Johnny Depp on "From Hell" and His Career

"The great thing about this story," said Albert Hughes, "is that it's a true story that turned into a myth over time. Every director has his or her own take on it. We knew that with "From Hell" we wanted to focus on an interesting lead character and study the numerous levels of the story from the detective to the street life to royalty."

Knowing the story of Jack the Ripper relatively well, Depp admits that it was these factors that peaked his interest in the film.

"I've read most of the Jack the Ripper stories, but "From Hell" is a strong one," Depp says. "You read a lot of things that don't surprise you, because it's just straightforward stuff. The vision of the Hughes Brothers combined with the vision of Alan Moore though ... it's one of the theories on the Ripper case that was pretty shocking and pretty important."

To avoid being consumed by the dark tone of "From Hell," Depp hired a personal DJ to spin records into an earpiece he wore on the set. Actress Heather Graham, who plays Abberline's love interest and one of the potential victims in "From Hell," laughs when she recalls one of their big romantic moments.

"We'd be in the middle of a kissing scene, and he'd be listening to Uncle F***er," Graham said.

While the earpiece didn't take him out of character, Depp jokes that the director had to speak into his other ear in order for him to hear what was being said.

"Allen gave me one of the most beautiful pieces of direction very subtly during a fairly large and tense scene," he said. "As an actor, (with) each take you want to try something new to shake things up, so I was trying stuff, and Allen came over after the take, leaned down and said into my ear, 'No sunshine.' Of course I didn't actually hear what he said, so I said,'What?'"

As for what is next for Depp, the actor can soon be seen in Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" in which he plays an "awful FBI agent who's just not a nice guy," Depp said. Beyond that, Depp just hopes to continue to star in character-driven films and eventually work alongside Tim Burton once again. Above all else, he wants to continue to star in films that will leave him feeling

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