US – Friday, July 30

The gangster of Hollywood

‘Public Enemies’ star Johnny Depp does celebrity on his own terms

 Johnny Depp doesn’t know what time it is. Though he technically calls an adorable village in France home and owns an island in the Caribbean, the mercurial actor spends so much time working that his internal clock is all out of whack.

“I’ve been on location for so long that I don’t know what time zone I’m in. I could be in Puerto Rico at the moment,” he says before adding with a thoughtful grin, “I still sort of am.”

Depp has made a career out of embodying larger-than-life characters, making oddballs relatable.

In his latest film, “Public Enemies,” Depp takes on the iconic role of outlaw John Dillinger, to whom he could easily relate.

“Dillinger was handed the ball and he just ran with it, which isn’t any different than what happened to me a very long time ago,” Depp explains. “You’re handed the ball, and you go as far as you can go until somebody says, ‘Alright, kid — you’re done. Get off the ride.’”

But that won’t happen to Depp for a while. He’ll soon play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s take on “Alice in Wonderland.”

“When they hear Tim give me direction or we’re talking about the character on the set, people are baffled, completely befuddled,” says Depp of his working relationship with Burton.

There’s also talk about a fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film. The success he’s enjoyed has been immense — there is that private island, after all — but it has its drawbacks. For instance, he can’t exactly go wherever he wants without TMZ stalking him. But Depp accepts the necessity of it.

“I suppose the alternative is the real drag, that if there’s no attention then the job goes away,” he says reflectively.

Still, there must be some things he’d like to do that he can’t at his level of celebrity.

“I’d walk through Disneyland with my kids. I’d go on every ride,” he admits. “Daddy walks through Disneyland with them now, things get weird.”