In Neverland, J.M. Barrie (Depp) falls for a widow (Winslet) with four young children. Photo by: INTERFOTO USA / SIPA |
As, no doubt, were the antics that made headlines in the '80s and '90s – partying all night at his L.A. club Viper Room and dating a string of beauties (Sherilyn Fenn, Winona Ryder, Kate Moss). But for the kid from Owensboro, Ky., some trademark goofing off is just a product of his inner child. Or adolescent. Among his buddies, says his
Pirates costar Orlando Bloom, Depp is well-known for a sophomoric sense of humor evident as early as
Gilbert Grape, when "Johnny was hell-bent on trying to give [19-year-old costar Leonardo DiCaprio] disgusting things to smell so he would throw up," recalls Hallström with a laugh. A decade later, Depp still had a taste for mischief on the London set of
Neverland. During one formal dinner scene calling for the kids to giggle nervously, he set the mood with a whoopee cushion. "Johnny was wonderful with the children," says Weinstein, "playing pranks, being funny with them and relaxing them. And, yes, he is a big believer in the fart machine."
Still, it was less his inner child than his inner adult that helped him bring "magic" and a "spirit of family" to the set, says Weinstein. As Depp tells it, both those feelings came to life the moment he saw Paradis at Hôtel Costes in Paris in 1998. "[She] walked towards me, directly at me, and just said 'Hi.' And then I just knew, you know, it's over with," he told Oprah. Meeting her, he said, "changed [my life] completely." Beginning with the fact that he now lives with his family in a medieval-style place in L.A. and frequently travels to his French country villa as well as a small house on the secluded Caribbean island he bought for about $3 million this summer – with a minimum of 30 suitcases. "We travel with so much stuff," Paradis, a regular face in Chanel ads, told French
Elle magazine in March, "so [the children] can have the same visual and sensory references no matter where they are: Jack's folding bed . . . toys and even the cloth which covers the baby's changing table."
