JOHNNY DEPP - DEPP SPURNS THE IN CROWD

Screen idol JOHNNY DEPP strongly identifies with late PETER PAN author JM BARRIE's refusal to conform to popular trends.

The eccentric author of PETER PAN - who Depp brought back to life in 2004 biopic FINDING NEVERLAND - was an outsider throughout his life, and the Hollywood hunk admits he also rejected the mainstream as a child.

Depp says, "It wasn't so much that I felt I was outside of something, as I didn't feel inside of something. I saw these guys and gals competing for most popular this and that, the prom queen or the prom king,and I was like, 'What rubbish!' It's absolute cr*p.

"I was raised in such a way that I wasn't like 'eyes on the prize', you know. It was more 'just get through it' - get what you can and keep moving!"