What will happen to the careers of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard? Entertainment industry insiders, reached by Vanity Fair, have their say (preferring to remain anonymous). Most people agree that neither actor emerged unscathed from the defamation lawsuit that ultimately saw Depp triumph.
“It was disgusting to see the lawsuit,” said a movie studio executive, “it will take time to find out if people will want to do business with them, and if the public will care to see them in the cinema”.
An executive at a major studio specializing in major global releases sees the jury’s verdict as a Pyrrhic victory for Depp: “There is apparently a winner, but they have both extended their dirty laundry to the point that it will be difficult to integrate them into a major project”. Some predict that the verdict will also have sad political repercussions: “It is easy for the right to see in this affair a testimony to certain excesses of Hollywood and its lack of real contact with people”. Even if Depp is tempted to take advantage of his status as the leader of the anti-MeToo movement, he should resist, according to a seasoned producer: “Johnny Depp should represent himself as someone who wants to return to normal after years of total absence of sobriety: passing him off as the enemy of #MeToo would not work in his favor”.
A top Hollywood publicist and awards strategist sees a bumpy road ahead for Depp: “He’s gone too far, hard for studios to get him on board.” It’s a mine. But what can it do to him? He will continue to make money from marginal video on demand and that will suit him.
Some think the opposite: a talent agent for a major agency, considering that Depp’s dangerous artistic image was already acquired, believes that the public could be lenient: “All it would take is a studio to hire him. If he made even one independent film outside of Hollywood, maybe someone would be willing to rehire him.”
(Photo Getty Images)
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