Depp says he`s always been a Mad Hatter

Depp, star of hit `Alice...`, said that his own personality meant it was only a matter of time till he played a character such as the Mad Hatter.

Tokyo: Hollywood heartthrob Johnny Depp, star of hit 3-D movie `Alice in Wonderland`, said Monday that his own personality meant it was only a matter of time till he played a character such as the Mad Hatter.

Sporting a greyish trilby hat and black-rimmed glasses, Depp told his adoring fans and eager reporters in Tokyo: "For me to play the Hatter wasn`t a great stretch by any means." "In a sense I think the character was kind of already blooming inside, ready to show its face," he added, laughing. "I do like hats," Depp, 46, added, telling the joint press conference with director Tim Burton ahead of the US film`s premiere in Japan that he owned five or six hats of his own. "There was a certain elegance to the past times that I have appreciation for," Depp added of his hat collection. Burton`s free-ranging interpretation of Lewis Carroll`s children`s classic saw Depp making a whirlwind stop in Japan for the premiere. He arrived in a private jet earlier Monday and was due to fly out later in the day for Italy, where he is shooting a thriller directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck. Depp, whose star-studded career has seen him play an array of eccentric and odd characters, said he studies people day-to-day to learn how he should adapt to each role. "Your main job as an actor before you do anything is to observe people," Depp told reporters. "There are so many possibilities out there," he said, noting he was "watching people, stealing bits of their behavioural patterns". Depp, named the "The Sexiest Man Alive" last year by US magazine People, is hugely popular in Japan, where "Alice" will hit cinemas on April 17. It is Depp`s seventh Burton movie and the actor said he "never disagreed on anything" with Burton in the decades they had worked together. But he gave a different answer from Burton when asked what they would do if they slipped into a wonderland like that depicted in the Disney film. Depp said he would gladly stay there, while Burton quipped in a nod to how long it took to make the film: "I was there for two years, so I`m ready to leave." Bureau Report