"How many chances to you get to make a musical about a serial killer? The minute Tim Burton approached me, I was in!"
About this Quote
The subtext is about permission. Depp doesn't claim psychological insight into violence or trauma; he name-checks Tim Burton as the imprimatur that makes the taboo feel curated, even classy. Burton functions here like a brand of darkness: stylized, theatrical, safely unreal. By the time Depp says, "I was in", the decision reads as instinctive, almost reflexive - not because serial killing is interesting, but because Burton's aesthetic turns the grotesque into an operatic playground.
Context matters: Depp is talking about the Burton-Sondheim pipeline that produced Sweeney Todd, a story where murder becomes rhythm, melody, and spectacle. Musical theater already traffics in heightened emotion; pairing it with a serial killer is a controlled collision of genres designed to jolt the audience into complicity. The line also captures a 2000s cultural sweet spot, when "dark" became mainstream prestige and audiences wanted their entertainment transgressive but art-directed. Depp isn't confessing fascination with cruelty so much as staking allegiance to a particular kind of pop-goth craft: the thrill of making the unacceptable sing.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Depp, Johnny. (2026, February 19). How many chances to you get to make a musical about a serial killer? The minute Tim Burton approached me, I was in! FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/how-many-chances-to-you-get-to-make-a-musical-32219/
Chicago Style
Depp, Johnny. "How many chances to you get to make a musical about a serial killer? The minute Tim Burton approached me, I was in!" FixQuotes. February 19, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/how-many-chances-to-you-get-to-make-a-musical-32219/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"How many chances to you get to make a musical about a serial killer? The minute Tim Burton approached me, I was in!" FixQuotes, 19 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/how-many-chances-to-you-get-to-make-a-musical-32219/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.




