How Johnny Depp Enjoys the Simple Life in France

Plus, the Sexiest Man Alive reveals his secret dream of growing wine

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty

He’s been The Mad Hatter, Edward Scissorhands and Captain Jack Sparrow – and yet he dreams of cultivating a premium vino.

In a cover interview with French magazine VSD, on newsstands Thursday, Johnny Depp opens up in a rare discussion of his personal life, including a secret desire “to make wine. But I’ll keep it for myself before daring to sell it commercially.”

A longtime resident of Plan-de-la-Tour in southern France, Depp says, “in the Var where I live, it’s very interesting. [The region is] notable for rosé and it’s very good, though I prefer red myself.”

Currently filming The Tourist in Venice with Angelina Jolie, Depp says living in France with longtime partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children, Lily-Rose, 10, and Jack, 7, “has given me everything. A marvelous family and also an equilibrium which I missed enormously.

“With Vanessa and the kids, we live in a sort of little village in the south and I have the impression of being in paradise,” he continues. “It’s a property of about 30 acres and you know what I do there? Absolutely nothing.”

PEOPLE’s current Sexiest Man Alive also admits, “there are times when I don’t leave the property for three months at a time.”

Depp says his lifestyle is a “truly simple existence” that’s like “being on another planet. When I wake up I go look at my garden. I go see if my vegetables are growing, if certain flowers have started to bloom.”

Partners in Life – and On-Screen?

Another secret Depp shares is his “great yearning” to share the screen with Paradis. The couple’s first attempt to appear together on screen failed when Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote project faltered in l999.

Depp’s dream, however, may soon become reality.

Asked about reports the couple will appear next year in American Dream, the story of French feminist Simone de Beauvoir and her love affair with Nelson Algren, Depp replies: “Nothing has been officially signed but it’s progressing well. I’ve great desire to work with her on a film. Vanessa is not only a terrific singer but a wonderful actress.”