In 1990, Edward Scissorhands was released in cinemas, one of the most representative films in Tim Burton’s filmography. The film starred Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, who later became the most iconic couple of the decade.
This film also marked the beginning of a decades-long collaboration between Depp and Burton, who have worked together on nine films.
This role launched Depp to international fame and made him one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood; that is why it is so important that he was selected to play Edward, a young man who was the product of an experiment conducted by a scientist, who put scissors instead of hands.
The surprising thing is that this character was intended for Tom Cruise, who rejected the role, even Michael Jackson competed for it, although Depp won in the end.
At the time, the performer was in a show about undercover cops as teenagers in a high school, and it was so bad, that what he wanted was to get a big role that would launch him to stardom.
While Johnny was filming in Canada and thinking about how to get him kicked off the show, which he was fed up with, he received the script for Edward Scissorhands and had no doubts that he wanted to star in the film.
It turns out that Johnny’s agent scheduled an interview with Burton, so Depp prepared hard to be able to impress the famous director because if he was chosen, it could change the course of his career forever.
The amazing thing was that he was competing with big names like Michael Jackson, who wanted the lead, but in the end, he didn’t get it as Depp was the chosen one.
“Would Tim have seen something in me that would have made him take a chance? I hoped so,” the American actor confessed in an interview.
He also related that he spent weeks glued to the phone waiting for Burton to call, and fortunately his agent called and informed him that he had gotten the part.
“Johnny… You’re Edward Scissorhands,” he told him.
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva
