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Johnny Depp Pranks Unsuspecting Fans At Disneyland By Playing The Mad Hatter

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 01:16 PST, May 12, 2016

Johnny Depp is not only an exceptional actor, he also has a flamboyance about him that helped him earn singular roles in film like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands. Another role that propped Depp’s stature as an actor is as the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s children’s novel of the same name. Depp is set to reprise the role of the Mad Hatter in the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.

While reviews for Alice in Wonderland were mixed, the film was able to earn $1 billion worldwide, which provides the assurance that the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, will be highly successful as well.

As part of the promotion for Alice Through the Looking Glass, Johnny Depp went to Disneyland to pull a prank on the theme park’s visitors, the Independent reports. Dressed up as the Mad Hatter, Depp was live-streamed on an interactive billboard via a hidden camera, catching the attention of the theme park’s visitors, urging them to approach the screen to see what the Mad Hatter has in store for them in the film.

At first, the guests thought that what they’re seeing is the film’s trailer, at least until Johnny started talking to whoever was standing in front of the screen. At one time, Johnny greets a little girl with “Hi! May I fit you for a hat? You have a wonderful cranium.” When a woman started leaning against the display, Depp yelled, “Ouch!”

Soon enough, it dawned on the guests that what they’re looking at is a live-stream video of Johnny Depp himself and that the 52-year-old actor was directly interacting with them.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Underland and is forced to travel back in time to save Depp’s Mad Hatter. After finding out that Hatter is in trouble, she makes a deal with Time (Sacha Baron Cohen). Actors starring alongside Depp are Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, as well as the voices of Alan Rickman (in what is to be his final performance before his death in January), Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall.

At the film’s London premiere on Tuesday night, Johnny Depp told reporters how fun it was for him to play the role of the Mad Hatter again.

“It was a gas to get back together with the cast of before, and then the addition of Sacha Baron Cohen certainly upped the stakes quite a lot… It was great because this particular film…. has a bit more of the Hatter – there are a lot more layers of things going on,” Johnny Depp said.

During his interview for Loaded, Johnny Depp talked at length on why he was excited to work with Mia again.

“When you do a sequel and you revisit the character, it’s always nice – especially if it’s a character that you had some fun with,” Johnny Depp said. “Bringing that character back along with the wild characters and working with Mia again, who is the beating heart of the film, is rare and it works very well.”

“Having studied silent film like a maniac, back then people didn’t have the luxury of words. With Mia, it’s there and it rotates and changes and she’s special,” Depp added.

Even while maintaining that his mind is always busy, Johnny admitted that he wasn’t into method acting and that he was able to distance himself from the Mad Hatter when necessary.

“There are certain actors who do what they have to do and feel the need to stay in character and speak like the character at all time,” Depp shrugged.

[Image via Disney]

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