Friday, January 04, 2008

Depp Says Burton Dragged Him Through Manure

Johnny Depp recently recalled one of the worst movie-making experiences in his life in an article. The 44-year-old actor remembered when he and collaborator Tim Burton were shooting the film Sleepy Hollow in 1999 and Burton made Depp hold onto a carriage while "curry"-fueled horses pulled him through the stinking mire.

Depp said, "One morning when we were filming 'Sleepy Hollow', Tim called me to the set, pointed to two large horses strapped to a carriage and said, 'This is what we are going to be doing today.' I was to hold on to the carriage behind the horses, being dragged along through the muck."

"The horses must have fed on curry. I've never smelt anything like that."

Being dragged through feces was just one of many traumatizing feats Depp had to pull working with Tim Burton. Johnny Depp faced another terrifying challenge when they worked on their latest film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The actor would have to sing extremely difficult songs while acting as the menacing title role. But Depp felt more confident after taking singing lessons from his partner, French singer Vanessa Paradis.

But Tim Burton insists Johnny "exceeded all expectations" with his vocal performance as the murderous London barber.

He said, "I always had every confidence in him and he needn't have worried at all.

"His performance was wonderful and exceeded all of my expectations. He is a great actor."


Johnny Depp and Tim Burton in West Hollywood, California, on December 5th, 2007.
(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file)

You can see Tim Burton and Johnny Depp discussing these issues with one another and so much more concerning their careers in AOL's Unscripted interview with the two collaborators.

There is also a version of this episode on YouTube.com, in three parts:

Part One

Part Two


Part Three

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Johnny definitely exceeded most of our expectations as his role in Sweeny Todd! His voice turned out to be perfect for the part and it was an excellent job by everyone. Such a good freaking movie!!

Anonymous said...

He has done amazing things under the direction of Mr. Burton . He has gone through Hades for that man and will continue to do so , I'm sure .

Many thanks to the Dynamic Duo for delivering such incredible works of cinematic art . I love you guys !