Rewind: 29-year-old Johnny Depp on being teen idol, turning 30, Nightmare on Elm Street & more -1993

Some actors will downplay their early career, their early films, or just kind of eliminate them from their bios. Now, you did, you started out in Nightmare on Elm Street. Yeah. And then years later, you did a cameo in one of the later films. Yeah, the final, or supposedly the final Nightmare on Elm Street, yeah. Do you have fond memories of that first experience? Yeah, I do have really fond memories. I mean, it was really exciting. And I felt really, I mean, it was really exciting. It was also, I was shocked at Wes Craven and Annette Benson, the casting director and the director, for taking such a chance on this guy who was totally green. I mean, I had no idea. I didn't know lights and marks, camera position. I was clueless. Now, you did your share of appearing, or you were featured on magazines like Tiger Beat and that type of thing. Did you ever enjoy any of that period, or did you want to distance yourself from that as soon as possible? The minute that that started happening, because the minute that started happening, I was scared to death because I thought, I see the death coming. I can see it coming. I could smell it. And I smell it now. Because I never, I didn't ever do any interviews with those things. It's a strange thing. What they do is they buy, somehow buy portions of interviews that you've done for newspapers or other magazines and print it and rewrite it. So, it becomes like this weird little fictional story. So, yeah, I was scared to death. So, I tried to fight it. Now, with this film, there's actually some very interesting scenes, and one where you find an original new way to mash a potato. When you do a scene like that, do you ever feel a difficult at all, that one particular scene? Unfortunately, I didn't feel silly at all. I felt really comfortable. It was just really a good time. I mean, it was an opportunity to kind of discover just different ways to go. I mean, we tried to not be obvious about things. Mashing a potato with a tennis racket is not something you see every day. Yeah, I mean, I didn't feel silly. I suppose I should have. Maybe I should now. Benny and June got some initial publicity because of the Woody Harrelson thing about him backing out. Did that cause you any concern at the time when that happened? No. Actually, it was kind of a brief thing. I mean, I had heard, yeah, he's involved, and then I heard, oh, he's not involved, and she's involved, and now she's not, and this and that. Then when they were talking about other people and stuff, and then Aidan and Mary Stewart became the topic of conversation, I was really excited, because I'm a big fan of both of them, so I was very excited. You do some impressive physical comedy in this, a lot of great mime. Oh, thanks. Now, how much work was that? That wasn't something that you could do spontaneously, so how much effort went into that? Well, I mean, a lot of the stuff, like the plates and the rolls and stuff, I worked with a guy named Dan Kamen, who basically is like this expert on silent films, and Chaplin and Keaton and stuff. And I watched a lot of Keaton. The flips and things like that was just kind of a, you know, just sort of try it, see if it works, you know, kind of thing, and it seemed to work. I mean, I'm not paralyzed, but the rolls, the rolls was really, that was intimidating. I was scared to do that, because, you know, it's such a famous Chaplin moment. Now, I've always been interested in the advice that actors get throughout their career, because people are always giving out advice. Sometimes it's good advice, sometimes it's bad advice, and hopefully the actor doesn't follow the bad advice. But what has been the worst advice anyone's ever given you about your career? Not necessarily advice that you followed, but advice that made you think, boy, that's really stupid. You know what? We'd be here all day. I mean, I've gotten some really bad advice. Possibly the best advice I ever got was, I met Gerard Depardieu one time in France, and he said, we were talking, you know, said hello, and we were talking for a little while, and then when he was about to leave, he just said, listen, in France, you know, all we say to each other is shit. We just say shit, and you can't say anything else. You can't respond at all. So he said shit, and then he walked away. And it was maybe the best thing that ever happened. And one final question. I've always been interested in the type of mementos that actors keep from their movies down the road, and that they, you know, keep on their mantle. What kind of things have you kept from your various films over the years? Like actual stuff? Yeah, like the scissors. The hands, the scissor hands, and the costume. I try to keep a bit of, you know, just pieces, you know, like wardrobe stuff and props. Benny and June, I get the cane, or one of the canes and one of the hats, and scissor hands, and crybaby jacket and stuff. Yeah, just because, I mean, if I croak, I could leave it for, you know, like my grandkids or whatever. All right, and one quick final question. You're going to be turning 30 pretty soon there. Do you feel that's going to be a... I'm rapidly approaching that. Is that a milestone that you're looking forward to, and putting your 20s behind you? I actually can't wait to turn 30. Yeah, I'm excited to turn 30, because, you know, 10 years in the 20s is too much. They should sort of somehow change that. Should turn 30 at 25, I think. Great. Less pressure. I'm going to use that one, right? All right, thanks very much there.