by Paul Fischer

Johnny Depp tackles roles that few stars of his generation dare to deal with. In his latest film, Blow, Depp delivers another startling performance. Based upon the book, Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost it All by Bruce Porter, Blow is the story of George Jung, currently serving a 15 year sentence. This is the true story of Jung who worked for reputed drug kingpin Carlos Escobar, and is accused of single-handedly importing cocaine into the USA in the 1970's. Jung's rise and fall coincides with the switch from pot to cocaine as the drug of choice among the rich and famous. This interview was conducted in Los Angeles, March 2001.

CrankyCritic: Tell us about your meetings with the real George Jung...
Johnny Depp: I tried to steal as much of him as I possibly could. (Laughs) To sponge up as much of George as I could. He was very open with me about a lot of things. He was able to sort of spill his life to me in a very short period of time. We didn't really have all the time for like: How's the weather, how's life in prison treating you? It was more like: "Okay, we have two days, let's go.' He was very generous with his life. What I learned from him? (Pauses) He's a guy who's been rotting away in prison now for a number of years and he realizes his mistakes and I believe, he's paid his debt to society. Now, it would be nice to get him out of prison so he could try and pay his debt to his family, but he can't do it when he's bound and gagged. He's a heart-breaking guy. And a really smart guy.

CrankyCritic: Is there a certain responsibility playing a real person?
Johnny Depp: The responsibility I have as an actor is to really not think about how big the role is or what you're doing in terms of the whole film. My responsibility is to the character -- especially when you're dealing with a guy who, in fact, exists. A real guy. It certainly places a very intense kind of responsibility, because you want to do the best job you can for him. You want to do him justice. And you want him to be proud of it.

CrankyCritic: What attracted you to this movie?
Johnny Depp: I thought it was a really interesting angle on this type of film, on the drug genre. But really what was most attracted to me was; you know, it would be very easy to make a character you didn't like so much. The challenge was to make him human. I read all the material and I met George and it was very easy to see that - the great challenges are to present the facts in terms of George, is that he is a victim as much as anybody else. He's a product of where he came from, of what his parents had instilled in him. And also the thing that they call the American Dream, is to guzzle up as much as you possibly can and to take, take, take and to greed, greed, greed and glutton, glutton, glutton. That's how he ended up in prison.

CrankyCritic: Was it important to you that the film didn't judge?
Johnny Depp: Oh yeah. I mean, one of most interesting things about the story is that it doesn't judge, and it doesn't point the finger. Ultimately, we don't know who's wrong. We don't know why this is, we don't why people want to take drugs, really. So, it's important to let it just be one man's life. And to show the highest highs and the lowest lows and everything in between. Really, the thing which affects you is the reality. It's the heartbreak of what this guy has had to live.

CrankyCritic: Did you ever search as why people take drugs?
Johnny Depp: I remember in the 80's when there was the Just Say No, thing. War on drugs. I don't believe there really was a war on drugs. When prohibition happened, say there were a hundred bars in one town, as soon as they made alcohol illegal, the next week, there were two thousand bars in the same town. People who had never had a sip of alcohol, started guzzling Gin. That's just the nature of the beast. You tell someone don't do this, don't you dare do this, stay away from this, but you're not educating them on it, you're just saying, don't do this, it's forbidden. Bing! The first thing they do is run out and do it! That's human behavior. If I told you right now, "Don't think of a pink elephant" (laughs), it instantly comes into your head.

CrankyCritic: Didn't you have an experience with drugs?
Johnny Depp: Well drugs need to be understood and learned about. We need to be educated, we need to know what they are, and we need to know the hazards and the tragedies that can happen. But before that, shouldn't we find out why we want to take them. Shouldn't we know