Q: Which of your movies has been your children’s favorite?
JD: My children’s favorite…It’s funny, they’ve seen it but they have trouble watching it because, you know, it’s their dad. They make that connection. But Edward Scissorhands is by far my kiddies’ favorite.
Q: How so?
They just connect with the character. And also, they see something in their dad feeling that isolation, and that loneliness. He’s a tragic character. But I think it’s hard for them, they bawl! When they see that. Yeah…
Q: This is a serious question, about your happy dance at the end of the movie. Was this a personal thing?
JD: No! The happy dance was something that Tim had a very curious vision for. And then, I can futter around with the best of them!
Q: Did you use mirrors for that?
JD: No, I tend to avoid mirrors at all costs! But no, you had to treat that like a kind of a stunt.
Q: Johnny, you seem to be going through the entire 19th century body of fantasy literature—Sleepy Hollow, the J. M. Barrie not exactly Peter Pan movie, and now this…
JD: I’m hoping to do The Hashish Eater next!
Q: Well, what is your attraction to that body of literature as an actor?
JD: Oh, I just adore it. But even French literature. Baudelaire. When you read Baudelaire, or Poe, when you open those books, Flowers of Evil, if they were written today, you’d be absolutely stupified by the work.
You know, it was this incredible period, where the work is timeless, ageless. So yeah, I just love all those guys. It’s my deep passion, those great 19th century writers.
Q: What influence has the original Wonderland book had in your life?
JD: I have a thing for long necks, maybe that’s from Alice! No, even though you maybe can’t explain when the book or story came into your life, I do remember vaguely reading different versions at 5 years old. But the thing is, you always know the characters. Everyone knows the characters. And they’re very well defined characters for everyone, even if you haven’t read the book. You definitely know the characters, and reference them. And I find that fascinating.
For me, ironically I reread the stories a year before Tim contacted me. And what I took away were these strange little cryptic things that he’d thrown in there. And I was really intrigued by them, and became fascinated by them. Because they were asking questions that couldn’t be answered almost. And making statements that you couldn’t quite understand.
Like I’m investigating things that begin with the letter M, that took me through a whole stratosphere of possibilities. And then doing a little research, and discovering that the M is mercury. And then, why is a raven like a writing desk.
You know, those things just became so, so important to the character. And then you begin to realize, if I read the book again today, I would find a hundred other things that I missed the last time. So it’s constantly changing the book, you know?
Q: How is it going shooting your new movie The Tourist, with Angelina Jolie?
JD: It hasn’t started yet.
Q: How do you think it will go?
JD: I think it will be….swell!
Q: Okay, what lured you in?
JD: I liked the French version. And I thought it might be interesting to explore this character. But you never know what’s going to happen. I do suspect there may be a few paparazzi in Venice!
