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Inside The Actors Studio: Johnny Depp (TV)
R1 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Chrisana Love (23rd November 2007). |
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The Show
 As funny as you would hope, as charming as you would expect and also refreshingly self effacing and humble (not one to normally gush about actors, I think I may leave it at that before I vomit all over myself). Depp really comes across well in this 50 minute interview. With James Lipton's unsurprising introduction informing us Depp's arrival started a near riot in the streets outside the studio, the arrival of the (quite nervous looking) Depp had the audience of film students in near hysterics (or as near as I've seen in this series). Confessing to a tattoo of his mother's name (Betty Sue) and speaking about his partner and child ("being in France and in love..." begins Lipton, "equals baby" finishes Depp) and his statement that "family is the most important thing" may explain this unaffected attitude, as might the fact he left the U.S to live in France many years ago. There is also the surprising admission that he does not watch dailies (the on set screenings of scenes shot that day) and the claim "I haven't seen a frame" of many of his finished films. Even though his odd connections and inspirations for many of his roles are well publicized, it was still surprising to hear many of them. Talking of his role as "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), he admits to basing him on a newborn baby and a childhood dog. In "Ed Wood" (1994), in the absence of any real footage of "Ed being Ed", his inspirations for this role (which drew some big laughs from the audience) were the "blind optimism" of Ronald Reagen, the enthusiasm of the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), and Casey Kasem. Another typically eccentric (yet dead on) take on the Ichibod Crane role in "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), he decided to play him as "part teenage girl, part Angela Lansbury". Admitting he was convinced Paramount would fire him if they found out he was playing the lead role in an expensive motion picture as a "pre-pubescent young lady". The freedom to experiment may come from his relationship with Burton: "with Tim it just feels like home. When you arrive back home. Comfort. Trust" Another interesting bit of trivia: "In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998), the role was offered to Depp by Hunter S. Thompson himself, which led Depp's agent to pitch the script to Terry Gilliam. Depp shacked up in Thompson's basement ("we called it the dungeon") for two months and Thompson even shaved Depp's head with a mining light attached to his forehead. When we get to the students questions, this is where Depp starts to fumble. He rambles almost incoherently when answering one question, and doesn't quite know how to answer another (an intelligent query as to whether he would ever play a woman, based on his numerous roles as cross dressers and transvestites). Although the highlight would have to be the pointed question: "What attracts you to odd hats?"
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 this full screen transfer is a fairly average effort, shot on TV cameras the image is sharp for the most part. Skin tones are natural and colors are nice and vibrant. Overall there isn't much else to say about it other than some minor compression artefacts pop up.
Audio
A single Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is included, considering this is an interview series there's no need for a 5.1 track, the show is 100% dialogue focused and the stereo track does an admirable job presenting it clean and free of any distortion. The show does not include any optional subtitles.
Extras
Shout! Factory has included only a collection of start-up bonus trailers for "Fired!" (2:19), "Inside the Actor's Studio: Icons" (0:55) and "Inside the Actor's Studio: Dave Chappelle" (1:02).
Packaging
This disc is packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-cover.
Overall
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