Tim Burton stating, "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with." "Sleepy Hollow", released in late 1999, had a supernatural setting and contained another offbeat performance by Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a detective with an interest in forensic science rather than the schoolteacher of Washington Irving's original tale. With "Sleepy Hollow", Burton paid homage to the horror films of the English company Hammer Films. Christopher Lee, one of Hammer's stars, was given a cameo role. A host of Burton regulars appeared in supporting roles
Johnny Depp actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming "The Ninth Gate" in France in 1998. They have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 1999) and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III (born 2002). Depp stated that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything. ... You cannot plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny. All the math finally worked." In 2007, Depp's daughter was