Johnny Depp’s full speech, last October 19, during the “Stories for the Young and Young at Heart” press conference and promotion of “Puffins” and “Puffins Impossible” at the Geozavod Building, in Belgrade, Serbia.
The “Stories for the Young and Young at Heart” event was originally scheduled to happen right after Johnny arrival in Belgrade, Serbia, but was postponed to happen hour later once Johnny couldn’t arrive at time, but ended up canceled and postponed again for the night, before the honorary dinner.
Johnny attended the event with the producers Andrea Iervolino and Monika Barcadi and the Serbian actor, owner of the Archangel Studios Company, and Iervolino’s strategic partner, Miloš Biković.
He gave a speech talking about the first time he went to Serbia with Emir Kusturica, his thoughts about the country and the people and the production of “Puffins”.
“Good evening, it is evening, right? Ok, good.
I was very-very lucky a long time ago, very long time ago around 1990, when I met the filmmaker called Emir Kusturica. We made a film together; I wasn’t sure how long he was going to shoot. I thought it might be a while. It was in fact about a year of shooting, so we’ve got very-very close. And Emir and his family introduced me to the culture here, when I got sick his parents took care of me, you know. I worked here with a crew that I found to be somewhere ‘shocking’, because their work was just 'done'. Everybody knew their lane. They knew exactly what they had to do...”
*(Someone talks something in Serbian and Johnny just confirm with “Yes” and chuckles with the audience)
“And dedicated, so what I found amazing about the crew, and we shot this film 'Minamata' here, was that there was absolutely literally a group of many-many people, who are actually, actually, all working toward the same goal, which is a rare thing to find there in life so much. But they were working with the same goal and it was for the movie, for the film...”
* (In this part, someone far and not in the audience, can be hear laughing, and Johnny hears and say: )
“I know I thought that funny too…
So I was introduced to the charm, and the warmth and the beauty of the Serbian people, and I’ve been welcomed here and it’s always been… Yeah, once you’ve spend so much time with Kusturica and his ilk* and you meet all these people, and you look in these faces, these thousands and thousands of year old, these eyes that have deep-deep soul, that exists here in a big way, everybody that is involved in this ‘Puffins’... And I don't know what to call it I just think it's something very different and very interesting it was actually a great challenge for me. But everyone from the work that I've seen that's been done by the crew that has been amassed here in Serbia, I have no doubt that it's only going to bring more and more artists, more and more directors, filmmakers, animators to come here to do their work.
It's the... perfect opposite of Hollywood
(* The audience applauses)
And I will truly-truly thank you for inviting me here, and no one's handed me a sleeve* of it yet which is a good, good… that's a good thing, probably be in about 10 minutes. But I adore your culture, I adore your people, I've found nothing but truth, honesty and beauty here. Every single second that I've spent here so, bless you and thank you and I look forward to much more time here.
Thank you. Хвала*.”
During his speech Johnny said somethings that some people may not understand:
1°) When Johnny said “Kusturica and his ilk”, the word “ilk” is a noun derived from a Scottish term that means “the same”. And Johnny is referring to Emir Kusturica’s friends and closest ones. The word, which is not so used nowadays, has a slightly negative meaning when it comes to say that the person’s relatives may be some “troublesome people” or people who are considered “weird”. Emir is also known for his controversial and complex works, for being a rock and roll fan and bass player, and for having a somewhat “complex personality”.
2°) When Johnny said “no one's handed me a sleeve”, Johnny is referring that no one in the audience was bored with his speech to the point of lifting the shirt sleeve to check the time, once he could be extending too long. So he was joking about it. As we know, Johnny is pretty shy, but when he talks, he do talks.
3°) When Johnny finished his speech he thanked and said something in another language, like “hvála”. In reality Johnny was thanking in Serbian and said “Хвала” which means "Thanks/Thank you" in Serbian.
Handsome, humble, best person in the world, and smart AF, this is Johnny Depp.
