Patrick Stoner: I was thinking. This FBI agent, Joe Pistone [working under the false name of Donnie Brasco], had to react like an actor for six years. Did you feel an affinity with him on that basis?Johnny Depp: Well, there was one big difference. I got to do another take if something went wrong. Joe didn't. If he hit a false note, it would be his last one.
Stoner: Still, there was also a strong similarity between what he did and what a good actor does. Did you develop a good relationship?
Depp: I did, but I didn't think I would like him at first. I mean, you read his book, and it sounds like it was written by a machine. I thought he would be this gung-ho cop, this cold, uptight kind of guy, but Joe's a very neat person. We became friends.
Stoner: This Pacino guy -- good actors make other actors better. Fair comment?
Depp: Very fair. If you're going to trade lines with a man on the level of Al Pacino, if you're going to improvise with the likes of him ... you want to be good. It was a pleasure to work those scenes with him.
Stoner: Do the two of you work the same way?
Depp: Not exactly the same way, but somewhat. He was very generous to me, giving me my space, just as I gave him his space.
Stoner: But you couldn't stray far from the script, right--not when it's a true story?
Depp: That's right. Well, for the most part. We could do SOME improvisation. It was an excellent script and gave us almost everything we needed, but we could take some dramatic license with the story, and there were moments that were our own.
Stoner: When those moments work, is it a visceral thrill?
Depp: I'm not sure that "thrill" is what I would call it. You're not thinking, "Hey, this is really working." It's more of a FEEL ...
Stoner: When you're "in the moment ..."
Depp: When you're "in the moment," it just all feels right and everything flows naturally. You don't think about it at the time, but you look back on it afterwards and take a lot of pleasure from THAT. I've never had more of that than I did in DONNIE BRASCO, working with Al.
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