Johnny Depp Says He Has 'No Regrets' About Amber Heard Trial & Was A 'Crash Test Dummy For #MeToo'
In a sprawling interview with The Times U.K., Johnny Depp claimed he was a 'crash test dummy for #MeToo,' reflecting on his protracted legal battle with actress and ex-wife Amber Heard.
'My comeback? Honestly? I didn't go anywhere,' he said. 'If I had the chance to split I would never come back.'
More from Deadline
Sick Juror Throws Sean Combs Trial Off Tight Schedule; No Decision Yet If Diddy Will Testify
Tyler Perry Slams $260M Sexual Assault Suit By 'The Oval' Actor As A "Scam"
Another Harvey Weinstein Rape Retrial Could Start This Fall, Judge Says; Current Case Ends In Mistrial As Jury Foreman Won't Return To Deliberations - Update
The Pirates of the Caribbean star, who classified his ousting from Hollywood as a 'boycott,' praised the San Sebastián International Film Festival for sticking with him through 'all the hit pieces, the bullsh–.' In 2021, the fest awarded him the prestigious Donostia, its highest accolade, and last year, his second directorial effort, Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, garnered a long-standing ovation by the crowd.
'No, I have no regrets about anything — because, truly, what can we do about last week's dinner? Not a f—ing thing,' he said of the much-publicized court trial with Heard.
In 2022, Depp and Heard engaged in a contentious court battle during which a jury unanimously found he was defamed. After Heard filed an appeal of the verdict, the two announced separately that the case had been settled with the money paid by Heard going to charity. The case stemmed from a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard said she was a survivor of domestic violence without mentioning Depp's name. Throughout the media circus that ensued during the live-streamed trial, Heard — who wields considerably less power as a woman who is not as well-known nor cherished as veteran Depp — was largely raked over the coals both online and by Depp's fans who lined the doors outside the courtroom, receiving death threats. Studies conducted by a research firm also indicated the overwhelming hatred she experienced on social media was not entirely human-generated.
The Virginia battle also followed a separate libel case in the U.K. over The Sun's calling Depp a 'wife beater.' The judge sided with the publication in 2020, after which Depp was asked to resign from Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts franchise, with the judge finding that the 'great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved.'
When asked why he pursued the public trial in the U.S., Depp answered: 'Look, it had gone far enough. I knew I'd have to semi-eviscerate myself. Everyone was saying, 'It'll go away!' But I can't trust that. What will go away? The fiction pawned around the f—ing globe? No it won't. If I don't try to represent the truth it will be like I've actually committed the acts I am accused of. And my kids will have to live with it. Their kids. Kids that I've met in hospitals. So the night before the trial in Virginia I didn't feel nervous. If I don't have to memorize lines, if you're just speaking the truth? Roll the dice.'
He continued, 'Look, none of this was going to be easy, but I didn't care. I thought, 'I'll fight until the bitter f—ing end.' And if I end up pumping gas? That's all right. I've done that before.'
Depp also claimed his experience predated #MeToo, and that's why people failed to support him. However, activist Tarana Burke's hashtag and movement were founded in 2006, later moving to the entertainment industry space circa 2017, the same year the New York Times and The New Yorker published exposés on now-disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein.
'I'll tell you what hurts. There are people, and I'm thinking of three, who did me dirty. Those people were at my kids' parties. Throwing them in the air. And, look, I understand people who could not stand up [for me] because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice,' he said. 'I was pre-#MeToo. I was like a crash test dummy for #MeToo. It was before Harvey Weinstein. And I sponged it, took it all in. And so I wanted from the hundreds of people I've met in that industry to see who was playing it safe. Better go woke!'
Since 2022, the actor hasn't really gone gently into that good night — hence the disagreement with the term 'comeback.' That year, he made a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards; later on, he embarked on a 2023 European tour with band Hollywood Vampires and was seen in Savage X Fenty's fashion show. More recently, he is set to reunite with Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Penelope Cruz in Lionsgate's upcoming Day Drinker, also featuring Madelyn Cline. Additionally, filming for Terry Gilliam's Carnival: At the End of Days, opposite Adam Driver, Jeff Bridges and Jason Momoa was scheduled to commence in April.
Best of Deadline
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds
A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media
'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Katie Holmes To Simon Hellberg
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
F1 Review: I Love The Eye-Popping Races, But The Sports Movie Clichés Are Overwhelming
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. There is no question that director Joseph Kosinski knows how to shoot things moving super fast. He first demonstrated this expertise about a decade and a half ago with Lightcycles zooming around The Grid in Tron: Legacy, and his collaboration with daredevil Tom Cruise three years ago yielded the wild aerial awesomeness of Top Gun: Maverick. All of this is to say that the filmmaker is a natural fit for a film about Formula 1 racing – a project that offers ample opportunity for Kosinski to make audiences feel like they are moving at extremely high velocity while simply sitting in a comfy chair. F1 Release Date: June 27, 2025Directed By: Joseph KosinskiWritten By: Ehren KrugerStarring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier BardemRating: PG-13 for strong language, and actionRuntime: 156 minutes As one would anticipate, F1 is an impressive technical achievement. It repeatedly offers the visceral experience of being strapped to the hood/side/back of one of the title sport's speedy cars, with inventive cinematography and brilliant sound design working in tandem to create the powerful effect. I can say without any reservation that the film met all my expectations in that respect, as I felt like I could practically smell the burning rubber on asphalt. However, it also falls short in some key narrative and storytelling arenas, which very much hamper the 156 minute epic. Brad Pitt is using every ounce of his star power playing driver Sonny Hayes, but the movie nonetheless fails to make it over two key hurdles: fast cars and crashes/explosions can't disguise the fact that the script by Ehren Kruger is excessively trope-ridden and formulaic. For those who don't know the various rules and regulations of the sport going in to the movie, it provides very little assistance and asks that you figure everything out via context (which I normally wouldn't ding a film for, but the reality is that I felt confused more often than desirable for an entertaining big screen experience). If you're a veteran fan of sports movies, this is a tale you'll probably recognize: Sonny Hayes is an aging, but still passionate driver looking for any excuse to get behind the wheel, and out of nowhere, he gets a golden ticket. His old friend Ruben (Javier Bardem) has a team that is desperate to win races and in need of a veteran to train hotshot rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Sonny is far from the first choice, but he is the first one to say yes. Things start off rocky as the team fails to synchronize and mistakes are made. But as Sonny and Joshua starts moving in the same direction toward the target goal, personality conflicts are overcome. And with the help of technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) using her knowhow to make the cars work best for the drivers in the tandem driving sport, they start to win. I don't know if anyone has ever tried to calculate a golden 'cliché to runtime' ratio, but F1 is certainly a film that goes far beyond what it would be. Stock characters and story can be fine if properly packaged into a breezy 90-minute feature, but the Formula One feature asks for an hour-plus more than that, and it's too big an ask. Stakes and emotional investment dwindle when the moviegoer is left waiting for next obvious plot development to unfold, and that comes paired with disappointment as you consistently recognize that the work isn't going to make any effort to try something new. It can't be denied that some people find comfort in a movie like this, as it's a nostalgic throwback to a past era of filmmaking… but if I'm seeking that kind of comfort, I simply go back to watch the titles from the late 20th century that originated it. Anyone's desire to see the storytelling evolve and to get something sincerely fresh out of the experience will be wanting (those seeking a similar aesthetic thrill can also find it elsewhere, with recent titles springing to mind including James Mangold's Ford vs. Ferrari and Neill Blomkamp's Gran Turismo). As for the presentation of the eponymous sport, I will admit to being of two minds. I have vitriol for mindless exposition that gracelessly spoon feeds information to ensure that everyone in the audience understands everything that is going on, and I also understand that Formula 1 has a massive, worldwide fanbase that would be insulted if F1 tried to hold their hand through every racing sequence in the film. All that being said, I am a layman who struggled to fully understand certain mid-race events and found myself disengaged during my screening. I get it: I would hate any baseball movie that felt the need to explain to me that three strikes equals a strikeout and/or what a home run is. But a little hand-holding isn't the worst thing. A great baseball movie can get across the mechanics of the game and potentially turn a non-fan into a fan; after watching F1, I can't say I feel any kind of motivation to learn more about Formula 1 (which offers a kind of disappointment unto itself). Die-hards will love seeing their favorite sport on screen, but newbies like myself are kept at arm's length and won't feel regarded as a target audience (a contrast with everything else about it that screams 'mass appeal'). The various characters are as clichéd as the plot – from Kerry Condon's 'the only woman rebelling in a male-dominated field' to Tobias Menzies' 'slimy executive-type offering back-stabbing deals' – and there is exactly nothing unique about the dynamic between the grizzled veteran and egotistical rookie. F1 is a case of actors elevating material, though. Brad Pitt isn't exactly developing his range playing Sonny Hayes, but there certainly is a proper exploitation that has made him a star in the last 30+ years, and a great deal of credit is deserved for his work actually getting behind the wheel and driving at three-figure speeds. And while this is certainly a case of 'The Brad Pitt Show,' it can be said that Bardem brings a lot of charm as the 'good friend who is way out over his skis' and Damson Idris demonstrates impressive confidence as an up-and-coming performer going toe-to-toe with his A-list co-star. F1 is a movie that seems to have a very clear idea of who it is for, but a consequence is that anyone on the outside of that target won't find much to love. It's a proper big screen experience, as you'll want to feel your chair rumbling from the sound mix and have your entire field of vision dominated by whizzing scenery and blurry asphalt, but thanks to its underwhelming script, its shelf life beyond cinemas is going to be questionable.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I'm A Huge Fan Of Formula 1, And I'm Totally Fine With The Most Unrealistic Parts Of Brad Pitt's F1
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Warning: Spoiler Alert! There are spoilers around every corner in this story about the racing in F1, so consider this your caution flag before proceeding. This weekend, F1 ,starring Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, hits the 2025 movie schedule, and as a Formula 1 fan, I've been excited for this movie ever since they began shooting during the 2023 F1 season. Honestly, I expected it to be somewhat unrealistic, and it was. That didn't bother me, though. Let me explain why. Setting aside the fact that the movie never once showed race qualifying or the three practice sessions that every race has, the in-race tactics of the team led by Sonny Hayes (Pitt) and his teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) are nothing like you'd see in a real Grand Prix. Harkening back to another Jerry Bruckheimer-produced racing classic, Days of Thunder, there are a lot more 'rubbin' is racin'' moments than would ever happen in a real race. Sonny's cheeky moves to disable his opponents and even his car would be sniffed out immediately by the race stewards, and he would almost certainly be black-flagged (disqualified) from the race and possibly suspended from racing. While 'rubbin'' is a somewhat normal part of NASCAR, it's insanely dangerous in F1, where the cars are much more delicate (and much faster). In F1 these days, safety is paramount; the race officials would never, ever let a team get away with dangerous tactics like that. During the Italian Grand Prix at the world-famous Monza, the rain starts to fall hard. This isn't weird; unlike American racing, F1 races don't stop for rain (most of the time). What is weird is the discussion the team has between the drivers, Sonny and Joshua, about what tires they are going to use. The discussion is between 'slicks,' which are the normal racing tires and have no tread at all, and 'intermediates,' which are tires racers use for light rain, which do have some tread to push away the water. There is almost no situation where, in a rain as hard as it is in the movie, cars would ever stay on the track on slicks. They would have literally no grip at all. If anything, the discussion would be between intermediates or 'full wet' tires (tires with even more tread for harder rain). Staying on slicks would almost certainly end in disaster, and it does in the movie. One thing I definitely expected to see in F1 was a big, fiery crash, and boy oh boy was there one! Joshua flies off the track (because he stayed on slicks in the rain) and crashes into the barrier with tremendous force in a fireball. These kinds of crashes are the type you expect in any racing movie, but they are exceedingly rare in real races. Most crashes in a real Formula 1 race are actually kind of underwhelming; a car loses control and spins onto the gravel or into a wall, and some carbon fiber goes flying; there's almost never a fire these days, and the drivers usually climb out of their wrecked car unaided. There used to be a lot more terrible, and often deadly, crashes in F1. The movie Rush, from 2013, features one that was absolutely true to life in a race from the 1970s. However, ever since the death of the legendary Ayrton Senna (who still has millions of fans today, including Alexandra Daddario) at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, Formula 1 has gone all in on making the cars as safe as possible, and they have largely succeeded. That's not to say dramatic crashes never happen. During the 2020 season, Haas driver Romain Grosjean flew into a barrier at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and his car exploded into a huge fireball. Grosjean escaped safely, with a few minor burns to his hands, much like Joshua in F1. So, while the crash in the film is something that could happen, it's incredibly rare. While it may seem like I'm complaining about the racing scenes in F1, none of these things bothered me at all. As I wrote, I expected the movie to be over-the-top. Heck, I wanted it to be over-the-top. The racing scenes are amazing. As my colleague Eric Eisenberg wrote in his review of F1, F1 is an impressive technical achievement. It repeatedly offers the visceral experience of being strapped to the hood/side/back of one of the title sport's speedy cars. F1 is so much fun, especially for a fan of racing, that playing fast and loose with reality doesn't matter at all. All the racing scenes, from the moment we first see Sonny competing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, through the last bit at the Rally Mexico are amazing. Because the production had the full support of Formula 1, every racer from the 2023 season make some kind of appearance. It was like spotting Easter Eggs for a fan like me. 'Look! There's Max Verstappen! Hey, it's Fernando Alonso!' There are also the tracks. Silverstone, Spa, and Monza are three legendary tracks, and we get to see all of them extensively in the movie. It's just a really fun ride. F1 is the epitome of a popcorn-chomping summer blockbuster. It's not a documentary, and it's not Drive To Survive (which you can watch with a Netflix subscription). Expecting it to be is, frankly, silly. It will make you a fan of F1, though. At least, I hope it will, because it's a fantastic sport. If the lack of realism does upset you, I think you need to relax and think like Sonny in the last lap, let the car do the flying, and just float into the zone.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Critics Are Calling F1 ‘A Hell Of A Ride,' But They Agree There's One Thing Keeping It From The Finish Line
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Brad Pitt's F1 has been one of the most highly anticipated theatrical releases of the year, and now the wait is almost over. Critics had the opportunity to screen the Formula One-inspired sports drama ahead of its June 27 release on the 2025 movie calendar, and while F1's first reactions suggested audiences are in for a wild ride, they all agree it's full of sports movie clichés. So, where do they stand on the movie overall? With Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski at the helm, we're no doubt expecting an experience worthy of being seen in 4DX or IMAX with intense race scenes (and yes, Brad Pitt and Damson Idris actually did get behind the wheel). According to Ross Bonaime of Collider, it fulfills those expectations and delivers one of the best racing movies ever, despite hitting all the tropes. He rates it 8 out of 10 and writes: This is the sort of film built for the summer: a loud, exciting movie that just feels expensive that'll make you want to clap with excitement over even the most minuscule moments and high-five the stranger next to you in a packed theater. F1 is an absolute blast and one of the most exciting films to come out this summer, a film that will put you on the edge of your seat and make you glad that filmmakers like Kosinski are still making films like this today. Mae Abdulbaki of ScreenRant agrees, also giving the movie 8 out of 10. The critic says F1 is basically a 156-minute commercial with brands everywhere and a completely unoriginal story, and still, Abdulbaki was riveted by every minute of it, saying: F1 is a theater movie for sure. It's exciting to watch it with a crowd that'll react appropriately, from the laughs to the gasps to the cheers (my theater audience had all three reactions). Even if you're not into the sport or have never watched a race in its entirety (I haven't), F1 will still hold your interest. It might be a Formula One promotional movie at its core, but at least it's a damn good film. Clint Gage of IGN admits that F1 'won't win any awards for originality,' but says the sports movie formula has stayed the same for a reason — it's pretty hard to mess up. Despite giving in to those tried-and-true tactics, the critic says you can tell everyone had fun making this movie, and that enthusiasm is infectious. Gage gives it a 'Good' 7 out of 10 and writes: Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski assembles an all-star crew in front of and behind the camera for F1, and they craft a technical marvel of a movie. It's gorgeous and thrilling to look at, with top-notch editing backing up Brad Pitt's IMAX-consuming charisma. It's a faithful devotee to the sports-movie formula that's kept from greatness by a few too many unnecessary components and a finish line that maybe should've been closer than two and a half hours away. But in spite of that, it's still a hell of a ride. Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence gives the movie a B+ for how it captures the adrenaline and danger of being in the driver's seat. The movie (especially the races) is never boring, Miller says, but you definitely start to feel that 2.5-plus-hour runtime. The critic says: Story-wise, the plot is substantial enough to keep F1 from feeling like a two-hour-and-35-minute Formula 1 advertisement. (Yeah, this one's long.) The bad news is that it covers more than a few of your classic sports movies tropes, such as Sonny's tragic past, and of course Sonny and talented up-and-comer Joshua (Damson Idris, who makes the most of his limited character development) wind up butting heads. You'll see some of the other cliches coming a mile down the track, and it feels like there's maybe one more big plot beat than necessary. Witney Seibold of SlashFilm has the least patience for F1's shortcomings from the reviews I read, rating the film 4.5 out of 10. Like Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, Brad Pitt is a 'previous generation's pretty boy' determined to prove he's 'still got it,' Seibold says. The driving sequences are fun, but the critic says that's not enough, writing: Had F1 been a tight 90 minutes, perhaps a lot of its more glaring writing flaws could be forgiven, or at least ignored (well, the terrible handling of Condon's character notwithstanding). But at a bloated 156 minutes, audiences will have too ample time to ponder the film's many weaknesses. The racing will be exciting — very exciting, in fact — and Pitt is certainly a movie star, but quite frankly, I can have my own midlife crisis, thank you. I don't need to watch Pitt's. The critics seem to agree that F1 goes on a little longer than necessary and doesn't exactly bring the originality. However, at least for most, that's hardly a concern. Sports movie tropes are popular for a reason — they make for good movies, and it sounds like Brad Pitt and Joseph Kosinski have succeeded in making one of those. F1 hits theaters on Friday, June 27.
