The remarkable Johnny Depp returns to our screens in the eagerly awaited final part of one of the most successful movie franchises of all time, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He is currently filming Sweeney Todd in London with director Tim Burton, and took time out for an interview:
How have you been?
Good. Thanks. Working like a dog! (laughs). But good.
That's on Sweeney Todd right?
 Yeah. It's going great so far. I mean, I haven’t been fired. You are always waiting for that moment when your old friend comes up and says ‘By the way, you're fired. Sorry!’ (laughs).
How does it feel now you have finished the three Pirates films? Is there some perspective about the whole experience at this point or does that come later?
Even though we finished the third one roughly six months ago, I'm still kind of swimming in it. I don't have that distance on it and the smoke hasn’t cleared yet. But all in all, it's a positive reflection and I love the experience and even at its most gruelling it was positive.
What was it like that final day as Jack Sparrow? That must have been a big moment in your life?
Oh yeah, it was. It was one of those moments where you are just doing anything you can to postpone it. I remember going to Gore (Verbinski, director) and he was saying, ‘I think we've got everything man, but do you want another take?’ And I'd say, ‘Yeah, yeah, let's do another take. Let me try something else.’
And then once we'd got it I said to him ‘Are you sure there is nothing else we can shoot?’ Because you just don't want to say goodbye to that guy.
You've been that person for umpteen months and you don't want to say goodbye, it's very strange.
Did they mark the occasion in any way?
Yeah, the crew and Gore put together this really beautiful collage of photographs, this massive thing and framed it and signed it. We had a big cake and champagne. It was very moving. It was like we were all saying goodbye to Captain Jack in that moment.
And he is a character that has changed your life?
 Oh yeah. He's brought a lot of good things into my world and into my kiddies' world so I will always hold him in very high regard even aside of the fact that it's been an absolute pleasure to play him. It's been a total blast.
So would you play him again?
I reckon you can never say never. I mean, with some things you can but in terms of this I don't think so.
If I were approached to play Captain Jack again, under the right circumstances you know, with the all the right and proper elements involved and a good script I would definitely give it some serious thought.
I have to ask you about Keith Richards…
Oh that was great. God, it was great. He was just so cool. First of all not just for me, but also for the entire crew it was so special. I mean, seeing Keith Richards arrive for work totally prepared like, beautiful
Did you hang out after work?
Yeah, yeah. We spent a bunch of time together. My only comment to him was that he seems to know how to draw a crowd. He was super, super sweet and couldn't have been nicer to everyone or more accommodating. He came in like a gunfighter.
You've said before that Keith was the inspiration for Jack so what was it like having the inspiration there?
 It was great, man. This is going to sound strange, but as Jack I felt like I'd known Keith a lot better and for a lot longer than Johnny has. You know, if I had the guise, or if I was in Jack mode it was a lot easier to play around and improvise and it was almost like a jam session in that sense. Whereas for me, for Johnny, it would get to a certain point  and I'd clam up.
Because you are in awe of him?
Well, there's that side that can never escape that fact. On one level there's this guy Keith and he's a terrific guy to hang out with and he's a really wonderful man. But there's always that sort of thing that reverberates with me - he is one of my guitar heroes and I can never escape that.
 When you look at the roles over the years, is there a common thread?
 I don't know. I think it might be that you need some years of distance to look at that. Maybe then you can go, ‘Oh yeah, I see the connection here’.
If you look at them from way back I guess the connection would be that they are a bit outside these guys, whether it's Cry Baby or Edward Scissorhands or Sam from Benny and Joon or Axel from Arizona Dream, Ed Wood, yeah, they are a bit outside.
And with Sweeney Todd too…
(Laughs) Yeah, you don't get more outside than that poor guy. Forced outside too. I guess if there is a common thread, that I can recognise