Johnny Depp won the ‘Edward Scissorhands’ race to Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson

“[Tom Cruise] was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands — true story," Depp said. (Image via X)

‘Edward Scissorhands’ is one of many iconic Tim Burton films that showcase the genius of Johnny Depp. Depp recently revealed which A-listers he had to compete with to land his big screen breakout role.

During an interview for the untitled Tim Burton series directed by Tara Woods, which had its premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Monday, the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor recalled the 1990 film that kickstarted a decade long collaboration between Depp and Burton.

The actor revealed that Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson were also in the running for the role.

“[Tom Cruise] was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands — true story," Depp said.

Depp felt that he was “pigeonholed” as a teen idol after starring in ’21 Jump Street’ from 1987 to 1990, he was determined to “fight it.” He revealed that John Waters’ ‘Cry-Baby’ “was the first solid step in the direction I wanted to go.”

“In all honesty, I was probably doing my best for probably the last two years to get fired… I knew how important the choice to make Cry-Baby with John Waters was, which gave me the opportunity to make fun of this arena I’d been placed in,” he said regarding ’21 Jump Street.’

Depp said that the script for ‘Edward Scissorhands’ “passed through everything, anything, solid and went to the very core of whatever I am. The writing was beautiful. The character was beautiful. What I suppose [attracted] me emotionally was that Edward was me. It’s exactly what I should be doing.”

After his agent set up a meeting, Depp became aware of the major Hollywood stars after the role. He recalled thinking, “He’s never going to cast me when everyone in Hollywood is after the part.”

He added, “Tim’s really juggling because he’s getting hit by his agent, the studio, everybody. So I called my agent after reading the script and said, ‘Please cancel the meeting, I’m not going.’ She said, ‘Are you f—ing nuts?’”

“It was weird because there’s always that bastard in your skull that goes ‘Come on, man. You’re a TV actor guy.’ Because at that time it was almost either-or,” he continued.

But Depp “finally gave in” and met Burton and the rest was history. Depp become one of Burton’s go-to muses for decades starring in numerous cult classics including ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ ‘Dark Shadows,’ ‘Corpse Bride,’ etc.