"It was very early that I went to the dark"
I always drink ... wine
Are there vampires in Hollywood? We'll make a short investigation into the topic of Johnny Depp and vampires.
Vampires - creatures of the night, the odd race of the outcasts, the ageless Undead both feared and lusted after, forever young, compelling, alluring, intriguing, hypnotic, sexy and dangerous, preying for us in the shadows. Or walking the streets of LA with shades and broad-brimmed hats to protect the perfect features and the porcelain skin from the deadly rays of the sun...
He claims that he is protecting himself from the the paparazzi with shades and hats. He is constantly changing his hair style according to the characters he plays. But it also helps to distract us from noticing that he has not himself changed very much during the years in limelights. Let's have a look.
Top left - Arizona Dream 1993, Top right - Oscar Gala 2004
Bottom left - Oprah TV-Show 2004 Bottom right - 21 Jump Street 1987
Doesn't the man ever age? Is he ageless like vampires or is he a modern
time Dorian Gray? Is there a portrait rotting somewhere in the attic? These
question arose when Johnny Depp appeared at the Oscar Gala in 2004. He had once
again changed his looks: he was clean shaven and had short hair, and appeared
to be much younger than his 41 years. Has he aged over the years? Decide for
yourself.
"It's rare that you find such a good looking man with his abilities,"
says director Roman Polanski, who directed Johnny in Ninth Gate. "His physique is
his greatest asset--it's almost a teenager's body, in fact. Those delicate hands,
a musician's handshake...and this puerile streak in him. You look at him sometimes
and think, "How old are you?"
Going for the throat
Says Johnny: "As a kid I saw a documentary on TV about Jack The Ripper, and since then I have been fascinated by the character and acquired several books about him. Among other things, his crimes fostered the rise of the tabloid press in London, and that's certainly interesting. In the film we would like to make the audience believe that Abberline himself might be identical with Jack The Ripper and commits the murders in an opium stupor, and that aspect made the role a lot of fun to play. I have to admit that I like these kinds of Gothic stories. I have probably watched "Dracula" one too many times, and I have always been attracted to the dark elements of existence."
Love bite or just a kiss?
Johnny Depp has encountered some very odd creatures during his film career: A headless horseman in Sleepy Hollow, a mysterious threatening man in black in Secret Window, the devil in the guise of a woman in Ninth Gate, but never a vampire. But he has succesfully fought formidable vampiristic blood-sucking foes such as the shadowy Hollywood Machinery, the sharptoothed Tabloid Press and The Paparazzi Hordes. He has not played a vampire himself either. He was offered a role of Lestat in The Interview with a Vampire, but he turned it down because of Ed Wood, and the role of Harker in Coppola's Dracula because of he wanted to make Arizona Dream with Emir Kusturica. And there are rumors that he might play Barnabas Collins in a film based on the tv-show Dark Shadows.
Science meets monsters - Constable Crane in Sleepy Hollow, 1998
Johnny has told that he was a huge fan of Dracula and Frankenstein and horror films. And he admits that as so many Americans of his age he was obsessed with the TV-show Dark Shadows featuring a vampire called Barnabas Collins. "I wanted to be Barnabas Collins and I wanted the cane with the wolf's head on it. For my parents, that must have been a very scary thing. 'Where did we go wrong?' " "When you're a kid, you're fascinated by pirates, the bad guys, the monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, that kind of things." He compares Sleepy Hollow's Ichabod Crane to the famous vampire hunter Van Helsing with his scientific methods and self-made tools and odd ways.
An old Dracula with his friend Ed Wood, 1994
But he has appeared on the screen with some of the very best actors of Dracula. As Ed Wood, the world's worst director, he encountered and befriended Bela Lugosi, played magnificently by Martin Landau. There exists a second connection to Lugosi: Johnny owns a mansion in LA that once belonged to Bela Lugosi, and it is reported to be haunted - maybe by Bela himself in his black cape lined with red. In the Ninth Gate he got a chance to act with another Dracula actor, Frank Langella, who cut a very impressing figure as the obsessed collector Boris Balkan.
The Magnificent Christopher Lee
And there is of course the awesome Christopher Lee himself, who had a small but very impressive cameo role of the Burgomeister in Sleepy Hollow and will appear in the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny as Willy Wonka's father. Johnny later commented on acting with Christopher Lee: "Christopher Lee is just legendary" insists Depp. "He was just so on the money every take. It was inspiring. He's probably had to deal with every petty bullshit thing in life and in this business and he's survived with integrity. He's a very graceful man, as Vincent was, gracious, humble, wise, a survivor. He's done hundreds and hundreds of films, he's just an amazing presence, an amazing man." Depp laughs, "When you are in a scene with the guy and he's leaning down into you, his voice booming and you look into those eyes, I mean, it's Dracula."Lee was equally impressed. In an interview he criticized current actors' as 'holes in the air'. But he made one exception: "Johnny Depp, as far as I'm concerned, is number one. Of his generation, there's no one who can touch him." We heartily agree"
Pale and beautiful and mysterious
Terry Gilliam compares Johnny's methods of getting into a character as something akin to vampirism. Johnny moved into Hunter S. Thompson's ranch in Colorado to prepare for the role of Raoul Duke in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. "He spent months with Hunter. You know, he was like a vampire up there, sucking his life blood out." Joe Pistone on whom the story of Donnie Brasco was modeled might have felt the same way. As all fans who ever have looked into the dark hypnotic eyes of Johnny Depp. "His eyes are incredible. They have the feeling of having been around for a long time, being older than his years." Says Tim Burton).
Happy and tanned
So what is the outcome? He gets the last word and the best laugh: our light-shunning vampire - the emaciated cave dweller, as he described himself at the beginning of his filming career - suddenly appears in front of the cameras as a deeply tanned smiling pirate...
The Future Barnaby Collins?