Johnny Depp’s message to his younger self about his early Hollywood days: “Save Yourself”
Looking back on his early career, Johnny Depp says he’d tell his younger self something fans probably aren’t expecting.
Asked what he’d tell himself on day one of his first movie set, Johnny Depp didn’t go soft. Promoting his turn as Scrooge, he told Entertainment Tonight he’d have warned young Johnny to turn around and leave acting behind.
“Get out of here. Save yourself. Get out. Just walk away and do something else. In fact, I did say that to myself, but I didn’t listen.”
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Depp said that feeling reaches back to his 1984 debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street, where he played Glen Lantz — the boyfriend famously yanked into a bed by Freddy Krueger. He’d arrived as a musician who didn’t know his marks or key lights, planned to go back to music, and only auditioned after Nicolas Cage pushed him to try; even the minimum pay looked like a windfall. He stuck around because the oddball roles kept him interested, but he’s said he still isn’t sure he considers himself an “actor. ”
Advice on set
Depp’s keep-it- light philosophy also filtered to the younger cast of Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol. At the film ’s London premiere, real-life siblings Eva and Zac Wishart — who play Cratchit kids Martha and Peter — said he told them there’s no such thing as a “serious actor,” calling the phrase an oxymoron.
The Dickens update leans into the heightened style Depp’s known for, with a stacked supporting cast around his Scrooge:
- Ian McKellen — Jacob Marley
- Rupert Grint — Bob Cratchit
- Eva Wishart — Martha Cratchit
- Zac Wishart — Peter Cratchit
- Johnny Depp — Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol opens in theaters November 13.