Despite the bad boy image he used to project during his younger years, Johnny Depp comes off as a soft-spoken, shy artist when it comes to doing interviews.

Johnny reunites with his “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ed Wood,” “Sleepy Hollow,” and “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” director Tim Burton in “The Corpse Bride” a stop-motion animated feature where he provides the voice of Victor Hugo, a lonesome man who is caught in an unusual love triangle involving a polite, rich girl named Victoria (Emily Watson) and a bride from beyond the grave (Helena Bonham Carter.)

Below he talks about working with Tim again, as well as going from the unknown cool indie actor to one of Hollywood’s most sought after stars.

Q: We see you really get into character in “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.” But when you’re doing a voice, do you have to get into character for this character even though you’re not playing him physically?

JOHNNY: I guess under normal circumstances you would. I was somewhat remiss only because I was so focused on “Charlie [& The Chocolate Factory].” I was so focused on the [Willy] Wonka character. Somehow, in my mind, I thought we would do “The Corpse Bride” in a couple of months. Suddenly, one day on the set, Tim comes up to me and says, “What about tonight? We’re going to record something for ‘Corpse Bride.’” I say, “Yeah, we can.”

I had no character so I sat him down and grilled him for 15 minutes. That’s how I found the guy.

Q: Did looking at the puppet help?

JOHNNY: That was one of the great luxuries. When I arrived that night to do the recording for the session, a picture was standing there and I got to meet the puppet. It was beautiful; really inspiring.

Q: Were you thinking of anyone when you were doing your character?

JOHNNY: No, not particularly. I was just trying to save my own ass basically for being ill-prepared. Tim was so helpful, as he always is, with the idea. He’s a character that’s not so far away from other characters that I’ve played in the past for Tim, like Edward Scissorhands. He’s sort of an outsider, bumbling, insecure, nervous – a lot like me in life.

Q: Was there one theme with Victor in the movie that you identified most with?

JOHNNY: The feeling of failure, I suppose. Feeling inept and unable to be understood. It’s a pretty consistent theme with a lot of people’s lives. Victor represented, in the same way Edward Scissorhands did that, that emotion of not quite feeling comfortable and that universal feeling of growing up. We all drag that feeling for the rest of our days.

Q: What is it that brings you and Tim together and do you have any plans to do anything else in the future?

JOHNNY: I hope so. It’s all up to him if he gives me the job. I’ve said this before but it’s the only analogy that works: working with Tim is like going home to this place that is very comfortable, even with knowledge that there’s a lot of risks you have to take and you really have to be prepared to explore but there’s great comfort there and great safety there. The fact that he keeps casting me is either huge luck or a great mistake on his part.

Q: What’s your reaction to the success of “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” being your 2nd biggest movie after “Pirates of the Caribbean”?

JOHNNY: I’ve learned to condition myself and not have any expectations in terms of box-office or results to that degree because as you all well know - as well as I do - that that kind of thing escaped me for many, many years. It’s relatively a new experience. I have more than a couple of people going to see my films.

Q: You really don’t pay attention to box-office numbers?

JOHNNY: That whole part of the process is so far into me, so distant, that literally two or three weeks ago, I called my agent and said, “Is ‘Charlie’ doing O.K.?” And she said, “Uh, yeah. It’s going to cross the 200 million mark domestically.” I didn’t know what that meant and so I said, “Is that good?”

Q: Is there a surge now in your popularity?

JOHNNY: I’ve noticed a bit of a change in the attitude towards me from the operation of the industry which is pretty interesting.

Q: Does that mean everybody wants you in their movie?

JOHNNY: I don’t know about that but for example, every time Tim wanted to cast me in his films, he had to fight like a bastard with the studio to cast me. He was telling me today that the Warners people came to see him in London. They were like, “Let’s talk about cast.” He says, “Yeah, let’s talk about cast. What do you think about Johnny?” They were like, [pauses] “Yeah, O.K., good.”

Q: The last two movies, “Pirates” and “Charlie,” had you playing characters that were way over the top. Do you prefer to play things closer to you or have nothing to do with you?

JOHNNY: Any actor with any semblance of sanity or insanity will tell you that our biggest fear is to go anywhere near where you are. It’s O.K. to use certain truths. It’s a great challenge and I’ve touched on it here and there in more character-y parts, like “Libertine” coming up. I, more than anything, am more interested in exploring one area and saying that it’s territory covered and seeing what happens next. Where do you go next?

There is that voice of Marlon Brando’s that reverbs to me. One time, he said (Johnny in Marlon Brando voice) “How many movies do you do a year?” “Two or three.” And he said, “You gotta watch yourself.” I said, “Why?” He says, “We only have so many faces in our pocket.” You get to a certain point when you play all these different characters that he really is right.

But one of the luxuries of an actor and one of the joys of the gig is you get to observe people. By observing people, you find little interesting traits and say, “I’ll have a little bit of that.” And you just store it up and save it for later because you never know when you’ll need it.

Q: But as you get older and more famous, isn’t it more difficult to make observations because people are observing you all the time?

JOHNNY: There’s the rope. That’s one of the occupational hazards. You want to be the observer but when you walk into a room, people are going, “Isn’t that that guy?” There are dangers but there are ways you can still do it from afar.

Q: Going back to Marlon’s comment, you have never returned to a character since “21 Jump Street” so what was it about Captain Jack Sparrow that inspired you to do two more “Pirates” sequels?

JOHNNY: Speaking for myself, what happens to me is that with every character, once you’ve clicked into that character, you really know the guy. You become very close to him and love him. It’s always very difficult at the end, that week to 10 days before wrap, where you can hear that clock ticking. Then you go through this really nasty depression afterwards. There’s an odd separation anxiety because you’ve been this person for a pretty good length of time and then suddenly (whistles), gone.

For me with Captain Jack, I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d see him again. So when they said they wanted to do “2” and “3” together, I was all for it selfishly just to be the guy again and see him again.

Q: Are there any characters that you were glad to separate yourself from?

JOHNNY: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s weird because it’s sometimes more emotional than others. With “Edward Scissorhands,” and I feel like a dunce if I didn’t say this but it’s the truth, I remember the last day of “Scissorhands” after 89 days, they did the makeup and I looked into the mirror and thinking, “This is it. This is the last time I’ll see you.” It becomes very emotional. It’s a weird, weird thing.

Q: So when it comes to box-office and Hollywood, do you want to continue doing things for your fans or seek projects for yourself and career?

JOHNNY: I don’t like to refer to anyone as a “fan.” Kids outside the theater - who watch the movies and stuck with me during this long, lengthy, bumpy stretch of road – that’s what means to me the most. They’re the ones who keep me employed. So I kind of look at them as my boss.

Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride" opens in limited release this Friday and everywhere the 23rd.