Johnny Depp says he would tell his younger self to walk away from acting entirely. The actor is currently promoting Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, which reaches theaters on November 13. Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the Victorian miser who treats Christmas cheer like a personal insult. Press tours rarely include regrets, yet one interview this week took an honest turn about how his career began, and sentiment was nowhere in sight.
As Depp prepares to haunt theaters as a Christmas-hating miser, one question about his first day on set had him pitching a surprise career exit.
Johnny Depp tells his younger self to walk away long before Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
Johnny Depp would tell his younger self to quit acting. An interviewer asked what he would say on his first movie set. Few actors answer that by recommending a career change. Hollywood’s favorite pirate was not feeling nostalgic.
“Get out of here. Save yourself. Get out. Just walk away and do something else,” Depp admitted to Entertainment Tonight.
He then added, “In fact, I did say that to myself, but I didn’t listen.”
Entertainment Tonight shared the clip where Depp explained why he felt that way, and the answer traces back to A Nightmare on Elm Street. In that 1984 debut, Depp played Glen Lantz, the boyfriend Freddy Krueger pulls into a bed. He arrived as a musician who knew nothing about marks or key lights and planned to return to music. Nicolas Cage urged him to audition, and Depp has said the minimum pay seemed like a fortune. Roles that intrigue him keep him acting, though he still doubts he counts as an actor.
While Depp would send his younger self running from acting, the young Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol cast received sillier advice.
Johnny Depp gives the Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol cast a lesson in not being serious
Johnny Depp told his co-stars that a serious actor does not exist, since the phrase is an oxymoron. Real-life siblings Eva and Zac Wishart, who play Martha and Peter Cratchit in Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, shared the advice with Deadline at the London premiere. The logic is hard to argue with, since the profession pays people to pretend to be somebody else. No drama school brochure opens with that lesson.
The idea is old news for Depp, who questioned the concept of a serious actor in a 2001 interview. His roles since have favored exaggeration and unusual physicality, from Captain Jack Sparrow to Willy Wonka. Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol gives that approach a gothic setting, with Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley and Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit. Luckily for Ebenezer Scrooge, the younger Depp stayed put and kept the costumes coming.
What are your thoughts on Johnny Depp urging his younger self to quit? Let us know in the comments.
