Even if Disney offered him $300 million, Depp previously stated that he would not bring back Jack Sparrow.
Captain Jack Sparrow may have missed out on a sizable sum of money – at least, that’s what his agency claims. According to the newest news from the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial, the actor was reportedly due to earn $22.5 million for his role in Disney’s Pirates 6, but was not recast in the starring role.
Following Heard’s op-ed in the Washington Post outlining her claimed experience with domestic abuse, producers chose to “move in a different way,” according to Jack Whigham, who has represented Depp at both Creative Artists Agency and Range Media Partners.
“After the op-ed, it was impossible to get him a studio film,” Whigham shared in his testimony, describing the impact the December 2018 piece had as “catastrophic.”
According to Variety, Depp is suing his ex-girlfriend for $50 million, claiming that her “false charges of domestic violence” ruined his career. The trial is currently underway in Fairfax, Virginia, and is in its fourth week. We’ve only heard from the father of two’s legal team so far; Heard’s side is expected to begin presenting evidence later in the trial.
Whigham testified on Monday (May 2nd) that he started working with Depp in 2016 and observed him stay booked and active throughout 2017. He was paid $8 million for “City of Lies,” $10 million for “Murder on the Orient Express,” and $13.5 million for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
In 2018, the Kentucky native won $1 million for his efforts on the independent film “Waiting for the Barbarians.” Depp was set to earn $3 million for “Minamata,” but finance reportedly fell through after Heard’s story surfaced, forcing him to take a big pay cut; he hasn’t appeared on film since.
“It was a first-person account coming from the victim,” Whigham told the court today. “It became a death-knell catastrophic thing for Mr. Depp in the Hollywood community.”