Johnny Depp ‘fired shotgun blanks’ at a terrified assistant in a wild prank, Don Johnson has claimed.

Johnson, 74, recalled the dangerous incident as he appeared on Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, detailing how he had been journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s neighbor in Woody Creek, Colorado.

A young Depp sparked up a friendship with the writer in 1994 and would play him in the 1998 film adaptation of his 1972 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Johnson said: ‘I called over to Hunter’s to see if had any weed and, of course, he had. Like a ton out back.

‘So I said, “Listen, I’m going to come over and get some weed ’cause I got a little group of people here.”

Johnny Depp ‘fired shotgun blanks’ at a terrified assistant in a wild prank with Hunter S. Thompson, Don Johnson has claimed – pictured on Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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A young Depp sparked up a friendship with the writer in 1994 and would play him in the 1998 film adaptation of his 1972 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – pictured 1998 with Benicio Del Toro

Johnson sent his assistant to pick up the weed, with the star saying: ‘[He] drives up Hunter’s driveway and Johnny Depp and Hunter were hiding behind Hunter’s car with shotguns loaded with blanks and my assistant got out of the car and they both jumped out and said, “Die, mother!”’ before shooting the blanks.

Johnson said the assistant had ‘peed his pants’ from fear and added: ‘God bless him.’

Johnson and Thompson were best friends for three decades before the journalist’s death by suicide in 2005 aged 67.

Johnson previously told People of Thompson: ‘I loved him. I learned so much from him.

‘We met back in, believe it or not, in the Andy Warhol days when I was shooting my first movie in New York. We met because he was the crazy m****rf****r that came in with a pocket full of drugs, and our movie was about drugs. So I got to know him pretty well.

‘Lo and behold, he became my neighbor, literally my neighbor, like a quarter of a mile away at my ranch in Colorado.

‘And for the next 25 years, if I was away and I had a sick animal or something like that, he’d come over and sleep in the stall with my animal and nurse them back to health.’

Depp also played Thompson’s creation in the 2011 movie adaptation of his book The Rum Diary.

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Johnson, 74, detailed how he had been journalist  Thompson’s neighbor in Woody Creek, Colorado

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Johnson sent his assistant to pick up the weed, with the star saying: ‘ [He] drives up Hunter’s driveway and Johnny Depp and Hunter were hiding behind Hunter’s car with shotguns loaded with blanks’ – Depp pictured last month

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Depp also played Thompson’s creation in the 2011 movie adaptation of his book The Rum Diary – pictured 1997

The Rum Diary is inspired by Thompson’s adventures after he moved to the Caribbean to write for the San Juan Star newspaper.

Thompson fatally shot himself in his office at his Colorado home on February 20 2005 at the age of 67.

His family said they believed he had thought out his suicide as a result of his chronic medical conditions.

In August that year, Depp contributed financially to assist Thompson’s family help the author realise his dying wish – to have his ashes fired out of a cannon.

Depp said: ‘ We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design.

‘All I’m doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out.’

Thompson is known as one of the pioneers of ‘gonzo journalism’, which features the writer as an important part of the story.

He often portrayed himself as drunk or manic while reporting on political figures.