Depp brings his own color to Mad Hatter

HOLLYWOOD - When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolor portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality. After putting the finishing touches on his painting for

Alice in Wonderland

, Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled.

"I was thinking," the actor said, "This one will get me fired!' "

It's hard to imagine any pink slips for Depp, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. But his version of the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton's interpretation of Alice in Wonderland has stirred interest and, early on, some skepticism from literary purists who say it's a far cry from the character described in Lewis Carroll's 19th-century writings or from images shaped by years of stage productions and the 1951 Walt Disney animated classic.

Depp's extreme vision for the character - he arrives in theaters March 5 - creates another vivid screen persona for the Hollywood chameleon who has played Sweeney Todd, Willie Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, and Jack Sparrow. The 46-year-old actor said his Hatter's springy mass of tangerine hair became a particularly important detail because of one of the suspected origins of the term "mad as a hatter."

In the 18th and 19th centuries, mercury was used in the manufacture of felt, and when used in hats it could be absorbed through the skin and affect the brain. Hatters and mill workers often fell victim to mercury poisoning which, in Carroll's time, had an orange tint - hence Depp's interest in adding brushstrokes of that particular watercolor to his portrait.

"I think [the Mad Hatter] was poisoned - very, very poisoned," Depp said.

Burton, whose background in art and animation is well known, also draws his characters, and when he and Depp compared their handiwork they grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

"They were," Depp says, "very close."