Unlikely superstar: Johnny Depp

Is ‘Hamlet’ in his future?
So it is, he says, he approaches his work from an artistic, not financial, perspective. Box-office receipts “are kind of none of my business,” he says.

“You have to have some sort of legacy in truth and honesty that you leave to your kiddies and the people you love.”

Depp’s two children, with partner Vanessa Paradis, help the actor feel grounded and give him a stable launching point from which to explore his craft.

Being a parent, he says, has “given me real foundation, a real strong place to stand — in life, in work, in everything.”

As he looks ahead, Depp says he still hopes to one day take Marlon Brando’s advice, which he relays in a “Godfather” voice: “You ought to play Hamlet while you’re still young enough to do it.”

“The clock’s ticking on that,” Depp says. “There’s only a couple more years that I’ve got, otherwise I’ll be playing Hamlet’s father.”

If he takes on the role, it would be in a “tiny, tiny little theater,” he says.

Or not.

“As careers go, you’ve got your ups, you’ve got your downs, peaks and valleys and all that,” he says. “I may end up doing special appearances at shopping malls as Jack Sparrow. You never know.”

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