In an interesting interview on comingsoon.net Johnny Depp talks about his character in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:
Q: When he came to you and said the Mad Hatter what was your reaction to that?
Depp: Well, I mean to be honest he could've said Alice and I would've said [yes]. I would've done whatever character Tim wanted, but yeah, certainly the fact that it was the Mad Hatter was a bonus. It was because of the great challenge to try and find this guy and not to just sort of be rubber ball heaved into an empty room and watch it bounce all over the place. So to find that part of that character but also a little more history or gravity to the guy.
Q: There's kind of a tragic nature to the Mad Hatter's background in this, too, that I've never seen before in an "Alice in Wonderland." Can you talk about that?
Depp: Well, I think that part of it, there's the whole Hatter's dilemma really, which is where the term 'mad as a hatter' came from; the amount of mercury that they used in the glue to make the hats and everything was damaging. So in terms of The Hatter, looking at him from that perspective, it's this guy who's, yeah, literally damaged goods. He's physically damaged. He's emotionally a little obtuse. It was kind of taking that and deciding that he should be as opposed to just this hyper and nutty guy, he should explore all sides of the personality at an extreme level. So he could go from one second being very highfalutin and with a lot of levity and then straight into some kind of dangerous potential rage and then tragedy. So, yeah, it was interesting. Trying to map it out was really interesting.
In the interview Captain Jack talk about other projects - including his next movie with Angelina Jolie! - but also have some words about next Pirates of Caribbean movie and what happened when Dick Cook left the Walt Disney Studios:
Q: Johnny, we heard that there's not going to be any Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom in the next "Pirates." Is it going to be more Jack Sparrow front and center?
Depp: Yeah, there's no Keira or Orlando in there. I don't know. I don't think we'd ever throw too much Jack Sparrow in there. It'll be everybody.
Q: You were sort of wavering a little after Dick Cook left. Have you regained your confidence about it or what reassured you?
Depp: One thing that I found very reassuring was a very good conversation with Dick Cook who is someone I admire greatly. That helped a lot. Also, knowing that we're coming at it from a different angle at this point. [Director] Rob Marshall and a totally new take and a new story.
Q: What did Dick Cook say after he left?
Depp: Oh, I mean he was just a perfect gentleman about the entire thing.
You can read Johnny's full interview on comingsoon.net HERE
Disney has also released a first clip from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and probably more clips should arrive soon. In the meantime,enjoy this first one, below!
Pictures and Video: copyright Disney
Interview: copyright comingsoon.net
