“I’ve been very lucky”–Johnny Depp reflects on his success
As Zoners in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, we thought it would be appropriate to look back at Johnny Depp’s interview with Larry King last month . . . specifically at the moments when Mr. King asked Johnny if he “enjoyed the fruits” of his success in films. We are all thankful for Johnny’s work and the joy it has brought us for the past twenty years, but here is what the man himself had to say about his acting career:
JOHNNY DEPP: I’ve been very, very lucky, you know, in a sense that, you know, I mean, how ironic is it that [. . .] —
LARRY KING: You were pumping gas.
JOHNNY DEPP: I was pumping gas, most definitely. Printing T-shirts and selling ink pens, and, you know, anything and everything. Yes. 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 — the irony of that is pretty good.
LARRY KING: Do you think about the times when things weren’t so good a lot?
JOHNNY DEPP: Yes, yes. Oh, yes. 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 [. . .] . Same thing with success.
And I believe that [. . .] wholeheartedly. 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 [. . .]. I just happen to have a weird — weirder job at the moment, you know?
Many thanks to Emma for the transcript of the Larry King interview; you can read more about Johnny’s interview with Larry King on the Zone’s News & Views forum.