Why Johnny Depp Refuses to Watch His Own Movies

You see the kids bugging you, he puts his hands on you, you pick up the nearest rock or whatever you can get your hands on and you lay him out.

So you consider yourself lucky?

Very lucky, yeah.

But you have to have talent to meet the luck, right?

Somebody hands you the ball and you run.

So ambition was a dirty word to me because it felt like you were working for some gain or material—

He's widely regarded as one of the world's biggest film stars. He rose to prominence in his role in a 1980s TV series 21 Jump Street, where he quickly became a teen idol. He was listed in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-paid actor, earning over $75 million. He's Johnny Depp, and here's my take on his top 10 rules of success. Rule number 1 is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips. And you guys know the drill, if you hear something that Johnny says that really inspires you, please leave it in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Enjoy.

If, if we could celebrate every breath that we take, because nothing's a guarantee. If we could celebrate the breath and the exhale, which is being alive without, you know, "Oh, my car won't start." "Oh, geez, you know, the cat dropped dead." "Hey, you know, I think I need a lobotomy." You know, I mean, there are things that are very, very important in life that we we just— we don't think about, you know. And one of the most worrisome things that I went through for years is you freaked up, freaked out about your past. You're worried, you're scared to death of the future, and that's all you're thinking about. But the now doesn't exist, you know. And I think that's a grave mistake that we make.

The great— one of the greatest pieces of advice I've ever gotten in my life was from my mom, you know, when I was a little kid. There was a kid who was bugging me, you know, in school. And she said, "Okay, I'm going to tell you what to do." She said, "The kid's bugging you. He puts his hands on you. You pick up the nearest rock or whatever you can get your hands on and you lay him out." And I did. And I felt better. And it worked. For me, that was a great lesson because someone had invaded my space, invaded my being, and was doing something against me that I didn't want to be done. So I took control of the situation and I ran with it. And many years later, after being turned into a product, you know, by a very huge corporation that had their hands all over me, and I couldn't escape it, you know. I promised myself that I would continue to move forward and do my best not to compromise in any way whatsoever, you know. Not allow anyone to put their hands on me and affect me in that way. So that's the best advice I think I could give, is just to keep moving forward and don't give a shit what anybody thinks, you know. Just keep moving forward and do what you have to do for you.

Paul Newman told me that any successful person in any field who, in discussing their career, doesn't use the word luck is a liar.

Oh yeah, he's absolutely right.

Yeah, so you consider yourself lucky?

Very lucky.

Yeah, but you have to have talent to meet the luck, right?

Somebody hands you the ball and you run, you know. I mean, and if you get hit, you get hit, or maybe you make it through, you never know. But I mean, I just know that somebody handed me the ball at a certain point and I was hungry enough to keep running, and I'm still running. I maintain a hunger, but not an ambition. You know, I'm very happy to explore all possibilities of a character and really, you know, dive in to the role. I mean, to the point of where, you know, Disney wanted to fire me.

They wanted to fire you from Pirates?

Yeah.

Because?

They couldn't understand what I was doing. They didn't understand the character. They actually were contemplating Subtitling the film, you know.

And you went to play music when you quit school. You didn't go to become an actor. Well, I'd already— I was already— I started playing the guitar at the age of 12. I felt a passion for it that, uh, yeah, it was the first real passion that I had. And I can safely say, because I feel—

and I felt then—

that the word ambition has become dirty, you know? Yeah, because ambition somehow implies that there is a— I know, I know, I know.

Cry.

I'll probably be crying in about 10 minutes. So ambition was a dirty word to me because it felt like you were working for some gain or material or some status. So I literally don't remember going through puberty because I locked myself in a room at the age of 12, 12, 13, and just played the guitar, learned things off records, and taught myself how to play. And it was my life, um, and it was the only solace, it was the only sanctuary, it was the only security, it was the It was my first love.

At the end of our session yesterday, you said, "Thank you to Scott for reviving my career." And I don't know if that's in jest, because I've never had the impression that you're desperate for box office, but that you choose—

I'm gagging for it.

It's been the thrust of my interests since day one, when I was about 19. Yeah, that's all I care about. 20 years of failures will do that to you.

But on, on a different level, uh, why do you say that and how do you feel when you choose a role that ends up satisfying you, that this one clearly did?

Well, you know, for me, with every character that you play, you know, as, as long as you've reached that, you've arrived at that place where you you believe is the right place to be for the character. And if you feel that you've done service to the director, to yourself, to the author, then to me, that's a success. Box office is kind of, you know, that's something else. That's certainly none of my business, you know what I mean? Once I'm wrapped on a film, it's just to say goodbye to the character and then move forward.

How ironic is it that, you know, you—

as I said, you know, you were pumping gas.

I was pumping gas, most definitely, and printing t-shirts and selling ink pens. And, you know, I mean, every—

any—

anything and everything.

Yeah.

And then the fact that you have a 20-year career of failures and then you do a pirate movie and that buys you an island is pretty— I mean, the irony of that is pretty—

Do you think about the times when things weren't so good, a lot.

Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. But I, you know, there was a guy who I worked with many years ago, and we were talking about success and money and all that stuff, and he told me this one thing. He said, you know, money doesn't change anybody, money reveals them, you know. Same thing with success. And I believe that, you know, wholeheartedly. I I think I've been revealed. I don't think I haven't changed. I'm still exactly the guy that used to pump gas, you know. I'm still the guy that was a mechanic for a minute, you know. I'm still exactly— I just happen to have a weird, weirder job at the moment.

When I was approaching the character of Willy Wonka, you know, we all grew up with the Gene Wilder version, and it's, and it's fantastic. I mean, yeah, it's fantastic. But, you know, I mean, why go in that direction? It's been done. Why repeat? Why? So I found my own version, and my version was— I kept thinking of children's television hosts that scared me. Because, yeah, they were unpredictable, you know, and they had that very— everything was okay, and it wasn't okay. But so I used these children's television host sort of ideas, and then the other ingredient that I thought was really what found the character, I thought of George W. Bush if he were incredibly stoned, but like not just uncomfortably stoned, past what could have been the uncomfortable paranoia stage. Where? He just sort of doesn't know what he's saying. Okay, Mad Hatter. Who was your— how did Mad Hatter— um, the, the, the, the Mad Hatter was basically, um, uh, a kind of a— yeah. this is real weird. So my kids had a tutor. We were on the road, you know, I'm working and stuff like that. So they had this tutor, her name was Catherine, and she was one of those English people, very proper. But Catherine would talk to you, she had a little bit of a thing in her voice, and So I sponged her up as much as I could because what I loved about her was she would sort of talk to you like this, you know, and really it's one of those people who like, you know, it's not that they avert their eyes, they actually close their eyes when they're looking at you.

Right?

You guys have felt that before. It's weird. So, so I used Catherine because when she closed her eyes and she's looking at you, I mean, every little very, very important. I had to see that. I had to see that. I love it. I love it. That poor thing, she'll find this out tomorrow and probably there'll be a lawsuit.

There were other things that I probably should have done. Not from my perspective, I mean, from my point of view, I did the right things. Every, every film that I've done, I'm happy that I, that I made that choice. I don't have any regrets whatsoever. But I mean, in terms of, uh, sustaining, um, box office you know, bankability, I should have done a few other things that I didn't do, but I'm glad I didn't do them. I mean, because it wouldn't have been you. Yeah, it would have been for the wrong reasons. I did everything that I've been lucky enough to do, I did for the right reasons. You have to realize that whatever your day is, whatever you're doing, whatever your job is, whatever people think of you or project you to be, none of it matters really until you look around and see people who, who are in need. And I think probably the best benefit of my job is to, to help to make people smile who otherwise wouldn't or couldn't have a smile on their face. So, yeah, that's my deal. I saw Crazy Heart and I saw Jeff Bridges, who is obviously a brilliant, brilliant actor and is capable of so much. But what I saw in Jeff Bridges was so brave and so— and the only way that one can arrive at that arena is because you have a director who's brave and is open to, like I said, the idea of chance. And Scott and I, I mean, talked about working together. I was desperate to work with the guy. And man, beyond anything I've ever experience. I've just never— I've never experienced a director like this. He doesn't allow the audience to, to feel the camera, to notice the camera. He makes the camera breathe as if it's another person. You never really notice. It's not like these fancy kind of shots. I mean, he, he would do huge, huge scenes with a lot of people in a oner, and it was so freeing and so magnificent to play that because You have this extended period of time where it's almost like, you know, you've got 7 minutes of a play almost. It blew me away. I'm thinking, this is this guy's third film, man. It's his third film and he's a master. Like, he's a master. He really is, man. And if phone books still existed, I would shoot— I would film the phone book with the mount.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I made this video because Holistic Nagev asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also really love to know what did Johnny say that really left a mark on you? What was the biggest lesson that you took from this that you will immediately apply to your life or business? Leave it in the comments. I'm gonna join in the discussion. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Jennifer Price. Jennifer, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book and posting it on Facebook. I really, really, really appreciate it. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

This is either madness Oh, brilliant.

It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide.

There's crazy, there's insanity, there's delirium, there's— I mean, but it's only— to me, it's only madness, maybe a touch of insanity, that one can access. And to be aware of it growing up doesn't— it didn't feel particularly great. But I think it's led me somehow to where I am today. I'm not saying that I'm completely mad. Although I've been accused of that many times over the years, but I don't know.

I hope that people will, if they do have that tendency, that they can find a way to embrace it and use it to their—

not advantage, let's say, in a—

even in a creative sense.

I mean, use it in a creative sense if you can, but use that to find your way to be able to stand on solid ground.

You've never seen any of your films ever? I tried to see one once because the director asked me to, and my wife Amber can attest to this because her elbow was very busy that night. I was sitting next to her Director's wife is here, director's here. I fell asleep 35 times and I got this.

Maybe.

Wake up. But part of the reason is being in the moment when you're acting and after.

I mean, you don't want to—

I feel the experience. I'm happy with the process is what I'm interested in, the process of creating. The process of exploring, the process of breaking formula, the process of dropping the bottom out of a scene because it— because people can get stale. Yeah. And I feel that's the wrong place to be. So I'm interested and always have been interested in trying to avoid what was expected. And Edward Scissorhands was certainly the first real opportunity for me to feel like I was standing on firm ground. Cry-Baby was important. Edward Scissorhands was the first time that I felt, okay, I'm solid. Yeah, we'll get there. We're gonna start hacking through, you know, paving my way.

Let's show them a clip here, Johnny. Public Enemies opens July 1st, and what are we going to see?

Um, I don't know.

Oh, that's right. What are we going to see here?

I have no idea.

Uh, let's take a look at a clip here, uh, Mr. Depp. What are we going to see? The film opens April 18th. You know what we're looking at here?

Uh, this is something from the film Transcendent.

What is the clip here, Johnny?

I have no idea.

No, for God's sake. This is beautiful. This looks like a, like an old-fashioned, I don't know, sloop. Is it a sloop or something? Is it a yacht? Well, I don't know what that is.

I really don't know.

It's just a boat.

You look, um, like you know what you're doing on a horse.

Yeah, I don't. I, uh, that was probably about 2.5 seconds before everything went very sideways. There's two things that I have a problem with. One is I never read screen direction, which is the stuff that tells you what to do.

How can that be possible?

Well, I'd rather not know what they want me to do.

You purchased an island?

I did, in fact, yeah.

Wow, I didn't know you could do that.

Neither did I.

Have you seen the movie?

Seen the movie?

No, I've not. I'm sorry, you've not seen the movie?

Not just yet.

And you're too busy to see it, probably?

Uh, you know, in a way, you know, once, once my job is done on the film, it's really none of my business.

We're talking about something else, Johnny. Settle down here, for God's sakes. Can you keep your mind on the movie? Every time I turn around, uh, but it's, it's Uh, God, it's a lot of fun. And, um, I'm sorry.

That's all right. Pardon.

Now, aren't you a little curious about how the work looks that you're doing?

No.

This is irresponsible of me, but nice going.

Thanks very much.