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The Goo Factor in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Did getting covered in slime affect Depp?s ability to concentrate on the character? ?You can still focus, but when they dump kind of a large amount of an incredibly foreign substance in your face, and you don't know what to expect until it hits you, you don't really rehearse that kind of thing. So there is a part of you going, 'God, I hope that this doesn't shoot up my nostrils or down my throat or you just inhale the stuff and drown in slime on film.' So that was little bit of a concern."

Depp?s In It for the Long Haul: From 21 Jump Street to John Waters? Cry Baby to numerous collaborations with filmmaker Tim Burton, Depp?s now at the point in his career where his hard work has been rewarded and directors no longer have to plead with studios to cast him in leading roles.

Talking about the current status of his career, Depp said, ?I can't lie and say that it's not nice to have to have a director fight tooth and nail to get you in his movie, when he did for a number of years like Tim [Burton] did. I don't know. I think that I have a relatively sane outlook on it, relatively sane anyway. I just feel like it wasn't like that for a long, long time and so if it's like this for a bit, that's great. But the chances are pretty good that sometime or another it will be like it was again, which is okay too. Even when the studios didn't want to hire me and I was kind of box office poison and all of that stuff, I was still able to do the things that I wanted to do. I was still able to do all of those films that mean so much to me.

So if I'm a decent flavor this week and next, if in three weeks it changes, then I know how to do that. I've been there. It's okay."

Reflecting on his past roles, Depp spoke about his start on 21 Jump Street and how after that experience he opted for the path less traveled: ?I think that people can say and think what they want, but I know for me that as good as that experience or opportunity was, that whole 21 Jump Street' thin, as good as that was for me in the long run in terms of my career. It was like college. That was my college. That was great training five days a week, nine months out of the year in front of a camera learning, learning, learning. It was great schooling, but it was also something where they were pushing me into a direction that I didn't want to be involved with.

I really hated the idea of being a product on someone else's terms. I'm savvy enough to understand that there is a business side to all of this, but I swore to myself back then that I would do the things that I wanted to do. If I failed, I failed and if it worked, it worked, but that I was going to stick with it.

For me, I know that doing Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or any of these other things?it's totally consistent with everything that I've done since Cry Baby, as far as I'm concerned. There was never a moment when I thought that something was going to be a good career move or that I could make a slew of cash and skate for a little while. I haven't changed any of my sort of processes or beliefs. I'm still dedicated to the same thing."

In the Works ? Sweeney Todd: Depp confirmed he and Tim Burton are talking about doing Sweeney Todd now that Burton?s Believe It or Not with Jim Carrey has been put on indefinite hold. Depp said, ?It's something that Tim and I had talked about. We sort of talked about the idea years and years ago, and we've been speaking about it here and there recently. It's looking very good. Once Tim and I get together and talk about stuff, that sets off a whole kind of domino effect of other people having to do stuff that Tim and I don't know how to do. So it's looking very good. I sure hope that it happens because it'd be nice to work with Tim again. It would be our sixth movie together which would be very, very exciting."

Will Depp take voice lessons if Sweeney Todd becomes a reality? ?Oh, boy. I think that I would have to." Depp doesn?t even sing at home so tackling the role in Sweeney Todd would present special challenges. ?I think, again, for an actor it's so important to challenge yourself and I believe it's important to be potentially teetering on the brink of absolute flopdom because otherwise you're just sort of there. It's easy to become complacent and sort of stick to a formula and say, 'Well, this is my niche and this works and so I can stay in this and safely, as the clock is ticking, do my work and get out while I can.' So I mean, who knows? I might be a horrible singer but that might work for the character. You never know."