Johnny Depp’s case against Amber Heard is based on an argument that couldn’t be further from the truth, even if his fans don’t want to hear it.
Kate Moss ’cameo in the nasty libel lawsuit between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard reminded us all of one thing: that when he and Moss came out, Depp used to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
Those bright and sharp photos of the superhero couple Moss and Depp were taken just as I was about to reach the top, working with movie giants, adorning the covers of big magazines and raising the box office.
He was clearly Tim Burton’s favorite (Corpse bride, Alice in Wonderland, Edward Manis of scissors, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and more). He took creative risks with Fear and disgust in Las Vegas or played the romantic role Chocolate while with beloved indie Jim Jarmusch, he did some of his best work in the trippy western Death.
His talents crossed genres and he was equally daring and persuasive in horrors From hell i The ninth door as it was in criminal thrillers Donnie Brasco i Cop.
With pirates of the caribbean, built an entire franchise based on his charisma and camera game, turning a trip to Disneyland into a box office hit. He was even nominated for an Oscar as Drinking Jack Sparrow.
It was a summit that lasted many, many years, but if there’s one massive myth at the heart of the Depp-Heard case it’s that Depp’s career was still in those dazzling days.
The actor is suing his ex-wife for $ 50 million in lost profits, arguing that his 2018 Washington Post an opinion piece, in which he accused him of domestic abuse, cost him several papers and, in fact, his career.
There’s a truth here that his passionate fans won’t hear, but we hope the jury does. When Heard’s play was released, Depp’s career had long been in decline.
The turning point was in 2013 when The lone Muntaner bombed. The idea sounded good on paper: it was Depp and his Pirates of director Gore Verbinski and it was basically a terrifying adventure on land.
But it did not even recover its huge $ 250 million production budget, let alone marketing costs, and plans for a sequel were quickly ruled out.
He made Depp’s career known: his attractiveness alone was not enough to sell a film. In the ensuing decade, his moderate successes include Too black they haven’t beaten the flops like now Mortdecai. Depp often reserved smaller films for small studios, directed by lesser-known filmmakers.
Only his staunchest fans have heard of it … The teacher, City of lies o Minamata.
Where his films made a lot of money, he was not the headline but part of a larger set.
Depp advocates point to a trio of box office hits just before Heard’s allegations of abuse in 2018: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead men don’t tell lies, Murder on the Orient Express i Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
There’s a big difference between these hits and his earlier films of his career: people didn’t go to see them because of Depp, the audience came together for his familiarity with the titles. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald it wasn’t a “Johnny Depp movie,” it was a “Harry Potter movie.” Depp was just there.
I pirates of the caribbean then it was bigger than Depp’s mark: the beast he helped create surpassed his stellar power.
This is not just true about Depp. The last decade has seen a huge growth in the attractiveness of intellectual property thanks to Marvel’s dominance, Harry Potter, Fast & Furious, Transformers and its kind, and the corresponding decline of the movie star.
Except in exceptional cases – Top Gun: Maverick it’s one of them: viewers don’t owe it to whoever is billed at the top of the poster. This movie star model is moving to streaming where the entry barrier is much lower and requires little effort to try a new Chris Pratt offer, whatever the story.
And unlike Robert Downey Jr., Dwayne Johnson, Tom Cruise or Charlize Theron, Depp also has a tough reputation.
He is known for being late for the set, which not only wastes the time of others, but also costs the productions eons of money, and then, when he appears, he has not done the most rudimentary aspects of his work, such as learn their lines. .
His predilection for drugs and alcohol made him too much of a responsibility for big studios like Universal, Warner Bros. and the familiar Disney.
Disney executive Tina Newman said the decision not to continue with a lead by Depp Pirates of the Caribbean 6 It had nothing to do with Heard’s opinion piece, while his former agent Tracey Jacobs said there were multiple complaints from all the films he has worked on, stemming from his “fundamental problems of ira “.
Jacobs said his unprofessional behavior became more prominent in the last 10 years and that he had to fly to Australia twice during the production of the fifth. pirates of the caribbean to resolve complaints about their work ethic.
“The word ran, it made people reluctant to use it towards the end,” he testified.
Whatever the jury decides in the Depp-Heard trial, even if it succeeds in the case, Depp, the movie star, is done. It has been done for many, many years.