Thursday, February 27, 1997
In the upcoming film ‘Donnie Brasco’ Johnny Depp stars as an
undercover FBI agent. With Depp’s talent, plus help from co-star Al
Pacino and the determination of director Mike Newell, the next step
in the evolution of the Mafia movie has arrived.
By Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
After starring in a hit television series and several
surprisingly successful, rather eccentric films, an actor should
have a good hold on the ins and outs of the entertainment
industry.
Johnny Depp, however, freely admits that he doesn’t have a clue.
After running with the popular ’80s television series "21
Jumpstreet," and then easing into films with a grace that current
television stars must envy, Depp is a three-time Golden Globe Best
Actor nominee who has been compared to screen legend James
Dean.
Yet he insists that he does not plot out his career. As for the
James Dean comparison, the 33-year-old actor thinks of it as a
narrowly escaped obstacle, not a compliment.
"Martin (Landau, Depp’s co-star in the critically acclaimed "Ed
Wood") is a great man and a dear friend, but I was shocked when he
said that I was like James Dean," Depp says. "I was very, very
shocked. I thought it was very sweet, but I do believe initially,
when one’s career is starting and you are a certain type, they
stick you with a label and you spend the next three years trying to
fight it. I got very lucky that I didn’t get stuck with that label
for too long. And now I’m too old to be compared to him
anymore."
Depp is the perfect age, however, to star with Al Pacino in the
upcoming mobster movie "Donnie Brasco." In the movie, based on the
true story of FBI agent Joe Pistone, Depp plays an undercover FBI
agent vying to bust the mob, going by the alias of Donnie
Brasco.
Dressed in a wrinkled white shirt partially hidden beneath a
navy sports coat, and with a recently shaved head, Depp is
exhausted from editing "The Brave," his directorial debut. But he
makes time from his schedule to explain why he did "Donnie Brasco,"
and though it looks like the film was a wise step in the furthering
of his career, he swears that he picked the movie for entirely
different reasons.
"I don’t ever think about films in terms of the career and
what’s expected of one’s career path," Depp says. "I don’t and I
can’t begin to try and guess what ‘Donnie Brasco’ will do at the
box office or how commercial it is or if it’s a big movie or not.
It just felt like the right thing. It felt like a really
interesting character, with some very good people, Al Pacino
obviously being one of them. Also Mike Newell was a very
interesting choice for director.
"It was just something I couldn’t get away from. There was
always that thing in the back of my head saying, ‘Well, this is
something you’ve never never tackled before. This is a type of guy,
a very real guy, that you’ve never attempted before.’ So that was
very attractive."
While this genre is new territory for Depp, Pacino is a veteran.
A four-time Academy Award winner and an eight-time nominee, Pacino
has played an integral part in the evolution of the American mob
movie. But through all his experiences with Mafia films, including
"The Godfather" trilogy, "Serpico" and "Scarface," Pacino had never
encountered a mafioso role quite like his character of Lefty in
"Donnie Brasco."
"I think (Paul) Attanasio (who last wrote the Academy
Award-winning "Quiz Show") wrote a script and a story that had in
it something appealing to me. You choose your scripts for different
reasons. For me, I’ve been involved in this genre before, but I saw
something that was different in the character. Lefty was interested
in other things than most of the mob characters I’ve played. Also I
enjoyed the idea of Johnny Depp, working with him, and Mike Newell,
who is from another world in terms of the environment of this film.
It had in it all these aspects so I thought I’d take a try for
it."
But Pacino did not accept the role right away. In fact the
script floated by him years earlier and he had passed it up long
before it came back to him.
"This script has been around for a while," Pacino says. "When
you enter this genre, you’re having to say, ‘This has been done,
we’ve been around this territory, I’ve been around this territory
myself. So why would I wanna embark on this kind of thing again?’
It took some time. I remember passing it over at one point years
ago, but it had different directors attached to it. I think
(producer) Mark Johnson kept it alive, and what happened is as time
went on, the relevance of the piece became a little more distanced.
The fact that it was in 1979, I sort of appreciated that aspect and
that made it a little more interesting for me. So that’s why I did
it."
After Pacino signed on, the filmmakers needed to find an actor
to play Donnie Brasco, and that actor had to possess several
distinct qualities. He needed to hold his own on screen with an
acting powerhouse like Pacino, he needed to make an inactive role
interesting, and he needed to be the right age. Despite the
limiting criteria, "Brasco" director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings
and a Funeral," "Enchanted April") found his star in no time at
all.
"We wanted somebody who was Johnny’s age, and as soon as you
started to think, really only one name popped out, and it was him,"
Newell recalls. "He has this ability to stand still and absorb and
be very interesting while he is simply watching. He’s actually very
passive in the movie. He simply watches, and toward the end, he
suffers, but he’s very interesting doing it. He also, by the way,
has a fantastic track record in being a straight man to great older
actors. He was brilliant in ‘Ed Wood’ because he was so generous to
Martin Landau. He was the same with Marlon Brando in ‘Don Juan de
Marco.’ He’s able to do that  he works very well with older
people."
Depp’s relationship with Al Pacino is no exception. While Pacino
played a professional and Depp a protege on screen, their
relationship was not so conditional off screen. One might think
that the much-experienced Pacino would serve as a mentor for the
novice Depp, but in fact the two simply became friends.
"I think I’ve rarely enjoyed working with anyone as much as
Johnny," Pacino says. "We’ve become friends. What can I say? I
really truly found working with him a joy. He was fun to be with
all the time. He’s a very interesting person and he did make me
laugh all the time. That’s his nature. I don’t know how his image
is projected, but he’s really fun to be around."
But Depp claims he does not project any image. He does not even
bother with these manipulations of his career because, according to
Depp, it is impossible to manufacture any aspect of a film career.
Everything is left up to chance.
"It’s all a big crap shoot really," Depp says. "As far as trying
to make decisions based on what I need to do within that career
thing, I can’t do that because you never know what’s going to
happen. You never know. There were films that I did which I
thought, after they were done, ‘Why wouldn’t people want to go see
this? Why wouldn’t they?’ But they prefer big action things and
explosions and any formula thing."
Depp is not sorry that he has chosen such off-beat projects in
the past, despite a general audience preference for more
mainstream, formulaic films. If people will not want to see "Donnie
Brasco," Depp is not concerned because to him, being an actor is
just another job.
"No regrets whatsoever. No way. I’m very happy with where
everything is at right now. Everything is exactly where it needs to
be. If it all goes away tomorrow, I just get another job somewhere
doing something else."
FILM: "Donnie Brasco" opens this Friday.
Columbia/TriStar
Al Pacino (right) takes Donnie (Johnny Depp) under his wing in
"Donnie Brasco."Johnny Depp stars as FBI agent Joe Pistone, alias
Donnie Brasco, in "Donnie Brasco."
Columbia/TriStar