Johnny Depp dropped from 'Fantastic Beasts' after losing 'wife beater' case
Johnny Depp on Friday was forced out of the “Fantastic Beasts” movie franchise days after losing a libel case in Britain against a tabloid that branded him a “wife beater.”
The A-list actor, writing on Instagram, said that AT&T Inc's T.N Warner Bros movie studio had asked him to leave his role as villain Gellert Grindelwald. "I have respected and agreed to that request," he said.
Warner Bros said in a statement that Depp “will depart the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise,” and that his role would be recast.
Warner Bros said in a statement that Depp “will depart the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise,” and that his role would be recast.
Depp recently resumed production on the third film in the spinoff from “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. Warner Bros said on Friday its release date had been pushed back to summer 2022 from November 2021.
Depp, 57, who plans to appeal the London libel judgment, wrote that his “life and career will not be defined by this moment.” The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star had sued the publishers of the Sun newspaper after it said he had been violent toward former wife Amber Heard, 34. The newspaper also questioned his casting in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise.
Rowling - herself a survivor of domestic abuse - declined to comment on Depp’s departure.
His exit marked a relatively rare move by Hollywood to recast an actor on ethical grounds.
Kevin Spacey’s role in “All the Money in the World” was reshot with Christopher Plummer in 2017 after Spacey was accused by more than 20 men of sexual misconduct. Spacey has not commented since making an apology to his first accuser.