FANS of actor Johnny Depp are up in arms over his exit from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, following a ruling against him in a British court, in a libel case against the UK’s The Sun newspaper over a story in which he was labeled a “wife beater.”
Depp announced he was exiting the Fantastic Beasts franchise - an off-shoot of the Harry Potter series - after the movie studio behind it, Warner Bros, asked him to resign as villain Gellert Grindelwald, whom he had played in two movies.
As of writing, nearly 150,000 supporters have signed an online petition on change.org urging Warner Bros to rehire the actor as Grindelwald. The accompanying post says: “This happened because of the verdict of his case with ‘The Sun’ tabloid that was completely unfair. We want him back! Warner Bros should listen to the public or we will boycott the movie!!!”
However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, despite being booted from the third Fantastic Beasts movie, Depp will still pocket about US$10 million of his salary, having already filmed one scene.
It has also been reported that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is now in talks to replace Depp, to co-star alongside Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law.
While the Fantastic Beasts movies are more recent, Depp is perhaps most famously associated with the character of Captain Jack Sparrow from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
The series’ fifth and most recent edition was released in 2017 and while an official follow-up is up in the air, the studio has been at work on a female-centric spinoff starring Margot Robbie.
This decision has led many fans to believe that Disney is moving away from Depp, and unsurprisingly there is also a petition on change.org calling for the actor to keep playing Captain Jack Sparrow in feature films. More than 250,000 fans have put their support behind this one.
“Disney is rebooting Dead Men Tell No Tales because of its box office but they don’t know that without Johnny Depp or Jack Sparrow they will sink, they will never be able to reach that horizon they are looking for.”
The controversy around Depp stems from his two-year marriage to actress Amber Heard, whom the offending article in The Sun claimed he had assaulted.
Depp denied the allegations and over the course of a 16-day trial both he and Heard aired their sides of the story.
The judge dismissed Depp’s defamation claims, creating a potential PR nightmare for any studio thinking of hiring him.
He later posted a message on his Instagram account confirming his intention to appeal the decision and stating that his ‘career will not be defined’ by it. – The Vibes, November 12, 2020
