Johnny Depp accepts Modern Master award, talks 'torturing' Leonardo DiCaprio

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Actor Johnny Depp accepted the Santa Barbara Film Festival's highest honor Thursday night, pairing the honor with a two-hour discussion with film critic Leonard Maltin.

The Maltin Modern Master Award-winner said he was "scared to death," at the conversation's commencement, which also acted as the festival's opening tribute.

During the event, Depp offered several personal anecdotes from his decades-long career, including his "instant" connection with filmmaker Tim Burton.

"His hair looked like there was an explosion at a hardware store and he was chewing on his spoon," Depp said. "When I walk into a joint, I know that's the guy I'm talking to -- even if it's not Tim Burton."

Depp also discussed sharing the screen with the then-adolescent Leonardo DiCaprio in 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He went on to say the film was a "hard time" for him, and "mostly really miserable."

"You can't really tell if the thing you're feeling at the time is coincidental. Did I have to be that way for the film?" he said.

Speaking of Academy Award nominee DiCaprio, Depp said he respects the actor a lot. "He worked really hard on that film, researching and showing up ready to work -- and I tortured him. I really did," the Alice Through The Looking Glass actor said.

"He was always talking about these video games. 'No, I will not give you a drag from my cigarette while you hide from your mother again, Leo,' [I would say]."

During the two-hour discussion, Depp also touched on his experiences on dozens of movie sets, sharing work with the likes of Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and Martin Landau.