Entertainment Weekly celebrates the release of Alice in Wonderland by putting Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter on the cover of the March 5th issue, with the headline “Johnny Depp Goes Mad! From the Mad Hatter to Edward Scissorhands–Depp & Director Tim Burton on Their Greatest Creations.” Inside the issue is a nine-page feature by Josh Rottenberg that includes a lengthy interview with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, looking back on their seven film collaborations. A special bonus for Depp and Burton fans–this issue includes three additional cover shots from past films, and you don’t have to buy four separate copies to get all the pictures. Bravo! The four cover characters are THE MAD HATTER, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, and WILLY WONKA. Here’s a section of the interview:

EW: When you did Pirates of the Caribbean, the executives at Disney famously panicked at first over how you were playing Jack Sparrow. Was there any concern this time about portraying the Mad Hatter as a sort of pale-skinned, green-eyed, orange-haired freak?

JOHNNY DEPP: When we first went in to do the camera tests, I was thinking, “They’re going to lose their minds.” But Tim fully supported it. It was a couple of solid hours in the makeup chair every day, but it really helped. You start to understand who the guy is through all that weird kind of Carrot Top Kabuki.

TIM BURTON: From Edward Scissorhands on, Johnny has always wanted to cover himself up and hide. [Laughs] I get it.

JOHNNY DEPP: I still do. Absolutely.

TIM BURTON: It’s fascinating to see Johnny work up to a character, though. In the past, we’ve done some studio read-throughs of the script and the executives will come up to me afterward, like, [in a nervous whisper] “He’s not going to do that in the movie, is he? [. . .] It’s funny, because the thing that worries people most is often the thing that makes it work.

EW: And to prove it, there are now people standing out on Hollywood Boulevard dressed as Jack Sparrow.

JOHNNY DEPP: I was driving down Hollywood Boulevard one day and stopped at a light, looked to my left, and saw Willy Wonka having a conversation with Jack Sparrow. It was so cool, man.

The Zone thanks Emma for the Entertainment Weekly article and FANtasticJD for the cover scans. You can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum.