Johnny Depp on Becoming Trump: ‘He Speaks Real Weird’
Johnny Depp nailed the comedic nuances of Donald Trump – the accent, the facial expressions, the hair – in Funny or Die!’s faux-biopic Art of the Deal: The Movie in February. The actor looked back at the hilarious role during Friday’s episode of Ellen, admitting that he took on the project simply because it “sounded like fun.” “I figured I could sort of suss how he speaks,” he told Ellen DeGeneres. “It was difficult – he speaks real weird.”
Depp admitted having no clue he could pull off the role and hadn’t even attempted a Trump impression before being offered the gig. Prompted by the host, he offered a sample impersonation: “It won’t be sensational,” he warned, mimicking the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. “I have built a papier-mâché wall [for] Mexico. It costs $17.99. Fabulous!”
Elsewhere in their wide-ranging chat, Depp also talked about his hard-rock supergroup, Hollywood Vampires, and sketchy early days of performing music on-stage. “I started playing at 12, and at 13 I was playing bars,” he said, to audience laughter. DeGeneres pulled up a teenage photos of Depp and his “doppelgänger,” Justin Bieber. “He just looks like he might be a little cleaner than me – spiritually, I mean,” the actor joked. “No, he’s not,” the host cracked back. “I love Justin – he’s my friend. But he’s not.”