In early 2002, the sexy beast known as Johnny Depp sat down with James Lipton, host of Bravo’s Inside the Actor’s Studio, to provide an audience of film students, as well as the viewing public, a window into his enigmatic persona. After nearly six years, this naturally multifarious Q&A session has finally made its way to DVD.
After Lipton’s dramatic introduction, a mustachioed Depp, complete with soul patch and short goatee, saunters onto the stage and basks for a moment in the slew of lustful whistles and screams from various audience members. He nervously runs his hands through his long, stringy hair as he faces the crowd. With the catcalls continuing, Depp sits down and lights a hand-rolled cigarette to alleviate his childlike nervousness.
Lipton begins his questioning in the typical paint-by-numbers fashion by starting out with Depp’s childhood and chronologically moving through his teenage years as a musician and high school dropout to adulthood as an actor. Depp says his first acting job was selling pens over the phone as a means to support his band, which he never names but of which he does provide photos (think New Kids on the Block with big hair).
It’s here where Lipton begins his praise and adoration of Depp by attributing the largest audience turnout in eight years to Depp’s wide range of acting ability, which Deep sheepishly and modestly dismisses as “a misspelling,” referring to an error as to who the show’s guest is to be for the evening.
The remainder of the program plays out more or less as a tutorial for the aspiring actor or actress. Lipton, in clear-cut segments, each focusing on one of Depp’s film roles, probes Depp through a series of questions that, on the surface, seem distinct, but are ultimately asking the universal question: how Depp fleshes out each character he portrays. With most other actors or actresses, these questions would come across as mundane, but Depp’s unique interpretation of the already eclectic characters he portrays, as well as the amusing anecdotes he includes in his responses, make the questions work. In regard to portraying Hunter S. Thompson, Depp said he had to “...figure out a way to steal his soul,” which he achieved by living in Thompson’s basement for roughly two months.
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