Johnny Depp won ‘Edward Scissorhands’ role from A-list actors

Johnny Depp had to fight some big names for his breakout role.

The Academy Award nominee shared that he won the eponymous Edward Scissorhands role from the likes of Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and even Michael Jackson in Tim Burton‘s 1990 gothic fantasy.

He shared with director Tara Wood that Cruise “was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands, true story” as he shared his thoughts on the movie for an untitled docu-series about Burton, according to People.

Depp was cast as the devoted misfit who was invented by a scientist (Vincent Price) using scissors in place of his hands.

Following the death of his creator, Edward is adopted by Dianne Wiest, a local, into her suburban home. There, he befriends Winona Ryder, her daughter, and experiences rejection from the community.

The star said that Burton and Caroline Thompson’s script “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.”