Johnny: Yeah, I think satisfaction, total and utter satisfaction with your work, I think it's death for an actor.
Johnny: I read the screenplay (Edward Scissorhands) and was devastated, I was just devastated. It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever read, not just a screenplay, and I knew Edward when I read that, I just knew him, and it was just such a universal feeling, that feeling, you know, of not feeling quite like you fit in.
JL: Is there any Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands?
Johnny: Yeah, sure. With any character that you approach and that you're gonna play, it has to be built on that foundation of truth, so it has to come from a place of honesty - from a place of truth within you. So, there's quite a lot of Edward in me, and a lot of me in him.
Johnny: In terms of the silent film actors, and with Edward, it was a case of everything needed to be said with the body, or with the eyes.
JL: How do you prepare for a role, where do you start?
Johnny: I think one of the greatest gifts that we as human beings have is our instinct, is that initial feeling you get about something. I think that's a great gift and sometimes we overlook it. Generally, when I'm reading the screenplay, I begin to get flashes of things, images - visual things or people that interested me, something that I wanted to explore in a person that I had seen somewhere.
Johnny: Then I make these sort of notes that become the ingredients of the character. Then, essentially, you throw it all away. I mean, use that as your foundation, and then you allow yourself the sort of pleasant surprise of what's going to happen when you're in there, available stimulus, just living in the moment.
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