Though it ultimately got made in a hurry, Sweeney Todd languished in development for decades. Alan Parker (Evita) was said to be interested in the '80s. Burton himself took a stab at it in the early '90s, but he says it came to nothing because there wasn't a script in place. Sam Mendes worked on a version for several years with Gladiator scribe John Logan before making 2005's Jarhead instead. Then, in the summer of 2006, Burton suddenly had an opening in his schedule after his Jim Carrey movie, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, fell apart. He pounced on Sweeney, and quickly persuaded Depp to join him. The budget commitment wasn't huge — around $50 million — and the shooting schedule sounded hectic at just 60 days. However, as Depp puts it, ''How many chances do you get at a musical about a serial killer?''
And how many chances does a non-singer get at tackling such an insanely difficult score? Did Depp realize what he was getting into? Sondheim, who had casting approval, okayed the actor without hearing him perform any material. ''I figured he'd have a light baritone,'' says the composer, now 77. ''You can hear it in his speaking voice. I love him as an actor, and always have. Put those things together, I didn't hesitate for one second.'' Depp was floored at passing muster so easily. ''It was a real shock,'' he says. ''He said to me early on that the singing was secondary to hitting the notes emotionally.'' Depp takes a beat. ''I didn't believe him.'' He laughs. ''I think he was probably just saying that to make me feel better about what I was about to attempt.''
Depp did have the advantage of a musical background. The actor first came to L.A. in the early '80s as the lead guitarist in a pompadoured punk-pop quartet called the Kids. The group lasted only a few years, and Depp has noodled around on guitar and bass in a number of other bands since. But he's sung only cursory backup bits. When the actor starred in John Waters' 1990 movie musical Cry-Baby, another guy dubbed his rockabilly songs. ''I knew I could stay in key to some degree,'' he says. ''But I didn't know if I could sustain a note, or belt one out.''
Last fall, when it came time to start working on his vocals, Depp was still in Captain Jack attire, filming the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. That's when he did something unexpected, nonconformist, and potentially calamitous: He decided to go it alone. ''I was talking to people and they were saying, Well, of course you're going to get a singing teacher,'' he says. ''And I said, 'Oh, yeah-yeah! Of course I will. Yeah.' '' Instead, Depp ran as far from formal instruction as he could. ''I just didn't see the character developing with me doing scales in front of a piano and a vocal teacher going, 'No, no — bring it up from the bollocks,' '' he says. ''That kind of thing would have been a disaster. I would still be rehearsing right now. Or I'd have been fired.''
NEXT PAGE: ''We all said to one another, 'Johnny is a smart guy. He would never put himself in this position if he didn't think he could do it. He must be able to sing.' But nobody could prove that!''
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