Get a load of the entire press conference with star Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton for "Sweeney Todd." In theatres Christmas Day!

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Man

Um.  Johnny, can you talk about um … you’re one of the few … quote unquote movie stars I guess that maybe just still take risks as an actor and refuses to [INAUDIBLE] simply play the game, and I was wondering where that comes from and what was it about this particular piece that appealed to you?

Johnny Depp

Er.  Well the answer to the first part I think is it’s, it’s probably a combination [INAUDIBLE] or, or something [INAUDIBLE] hard-headed and ignorant.  [CHUCKLES] In terms of the, the er doing the, the … taking the road that I’ve taken you know.  But um [NOISE] [INAUDIBLE] um and in and in this film, in Sweeney Todd, [INAUDIBLE] that’s one thing [INAUDIBLE].  But, you know, Tim [INAUDIBLE] you know anything that he would ask me to do I [still get] the opportunity. 

Man

Except a ballet.

LAUGHTER

Johnny Depp

I actually would.

Man

You’re not gonna do that.

Johnny Depp

I would, I would try. 

LAUGHTER

Man

And this, and why did you wanna do this?  I mean what [INAUDIBLE]?

Johnny Depp

Er it’s I mean I was familiar to some degree with the, with the you, you know the er the earlier versions of this, this stuff that you know I’d seen the, the video of um Angela Lansbury [INAUDIBLE] quite extensively.  And, and er I’d seen the more recent er production of it and then just thought it might be, you know certainly a great opportunity to, to try to find a, a new Sweeney, a different Sweeney in kind of a [INAUDIBLE] way I suppose like a … just like a little contemporary in the sense of like also the punk rock Sweeney you know.

Man

Punk rock Sweeney?

LAUGHTER

Man

Okay another question please.  Over here.  Thank you.

TALKING OVER EACH OTHER

Man

Um we already heard that you created a kind of situation of suspense because nobody knew if you can really sing it so and you came round to do late with it.  So was it also fun for you to, to let them wait a little bit?  How would you describe the process?  Would you, did, [INAUDIBLE] recordings or something like this?

Johnny Depp

Yeah.  I was, I think I was probably more frightened than anyone, [CHUCKLES] except, except maybe Tim.  No um he was actually, he was amazingly … um … you know, he, he, he really trusted me with it you know and, and like you know I, I was, I was very lucky that he allowed me to … cos I didn’t have a process really you know in terms of the singing.  I’ve never sang before in my life so er so, so I had to kinda find my way to it.  And um, and thought it was important that I, you know, keep it very, very low key and, and so yeah I initially did, did these demos in a, um, in my friend’s garage studio and, and er, cos I didn’t know if I would be able to hit a note or [INAUDIBLE].  I just, I wanted to make sure I could do it for Tim [INAUDIBLE].  So then I, we did, I think the first demo we cut was with my friend, and like you know I showed it to er I showed it to Tim.  You know [INAUDIBLE] he waited, waited for the outcome really.  [CHUCKLES]

Man

Okay over there.  The lady with glasses.

Woman

Um [INAUDIBLE] is an act of loneliness as a victim or [INAUDIBLE] reaction that becomes more and more violent?

Johnny Depp

I think it, I think it probably is a … it’s probably all of that.  You know, you know layer-by-layer, you know one, one thing leads to another you know.  I think initially the victim um er … the victim will dream of the revenge, becomes obsessed with that dream of revenge, and then from there it turns into er, er, yeah like a compulsion, obsession, er you know madness.  Um.  [INAUDIBLE] you have, the only thing that drives you, the only thing that keeps you alive is the idea … of revenging…

Man

Okay any questions for Tim before we go any further?  Tim questions.  Yeah.

Woman

[INAUDIBLE] we talked to Helena earlier and she was joking and saying how you made her audition for the role and that you didn’t talk about it for the five weeks and during that period you were auditioning other women for the role.  Um can you just talk about that process?  [CHUCKLES]

Tim Burton

Sounds very sleazy the way you put it. 

LAUGHTER

Man

[INAUDIBLE]

Woman

Sorry…

Tim Burton

Yeah baby.   Er.  So what was that again?  Yeah?

Woman

[INAUDIBLE] just, can you just talk about you know…

Tim Burton

Yeah well I mean you know i… i… i… it was, I thought it was important that er cos I’d never done anything like this before myself so, er and it’s quite a difficult musical to do.  And you know like in the stage thing that was a, you know that was a ha… it’s a hard role, the roles are hard, and I just didn’t want it to seem like I was just giving the job to my girlfriend or anything.  So, er I really was probably harder on that for that reason, and I just wanted to make sure that er it was basically she was really, really right for her, which she is, which she was and is.  So it just was, yeah I probably was a bit harder on her than, than others, for the reason on just wanting to really make sure it was right.

Man

Okay.  Er lady in the front there.

Woman

Okay.  [INAUDIBLE] still like to have a question for both of you.  Um you know the scene when er Sweeney Todd is re-united with his razor in his er barber for the first time.  Um that scene reminded us of some part of the Edward Scissorhand.  Instead of Scissorhand maybe Razorhand it’s like.  But that scene, you know the [audience] silhouette or the look or the posture or the face, facial expression, did it have any connection with that movie um Edward Scissorhand?  Was that any inspiration or?

Tim Burton

Yeah I mean I think for me er, er for me it’s only the fact that we did that movie and we did this movie.  I mean you know we’re not lost on the, you know, the, the sharp instrument angle.  But y… you know the thing about this character which I love that’s different from that is that you know we did that a long time and we’re probably much more…I certainly was much more optimistic in, you know, which that character sort of represented and now the S… the Sweeney character is a much … sort of more interiorised darker character, which, which I love.  To see Johnny do both of those things is really amazing for me to see because er, er … you know I think this character for me is one of my favourite characters he’s done just cos I, I love the interior brooding quality of, of the character.  Ad then you put that with him singing and it just created to me a really amazing new thing to me.

Woman

And you Johnny?

Johnny Depp

Um.  Er [INAUDIBLE] scissors.  No I mean, the … similarities in the sense that … the Scissorhands maybe even [INAUDIBLE] about clearly the way that the characters who are kind of very much … like we was talking about living inside their own head, um, kind of thing.  [INAUDIBLE]

Johnny Depp

Even though I think there was only one moment when you saw Edward get angry.

Tim Burton

Yeah.  Yeah this guy is just quite angry the whole time.

Johnny Depp

[INAUDIBLE]

LAUGHTER

Johnny Depp

[INAUDIBLE] one moment when you said to me smile.

Tim Burton

Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton

Yeah it’s like if Edward Scissorhands, you know, went into a major depression and got…

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton

…for several years.

LAUGHTER

Man

Okay thank you.  Question in the far over there.

Man

Johnny, we heard earlier that you and Sacha Baron Cohen had a sort of shaving lesson so to speak while you were on set.  So…

Johnny Depp

Yeah.

Man

…can you tell us about that experience?

Johnny Depp

He still has scars all over his back.

LAUGHTER

Man

Did you [INAUDIBLE] that experience and did you come, sort of come to learn the value of a, [INAUDIBLE] value of a good shave, good close shave?

Johnny Depp

Um you know what, th… … no, I didn’t. 

LAUGHTER

Johnny Depp

I really didn’t.  I’ve never, I’ve never really experienced that [full], that [full on] thing.  Thi…  this, this is a full beard for me.  I’m not kidding.  This is a lumberjack look for me.  I’m hiding [CHUCKLES] behind this.  So yeah no I didn’t [INAUDIBLE] but I c… but I can definitely appreciate it because er when, when we, when we got in there with you know into the chair with a strange stranger, complete stranger, and um … you know you lather your face up and [INAUDIBLE] incredibly sharp like an instrument of torture.  [INAUDIBLE]  Yeah.  It’s really frightening.

Tim Burton

Yeah.  It is.  I, I, I tried it once and it was really frightening to have a complete stranger have a razor at your throat; you don’t even know who he is.

Johnny Depp

Mmm.

Tim Burton

Er.  And er it just the sound of it it’s, it’s, it’s quite a s… it’s frightening in a way.  I don’t, you know…

Man

Could you also talk about Sacha Baron Cohen actually and how he was cast, cos he’s very well-known obviously in the UK and er…

Tim Burton

Yeah.  Well I mean it, it was after Borat came out and I, I was, you know he came in … to audition, he brought in the score of Fiddler On The Roof and basically did all Fiddler On The Roof in the studio.

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton

And no he was great you know cos er I admired him because you know he coulda gone off and done a whole bunch of different stuff but, you know he chose to do this and that was you know it, it, it was, it was great that he did it.

Johnny Depp

God I’d have loved to have seen that [INAUDIBLE]…

Tim Burton

Oh yeah it was, I wish [INAUDIBLE] cos…

Johnny Depp

Wow.

Tim Burton
…he literally went through the whole score of Fiddler On The Roof.  It was…

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton

…the whole book, [INAUDIBLE].  Great.

Man

Um okay question over there.

Man

Um Mr Burton I just wondered whether um given the level of violence, that it’s a musical, um, you see this as a kind of b… a challenge at the box office?  Is that something that occupies your mind, you know making your money back?

Tim Burton

Well I mean it, it, you know it’s always a, a, a risk.  I mean, o… of course.  Er y… y… you know er.  I remember when I first saw the show er in London back when I was still a student er basically um, you know.  I didn’t know anything about the music and I remember seeing the show and [you’re right] when Joanna ca… these two ladies, these very proper, British ladies were s… sitting in front of me and they were kind of chatting throughout the show…

Woman

Mmm hmm.

Tim Burton

…and then when Joanna came up and the, you know the blood started spurting across the stage they both stopped and paused for a minute and, one leaned over and said “Was that really necessary?”

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton

And um, but in fact it was necessary and I’ve seen other productions of it where you know they’ve tried to be a bit more politically correct and skimp on it and it really lost something, because I mean the show is based in those old, grand [cineole] er, you, you know horror theatre er melodramas, where you know they had buckets pouring out over the stage.  So, it just felt like that was true to the spirit of what the show is, it was and is and, and so, and it’s over-the-top too so we never felt like it was … y… you know it, it’s, it’s more of an emotional release than it is kind of a, a reality thing in this movie.  So it, it, and the studio they were cool about it, they accepted it, they knew it cos they knew that the…what the show was so there wasn’t you know.  But y… you know anything, any movie is a risk, but it’s nice to be able to do something like that where you know it doesn’t fit into either musical or slasher movie category; kind of its own category.

Man

Okay.  Just er lady over there on the end.  Yes in the white, white sweater yeah.

Woman

Um Johnny your character like you say is always unhappy and angry.  Are there any moments where [INAUDIBLE]?

Johnny Depp

Um.  I don’t know.  I didn’t see the film.

LAUGHTER

Johnny Depp

But er … I mean the funny thing is with you know and during the filming we was like you know like a laugh riot.  I mean we were constantly [INAUDIBLE] it was a great time, it was a great experience and great fun and we, we laughed a lot.  [INAUDIBLE] er…

Tim Burton

I’d say the humour from, from my point of view from his character comes from how just serious he is and just how single-minded he is, and you know the relationship he has in the with Mrs Lovett and anybody else.  You know he’s pretty much [INAUDIBLE] track and you know a… there’s something weirdly humorous about that but I guess it depends on you know what you think is funny really.

Man

Okay question down here.

Man

Johnny, what does Tim get out of you as an actor that maybe no other Director has been able to pull from you?  And, Tim, what does having Johnny do for you as a Director that maybe you can’t do with other actors?

Johnny Depp

Oh boy yeah.

Tim Burton

Well I mean I’ll, I’ll s… I’ll say you know he just tries anything.  I mean the fact is that he’s not a, a singer, er you know he’s musical but and that he would try like one of the hardest musicals ever to do.  Er, you know.  A… a… he is like, you know that just says it all.  You know he’s just willing to go out there and believe me, something I learned is singing is very expli… especially if you’re not a singer, it’s, it’s a very exposing process.  And er I just really you know anybody that can do that can basically do anything you know and, and, and so it’s, for me it’s just a artistic pleasure to see somebody try different things and, and actually achieve it and, and achieve it beyond your expectations so. 

Man

And Johnny?

Johnny Depp

I mean with Tim I mean since the first … second that we met you know … all those years ago in a, in a café, in a coffee shop in, in, in Los Angeles, there for, for me there was a, there was a kind of instant connection … on, on, on a lot of different levels.  I mean the most obtuse levels of you know what in this kind of weird fascination of understanding the absurdity, the absurdity of things that were totally you know perfectly acceptable in the 1970s for example like macramé owls and [INAUDIBLE] and you know, tcha!  You know fake from…

LAUGHTER

Johnny Depp

…[INAUDIBLE].  No one thought you know twice about it.  So there, there was that weird connection right on the spot.  And since, si… ever since then I, I, I er … I’ve only wanted to as an actor you know, ch… as a friend but I mean as an actor, give, just give him as much of what…as close to what he wants and what I, what I think he wants er you know.  I mean any, any actor’s job really is to just give the Director options you know and just give him as much er option.  So I, I mean I, I … the funny thing is I, like for example when I go into a movie and I’m [playing] like a character or whatever, [INAUDIBLE] kind of you know ideas that sort of come to me and … you know incorporate them in the character.  If I feel good about it myself then you know have hopes that others you know feel the same [INAUDIBLE] you know.  But when I’m working with Tim, as I’m coming up with the character, um before I’m thinking about what I feel about the character I’m thinking about, you know, and just hoping that I don’t let him down.  So, so he comes first [INAUDIBLE].

Tim Burton

The other thing is he, he’s great cos I love, he isn’t like looking at himself, which is great for me.  You know I mean, you don’t have to spend you know, oh after the mon… you know after a take “I’m gonna go look you know and see.  Oh that’s not a good” you know.  He’s just completely open to like, “Okay.  Whatever” you know and “I don’t really care to look at myself or wanna look at myself,” you know.  He just does a great job and er believe me that’s a huge issue for me to not have that kinda, you know, certain kind of vanity of like looking at yourself and you, you know stopping.  It kinda keeps the process going, keeps it vital and, and, and that, that means a lot to me and I think the crew and everybody else.  They get, they get into the spirit of like just doing it you know not sitting around and you know analysing everything.

Man

Okay question over there.

Woman

[INAUDIBLE] you always express being [INAUDIBLE].  And er some things in colour [INAUDIBLE].  Does this show some of [INAUDIBLE]?

Tim Burton

Well I mean you know we, our, our inspiration for this were these old horror movies and all so you know, we wanted to make the characters look like that.  You know Johnny and I always talked about like old horror movie actors and, and all.  Er, so it was an opportunity to do that so you [INAUDIBLE].  You know so it’s for the flashbacks because that was the, you know you just tried to treat it like the story.  You know that was the happier time in his life so, you know it’s a bit more lurid the colour, you know sort of the opposite of flashbacks which usually are more desaturated; we sort of inverted that because that seemed to be more appropriate to the telling of the story.  And then you know her fantasy we’d put a lot of colour into because that’s her fantasy of a wonderful wife.  And, and so, you know you just try to use colour as a, as an emotional character and, and that’s why we made those, those choices.

Woman

[INAUDIBLE]

Man
Okay, final question then. 

Man

Er Mr Burton, er [INAUDIBLE] obviously er [INAUDIBLE].  How was the experience?

Tim Burton

Well you know the story was already do… I mean that, one of the reasons I…

Man

Yeah.

Tim Burton

…did this.

Man

Okay.

Tim Burton

But I think Danny would appreciate this story cos you know Sondheim, when I first, we first talked to him he said er, he wrote the score like a Bernard Hermann score which it, it was interesting when we recorded the, the orchestra and you don’t hear the vocals, it’s really like a great old-fashioned movie score.   So, you know, it had the same kinda strength that Danny you know I usually get with working with Danny.  But er you know, there’s such a wealth of, of music and themes in the, you know that Sondheim wrote that you, you know er it was all there right from the very beginning.

Man

Okay ladies and gentlemen, sorry we’re gonna have to…

Tim Burton

Okay.

Man
…call a halt [INAUDIBLE].

Tim Burton

All right.  See you guys.  Thanks.

Johnny Depp

Thanks everybody.