Janelle Monáe Is Eager to Play ‘Transformative’ Characters, Just Like Johnny Depp: He ‘Has a Very Badass’ Acting Career
Ella Kemp Guest Contributor Janelle Monáe reflected on her multifaceted career at a Screen Talk hosted by BFI London Film Festival programmer Grace Barber-Plentie. The conversation, which took place ahead of the European premiere of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” included the musician-actor citing Johnny Depp’s career as one she’d like to emulate given the “transformative” characters he has played. Monáe stressed that it was only Depp’s acting career that she admired, and not Depp as a person. “When I think about careers, this person’s life as an actor, only… Johnny Depp has a very badass career,” Monae said, citing Willy Wonka and Sweeney Todd as “dramatic roles” she aspires to play in her own work. “Whatever the Janelle Monáe version of them is, maybe it’s something even better, I want to be able to do those transformative characters that people are dressing up as for Halloween.”