Director John Waters shared that Johnny Depp “hated” his teen idol phase while they were filming Cry-Baby.
The legendary writer-director discussed Depp during an interview with IndieWire about the new 4K Ultra HD reissue of Cry-Baby, which will be released on Friday.
Cry-Baby premiered in 1990, around the time Depp’s stint on the hit Fox series 21 Jump Street was ending. Depp played undercover police Officer Tom Hanson on 21 Jump Street for four seasons, from 1987 to 1990.
Despite the end of his time on the series, the teen idol frenzy around Depp did not fade on the set of Cry-Baby, Waters said.
“Johnny Depp was at the height of his career on 21 Jump Street. He was on the cover of every teen magazine. He was Justin Bieber… and he hated it,” Waters told IndieWire. “I always said to him, ‘Why do you hate it? That’s the point, to get so famous that you can never leave the house!’ And he couldn’t then. He could not go out.”
Waters recalled that filming Cry-Baby outdoors was chaotic due to Depp’s popularity.
“When we were shooting the movie outside, hundreds of girls would be running and falling backward and crying,” Waters told IndieWire. “They tried to buy his sewage underneath his trailer from the Teamsters!”
Waters noted that Depp eventually found humor in the craziness surrounding him. Depp’s career continued to soar after Cry-Baby, with his iconic role in Tim Burton’s classic fantasy film Edward Scissorhands released about seven months later.
Set in the 1950s, John Waters’ Cry-Baby stars Johnny Depp as the rebellious Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker. Although Depp’s character “sings” in the film, the voice actually belongs to rockabilly musician James Intveld.
While it’s common for an actor’s singing voice to be replaced by a real singer in a film—like Rami Malek using Freddie Mercury’s vocals for Bohemian Rhapsody—Waters told IndieWire that “there was talk” of letting Johnny sing in Cry-Baby, but they ultimately hired Intveld for the vocals.
“Johnny can sing. It’s just that we weren’t sure of that. And maybe I made the wrong decision there,” Waters told IndieWire. “But I didn’t as far as James Intveld, who I think is one of the… Well, he is Cry-Baby in real life! He still is, in a way. I think he’s an excellent, amazing singer. He sang in A Dirty Shame, he sang in Cry-Baby… So he was just absolutely amazing. Every time I’m with him, I can barely look at him, I’m so impressed.”
Cry-Baby also stars Ricki Lake, who originated the classic role of Tracey Turnblad in Waters’ original movie version of Hairspray in 1988.
Depp reprised his role of Tom Hanson in a cameo in the 2012 movie version of 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Most recently, he starred in the French historical drama Jeanne du Barry.
