film he wanted me to do. I said yeah right away because I was shocked he asked me to work with him again." Why was he shocked? "Let's just say my brain in Gilbert Grape was unpleasant. It was a hard time for me in my head," Depp says. "I thought Lasse must have been so happy to be away from me when he said, 'Wrap'."
He says fatherhood has changed his life: "It has been everything for me. Being a father is the only thing that matters. I just remember going through the entire pregnancy with Vanessa, and it was the happiest I'd ever been in my life. And the moment my daughter arrived, it was the first real selfless moment in my life. Now I want 100 kids. If Vanessa's willing to try, I'll try."
Depp says he didn't make a conscious decision to have a child: "I'm not sure anybody has anything to do with what happens in their lives. It's like you're on a ride and in some ways somebody else is steering. I believe in destiny. I'm big on, 'It was meant to happen and all the math has been worked out for you.' You can't plan anything."
It's untrue that he and Vanessa are now expecting another baby, he adds. What is true is that Depp still loves acting. Later this year, he stars in the Jack the Ripper thriller From Hell and then will take on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, about a driven TV personality.
"I know you're thinking, 'Why the flurry of films?"' He laughs and says, "I work cheap. Too cheap. Honestly, I've been going at it for quite a while. And I might take my first break in five years. Or maybe I'll work after the strike. I'm sure everything will fall into place." And if not, he'll be enjoying himself at his favorite outdoor cafe in France with his baby. "I tell my agent, 'Don't look for me, man.' Most of the time, I'm far, far away."
Is there no chance he'll give up puffing on cheap French cigarettes and return to health-obsessed America? The question requires little thought. Depp immediately answers: "I went through 35 years of a very strange and dark fog. And I never really understood what the point was to anything in life. I knew that I had some degree of luck and success in my chosen field, in my business, in my work. And I knew I was very lucky in my family. And I had good friends.
"But it wasn't until Vanessa and the birth of our daughter, Lily-Rose, that I finally realized there is something to live for. I then knew why I had to be alive. There was a reason to live. And I'm going to keep doing it all - in France."
- Joan Krzys