Johnny Depp Settles Lawsuit That Has Nothing to do With Amber Heard
Johnny Depp won his defamation trial against Amber Heard and earned $10.35 million in damages from his ex-wife. Following that courtroom drama, Depp settled a years-old lawsuit, which has nothing to do with Heard, before heading to trial.
The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial was just one of many recent legal dramas for Depp
Depp’s trial against Heard stemmed from a 2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote in which she stated she was a public face of domestic abuse. Though not named, Depp felt the piece implied he was the abuser. He possibly lost out on millions of dollars when Disney dropped him from the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie after the op-ed, and he sued Heard for defamation and sought $50 million in damages.
The 2022 trial came after the pair appeared in a British court in 2020. Depp sued News Group Newspapers for libel after The Sun labeled him a wife-beater. The court ruled against him in that case.
Deadline reported in 2019 that Depp settled a $50 million lawsuit against his former legal team, which followed a $25 million suit Depp brought against his one-time business management group.
Depp’s latest settled lawsuit revolved around an on-set incident while filming the 2018 movie City of Lies. Depp settled, but another crew member came to his defense.
‘City of Lies’ crew member files lawsuit vs. Depp, claims star offered $100,000 to be punched; another crew member defends Depp
He has spent a lot of time in courtrooms in recent years, but Depp avoided going before a judge by settling a lawsuit filed by a City of Lies crew member.
Location manager Greg “Rocky” Brooks filed the lawsuit. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, Brooks’ suit claimed, among other things, that Depp hit him twice during an on-set tirade and offered him $100,000 to punch Depp.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
However, THR reports another crew member defended Depp from Brooks’ claims. Script supervisor Emma Danoff claimed Brooks insulted a Black homeless person during filming. She claimed Depp’s confrontation with Brooks stemmed from the actor defending the homeless person.
Depp’s legal wranglings seem to have impacted his acting career. City of Lies, which came on the heels of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018, was one of Depp’s most recent movies. He starred in Waiting for the Barbarians in 2019 and Minamata in 2020, but his only acting credit since then is voice work in the animated Puffins: Impossible and Puffins.
Now that he seems to be done with many of his legal proceedings, will we see more Depp movies in the future?
Upcoming Johnny Depp movies and his return as Captain Jack Sparrow (sort of)
Time will tell how Depp’s career recovers following the Heard trial, but it seems like building it back up will take time. He has something in the works, but a release date seems beyond the horizon.
Depp’s first movie after the trial sees him star as King Louis XV in the French film Jeanne du Barry. It tells the story of a peasant who rises to become a mistress of the French king.
The movie also stars Maïwenn (the Diva in The Fifth Element) in the title role. Maïwenn will also direct, but the movie is still in pre-production as Why Not Productions attempts to make it.
In the meantime, Depp recently made a return to his iconic Jack Sparrow role, sort of. Disneyland revamped its Pirates of the Caribbean ride in 2006 to include animatronic characters for Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, and Captain Barbossa. The park based those characters on Depp, Bill Nighy, and Geoffrey Rush, respectively.
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride closed in the spring of 2022 for maintenance. It reopened in the summer, and Depp’s Jack Sparrow likeness remained. Disney had the opportunity to remove it, but it chose to leave it in. It may not be quite the same as seeing Depp on the big screen, but it’s the best version of Jack Sparrow fans have right now.
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