CityLife

Interview: Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

Assembled in a grand ballroom, sitting beneath a picture of themselves having afternoon tea, the cast of Alice In Wonderland look suitably surreal.

Tim Burton’s 3D reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s two novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (which includes the nonsense poem Jabberwocky) has been much-hyped.

And on the morning of its royal world premiere, the director, Tim Burton, his wife Helena Bonham-Carter, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and the star of the film, newcomer Mia Wasikowska, are in an ebullient mood. They’ve just received news that a dispute between Disney and the UK’s biggest cinema chain Odeon has been resolved, and their film will definitely be screened across the country after its premiere that night.

At the centre of the group is Johnny Depp, dressed in a black shirt and waistcoat, with his eyes covered by signature blue-lensed shades and hat.

In this adaptation, his character the Mad Hatter is at the heart of the story, serving as a friend and guide to Alice, who has returned to Wonderland at the age of 19 to escape a marriage proposal in the real world.

Depp explains he shaped the Hatter’s unique look of goggly yellow eyes and frizzy orange hair, after researching hatter’s disease – a common health problem for hat makers in the 19th century.

“Hatters used this very toxic substance to glue the hats together which contained a lot of mercury, and this poison would manifest in different ways,” he explains, stroking his moustache and goatee.

“Some were Tourettes-like syndromes, some were personality disorders, some were even darker and weirder and there was an orange tint to the actual stuff, so that’s where all the orange bits came from.”

The Scottish-speaking Mad Hatter is rather scary, but the kids will love it, says Depp.

“They saw it and loved it, absolutely loved it, they went crazy quoting things from it and they weren’t freaked out by it.”

'Madness'

The actor, who has worked with Burton six times since Edward Scissorhands 20 years ago, has carved out a career playing oddball characters.

How does he think his working relationship with Burton has changed in the past 20 years?

“The fact Tim cast me in Edward Scissorhands was a miracle, and once you know someone for that length of time, you do get close,” says Depp.

“But in terms of the process, it hasn’t changed one second since Edward Scissorhands, there was always a kind of shorthand.

“One thing that has evolved for both of us... when grown men start changing nappies and stuff, you discuss it.

“And one of the things that I’m proudest to say is that I was the first person to give Tim the DVD set of The Wiggles.

“Truly, he is a mad person on some level, but it’s a madness that works for him. At the risk of embarrassing him, I’ve always admired Tim for his commitment to his vision, the impossibility of compromise and for doing exactly what he wanted in his own unique way.

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of the only true artists working in cinema, a real auteur.”

Alice In Wonderland was an obvious story choice for Burton. Known for his dark, quirky retellings of classics like Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, the director does not disappoint.

It’s choc-full of oddball characters, voiced by English actors, from the balloon-shaped Tweedles, played by Matt Lucas, to the blue Cheshire cat (Stephen Fry) and the smoking caterpillar Absolem (Alan Rickman).

“The thing that intrigued me was the opportunity to do 3D with Alice In Wonderland because it seemed like the perfect mix of the material and the medium. A few years ago I don’t know if
I would have been as intrigued about it,” says the scruffy-haired director, who’s only just made the finishing touches to the film.

“The trippiness of that world and the tool were a good mix. The characters and the images and the iconic way they infiltrated culture was so strong.”

He’s not concerned about how it will go down with hardcore Lewis Carroll fans. “I didn’t feel like this was the definitive version of it.”