LOS ANGELES?Over a week ago, Michael Jackson (who passed away last Thursday) was on Johnny Depp?s mind as the actor reflected on the crowds that follow popular celebrities like him and the pop superstar.

Despite being famous for many years now, Johnny seemed still genuinely bewildered about the throngs that he attracts in his public appearances, especially at the recent Chicago premiere and party of ?Public Enemies.?

?You don?t get used to that kind of thing,? he said in a press con at The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago the day after the premiere. ?You can?t. If you get used to that kind of thing, you?re insane. I understand what it?s about ? There are levels. There?s the Brad and Angelina thing and there?s the Michael Jackson thing. From my own perspective, that?s a lot to chew on. I don?t know how those people live or deal with it. I just don?t leave my house.?

The loss of privacy and the idea of always being gawked at and mobbed (which contributed to Michael becoming a recluse) are probably among the reasons that Johnny?s ?great fear? is not about his movies bombing at the box-office or his popularity sliding down. He?s worried that Lily Rose, 10, and Jack, 7, his kiddies (as he fondly calls them) with his girlfriend, French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis, might become actors.

When a journalist told Johnny that the size of the mob that swarmed around him the previous night was huge, the actor replied, ?So I?m not crazy. It was weird, right??

In Michael Mann?s crime-drama ?Public Enemies,? he plays John Dillinger, America?s legendary bank robber in the Depression era when the public had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the US into financial crisis?a story which may resonate with audiences everywhere today. Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard co-star in the film.

To this day, Johnny still appears to be shy, soft-spoken, who tends to look down and puts his fingers on his lips in a sort-of bashful gesture. He has gained a few becoming pounds that fill his cheeks, giving him a younger appearance.

You are obviously interested in the balance between being an individual and fitting into society. What do you tell your children about this?

My kiddies are infinitely smarter than I am. They?ve sussed it out before I did. I can?t leave my house so I can?t say that I can fit into society. At this point, why should I? But my kiddies go to school functions and whatever and I witness their life in school and with their friends. I learn so much by just watching them behave with their friends.

Your kids see you in different costumes and talk in different accents for your roles. Does that confuse them?

The one thing I can say is that my children are never bored (laughter). I?ve tried out many characters on them. They respond very well.

What questions do they ask?

They don?t. They?re oddly used to it. My daughter Lily Rose has just turned 10. She asks when I?m making a film, ?Can I see this movie?? Obviously, there are films like ?Libertine? that she can?t see until she?s about 60 (laughter). I don?t know when she can see ?Public Enemies.? She and Jack, my boy, watched ?Edward Scissorhands? and they were in tears.

Vanity Fair recently came out with a cover story on you and your own Caribbean island. How did you arrive at the decision to buy that island?

After doing ?Pirates 1? and ?Secret Window,? I went on vacation with my kiddies to escape. Somebody said, ?By the way, there?s an island for sale.? Truly it was and I said, ?Well, let?s go see it.? I looked at it. I walked on the island and went, ?This has to be. This must be.? So I immediately called my business manager and said, ?Please?? and that was it ? It can be perceived as a luxury and it certainly is. But it provides me with simplicity?it?s a place where no one?s looking at you and no one?s pointing a camera at you ...

You tend to be friends with rabble-rousers like Tim Burton and the late journalist Hunter Thompson. Are you also becoming a bit eccentric?

I think it has already happened (laughter).

Do you mind the parallel?

I don?t mind that sort of pathology. If a choice is to be gawked at constantly or to sit in a dark room, I prefer the dark room.

They?re touting Robert Pattinson as the next Johnny Depp. Do you know him?

I don?t. I wish him luck (laughter).

Most young actors say they want a career like yours. When you were starting, did you have a specific career plan?

I?ve just been very lucky. Things just arrived when they arrived. I didn?t ?sculpt? anything. I just did what I did (laughter). I was very lucky to have people like Tim Burton supporting me when studios like Paramount didn?t want to hire me for ?Sleepy Hollow.? Tim fought for me.

One aspect of Dillinger that may surprise people who watch this movie is that he was a romantic guy. He looks across a room, sees this woman and everything in his life changes. Has the same thing happened to you?

I understand it completely. I was standing in a hotel lobby in Paris about 11 years ago and I saw a back and a neck of a woman. She turned around, looked at me and I was done. That was Vanessa. Two kiddies and 11 years later, I do completely understand that.

How did working in locations where some of the incidents in Dillinger?s life actually took place help you as an actor?

It?s everything. That available stimulus?the idea that you can be in the exact spot where, for example, John Dillinger took his last breath and going to Crown Point jail and escaping from every single door that Dillinger actually went through, it was amazing.

Did you wear Dillinger?s actual pants in this movie? How did it feel?

Not in the movie but I did try them on afterward. Weird. After the filming, I went to the John Dillinger Museum and there were the pants that he wore when he was killed. I thought that I might as well try them on.

Did the pants fit you?

They did.

Dillinger said something like, ?I don?t drink much and I smoke very little. I guess my only bad habit is robbing banks.? What is your bad habit?

I don?t smoke anymore. It has been two and a half years. Isn?t that good? I must develop a bad habit. I?ll work on one.

Dillinger started his criminal life at the age of 12.

So did I.

What were you up to?

Criminal activities.

What were you like at 12?

The age of 12 was magical for me because it was the age when I discovered the guitar. I don?t remember anything afterward. I don?t remember puberty. I just locked myself in a room and played the guitar. I came out of the room when I was about 15.

So what was your criminal activity?

I went into a store and found a chord book by Mel Bay that showed pictures of fingers on a guitar neck. I slipped the book down my trousers and I walked out of the store. That?s how I learned to play the guitar.

What do you think will be your legacy?

I couldn?t dare approach that?the idea of my legacy in the world. I don?t see it. I?m just an actor. What I would like to do is leave something behind that my kids could be proud of and that?s really it. I don?t really want anything else.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.