Johnny Depp credits punk icon Iggy Pop and horror movie stars LON CHANEY and BORIS KARLOFF with helping him create the character of SWEENEY TODD for pal TIM BURTON's new movie musical.

The actor, who famously found inspiration for his Pirates Of The Caribbean character Jack Sparrow in Keith Richards, turned to another rocker for his spark as he prepared to play the musical demon barber of Fleet Street.

He says, "Iggy has a beautiful deep quality about him and he's a real crooner, so that's where the musical element of Todd came from, I guess.

"And early on, Tim and I spoke about silent film and the king of silent cinema, especially the horror genre, was Lon Chaney Sr. So using him was an inspiration, as was Boris Karloff. We liked the classic, iconic image of movie monsters."