‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Actor Voices Support for Johnny Depp and Shares Behind-the-Scenes Moment With the Star
Actor Greg Ellis, known for roles in blockbuster films like Pirates of the Caribbean and Titanic, recently took a stand in support of co-star Johnny Depp in his battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Heard has alleged that Depp was violent toward her. Depp is now suing the publisher of U.K. tabloid The Sun for an article that referred to him as a “wife beater,” BBC News reports.
Ellis plans to discuss Depp’s case on his video podcast The Respondent with Greg Ellis, set to go live on July 19.
“In Episode 3 of the video podcast – The Respondent – I expose Amber Heard’s #MeToo playbook. Janice Fiamengo joins for a live Q&A after the episode,” he shared in an Instagram post. An image of Depp with the words ‘Amber Heard Lied’ across the side was shared along with the post.
Ellis also shared another post in support of Depp. “Right here. Right now. I am planting my pirate flag in the ground 🏴☠️!! #isupportjohnnydepp Comment with a pirate flag to show @johnnydepp your support!”
Greg Ellis reveals how Johnny Depp created his Captain Jack Sparrow costume
Ellis spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet about The Respondent and also shared fond memories working on the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
“The first movie, we did a read-through for it at the Viper Room” he recalled. Depp used to own the controversial nightclub in West Hollywood. “And nobody had any idea that Pirates was going to be a hit.”
“Disney chose Pirates and they were really nervous about how to approach Pirates,” he recounted. “I remember Johnny did a costume test for the heads of Disney. And he over elaborated every piece of his costume. So instead of five pieces of jewelry, it was 10, etcetera, etcetera.”
“Then he went in because they were all so nervous about the drunk effeminate pirate,” he said. “But [he was] a true movie star. He was like, ‘How about I take four rings off, how about two dreads off?’ And he got back to the place where he wanted to start originally.”
Ellis, who played Lieutenant Commander Theodore Groves in three of the Pirates films, told Express.co.uk Depp should reprise his character of Captain Jack Sparrow for the final installment of the franchise.
“If Jack Sparrow isn’t a key, if not the key element, to wrapping up a multi-billion dollar franchise, is it not akin to not having Captain Kirk in [the original] Star Trek?” he said.
‘The Respondent’ covers controversial topics
Ellis said The Respondent was a project he’s been working on for years. “I’ve been ideating this project for quite a while,” he said. “And I was busy writing the book, my book comes out Thanksgiving. But I wanted to engage in conversations with people about some of the themes within the book.”
“So I started with simple Zoom interviews,” he said. But in post-production The Respondent developed into more of a television-type series. He shared that he planned to introduce guests outside the mainstream and dig deeply into topics like “cancel culture.”
“The main theme and why I started it is lots of reactivity in our media, in our cancel culture,” he shared. “In our social media and our communication discourse. And how we can be less reactive and more responsible. Stop the blame and fault. I need to find a way to have more civil discourse and critical thinking and agree to disagree and make it less about extremes on the left and right from one party or the other or one campaign or the other.”
The Respodent‘s Johnny Depp discussion goes live on July 19 on Thinkspot.
