Johnny Depp and chocolate - two of the finer things in life and a recipe for sweet success if ever there was one. But if you know Depp as an actor and Tim Burton as a filmmaker, you'll know that this is dark chocolate - very dark and it's just how Johnny likes it. Here he talks about his past struggles, his road to happiness and introduces us to the new Willy Wonka

'Regardless of what one thinks of the 1971 film, Gene Wilder's persona stands out,' says Depp on playing the magical chocolatier Willy Wonka. Comedy actor Gene Wilder brought Wonka to the big screen in 1971 but his portrayal and the film as a whole infuriated Dahl, who refused the studio sequel rights. Depp believes his Wonka would please the legendary writer - if only he had lived to see it.

'He scares the hell out of you. Those are big shoes to fill. So the first thing I did was to go back to the book and try to figure out what Roald Dahl had in his head.'

The film is based on Roald Dahl's classic novel about a boy named Charlie Bucket who wins a candy bar contest to be one of five children allowed a tour of the amazing chocolate factory run by the eccentric Willy Wonka and his staff of Oompa-Loompas.

Depp's interpretation of the character is even weirder and darker than the original version. Sporting giant glasses and oversized dentures he recites his one-liners such as 'Chewing gum is really gross - chewing gum I hate the most' with as much threat as humour.

'I play him as a kind of game-show host cum bratty child,' says Depp. 'It's Tim's version of the book and the character, really. Tim and I had had a couple of meetings, sat down and had some talks about where he wanted to go, where we needed to go. And I think it's turned out great. We've taken the character of Willy Wonka and gone somewhere completely different.'

Depp previously collaborated with Burton on Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood, so jumped at the chance of working with him again. 'It was great to be back with Tim - like coming home,' he says of the director now married to Helena Bonham Carter. 'We had a great time.' And that sums up life for Depp right now. No more is he the troubled wild man of Hollywood. At 42 he's more mellow than ever , thanks to life in France with wife Vanessa Paradis and their two children, Lilly (six) and Jack (three).

His contentment shines through in his work and it is no surprise that his performances have won him praise of late. 'I went through a lot of fear and self-loathing in my twenties and thirties until it finally got through to me that there wasn't any point in poisoning myself and feeling miserable anymore,' says Depp of his difficult past.

'I can only tell you that once you escape that kind of mindset, you have absolutely no desire to go back there. It's not that I wake up mornings screaming, 'Oh God, things are so beautiful...', but just being with my girl and our kids makes me feel pretty good.'

Depp met French singer and actress Paradis while making the Ninth Gate in 1999. 'We share this incredible life together and our children,' he smiles. 'You can't plan that kind of deep love or the feeling parenthood brings.

'It was part of the wonderful ride. It was kismet, destiny. Now I have become a perfect example of all the paternity clichés I laughed at for years. I look forward to having more children. I'd have 100 if Vanessa were willing. For me, family is the most important thing in the world. It's your foundation, your roots. It's the only unconditional love you'll ever get.'

Depp offers a whimsical smile and a shake of his head at mention of his formerly rebellious self. 'That was the dark side of me and a pretty dismal time in my life,' he recalls. 'When I was 30 I wasn't that convinced I would make it to 40, but maybe I had to go through all the crap that had built up inside me to get to a point where I could start enjoying life.

'When I met Vanessa, I was still drifting. But being with her has just blown me away and made me a better man. Ten years ago I never would have believed in the kind of life I have now as a father, although I still wonder if it's OK to be this happy.'

Depp's darker times can be traced back to his youth and his experiences growing up in Florida. At school he was teased and taunted over his eccentric appearance and behaviour and he dropped out to try and follow his dream of being in a rock band.

'School was a torment,' he remembers. 'We moved often - lived in more than 20 houses in my first 15 years - and I never felt accepted.' When he was 15, his parents divorced, and Johnny was raised by his mother. 'All her life, she was a waitress in little diners,' he says, 'but I won't let her wait tables anymore.'

At age 17, Depp became a rock musician. 'I started playing guitar in the Baptist church where my uncle preached. Then I played in a garage band called "The Kids". Playing the guitar helped me to discover who and what I was. It's one of the true loves of my life.'

He married at 20 and divorced at 23, by which time he had found his way into acting. Broken engagements to Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss followed as Depp's private life threatened to spiral out of control. On-screen he was heralded as a genius, off-screen he was an alcoholic and a depressive.

'It's too easy to blame other people and things in your past for your own self-loathing,' says Depp. 'When I was drinking heavily, I was just in a really bad frame of mind and using alcohol to deaden whatever I was feeling at the time.

'I didn't really know how to handle the process of going from a nobody to someone who's suddenly famous and getting paid more money than he knows what to do with and having people stare at you when you're sitting in a café. I don't even really know why I was doing it except that I wasn't happy and so drank to escape that feeling.'

It was his friends and family who eventually put Depp back on his feet. 'The thing is, you never think you're on the verge of disaster while you're looking over the edge yourself,' he continues. 'It was other people who were trying to get me to stop and after a while it kind of sank in and I just cleaned up my act. But that didn't really solve the problem which was that I was unhappy with the way my life was going and didn't see any great relief on the horizon.

'That all changed when I met Vanessa. I pretty much fell in love with her the moment I set eyes on her. As a person I was pretty much a lost cause at that point of my life.' He continued 'she turned all that around for me with her incredible tenderness and understanding. She made me feel like a real human being instead of someone Hollywood had manufactured.

At 42, Depp is still regarded as one of the world's sexiest men. It's not a tag he is particularly proud of or one he's worried about losing as he grows older. 'I love growing old, getting some lines in my face, watching my kids grow up,' he says. 'I think you have to accept getting older because there's isn't anything you can really do about it anyway'. He added with a laugh 'And if it bothers you, it's just a question of surgery, isn't it?'

The annoying truth is that Depp still looks as sexy as ever. After getting his start as a teeney-bopper heartthrob on the TV show 21 Jump Street in America, he's constructed a career that carefully disassembles the pretty boy image; playing misfits, outsiders and weirdos.

Right now he has a mouth full of gold teeth and has grown his hair long and unkempt for a second swashbuckling adventure as Jack Sparrow in back-to-back Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. 'He's someone I've looked forward to re-visiting,' Depp says. 'What's fun about the character is his outrageousness. I really connected with him and I've missed the guy.'

Depp now finds himself more in demand as an actor than ever before. And he is lucky to be in a place where he can handle the pressure of fame - something he struggled to do in his old guise.

'I still have those guys with the cameras staking me out and watching the house - even when we're in France,' says Depp. 'The difference now is I'm trying not to let myself get worked up about it anymore. That just makes them even more money so some of them try to provoke you that way. I've stopped playing into their hands by giving value to a photo of me. I'm just trying to be a boring family guy'

Photograph © Warner Bros