The election dominated the news last week—as it should—but one thing did manage to crack the all-encompassing vote watch on Friday, and no, it was not chartthrob Steve Kornacki and his big board. It was a statement issued by Johnny Depp, that he has been asked to step down from theFantastic Beastsfranchise, and that he has agreed to do so. The role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast.
This comes on the heels of Depp’sdefeat in UK courtsin a libel case againstThe Sunfor a 2018 headline that labelled Depp a wife beater. Ironically, that article, written by Dan Wootton, was criticizing JK Rowling forstanding by the decision to cast Depp作为Grindelwald in the first place. So, basically, if Warner Brothers and Rowling—who is a credited screenwriter on each of theFantastic Beastsmovies, something I am also sure, um, no one at Warners has cause to regret by now—had listened to the fan outcry, this mess could have been avoided. Generally, I don’t think studios should listen to fans, because fans usually get mad about stuff like casting Black people and women in prominent roles. But in the case of Depp and Grindelwald, the outcry came from people pointing out that a dude accused of spousal abuse might not be the best fit for a franchise based on children’s books. That is a valid point and one that, ultimately, the fans ended up being right about.
Back in 2017, though, Warners and Rowling stuck to their guns, and Depp ended up suingThe Sunover being labelled a wife beater, and now here we are. Warners ended up dismissing Depp anyway, and Depp lost his libel suit, which meansThe Sun可以叫他打妻子而不受惩罚(theyare). I don’t, however, think this means that Depp’s career is dead. He will find plenty of people to support him and give him opportunities (I mean, Mel Gibson is still working). But starring in billion-dollar studio franchises might be over. Disney was already considering aDepp-freePirates of the Caribbeanreboot, and I can’t imagine another studio hiring him for such a gig, not so long as every UK media outlet has free rein to start every casting announcement with the headline, “Wife beater Johnny Depp…”
That is entirely why Warners asked Depp to leave the franchise.Fantastic Beastsis not on solid ground—Crimes of Grindelwaldmade $160 million less thanFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which made over half a billion less thanDeathly Hallows – Part 2. There are indications this is not the follow-up franchise fans were looking for after Harry Potter’s story ended, and casting Johnny Depp as the main villain did not pay off. Even back in 2017 he seemed to be adding to the franchise’s liabilities, and now he is a major liability simply because, again, an entire country’s press can call him a wife beater in every publication and broadcast. No one wants that associated with their franchise, and especially when the series creator herselfis becoming an albatrossaround the franchise’s neck.Fantastic Beastsis already operating from a publicity deficit, and Johnny Depp just became one burden too many to carry forFantastic Beasts 3(which is currently filming).
For those screaming about why Amber Heard hasn’t been fired from theAquamanfranchise, if and when she loses a similar court case, maybe she will be. The problem for Warners isn’t the accusations, it’s the liability of the legal loss. They were willing to stand by Depp as long as the accusations were he said/she said. Public apologies from Depp and Heard were enough for the studio back in 2017. But Depp losing his libel case changes the game entirely. It changes his narrative entirely. There are plenty of fans who continue to support him, but if you’re responsible for a billion-dollar franchise which sells not just movie tickets but books, toys, merchandise, and theme park passes, you can’t take chances, especially since your new movie franchise isn’t doing as well as you’d like. Casting Johnny Depp as Grindelwald was meant to energizeFantastic Beasts, but it’s been nothing but controversy since day one, and that controversy culminated in an embarrassing legal loss which pretty much forced Warners’ hand. In short: they should have cast Colin Farrell to play Grindelwald in the first place.
