Again questioned about his role as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga during the defamation lawsuit he is bringing against Amber Heard, Johnny Depp said he felt “betrayed” by Disney.
Currently on trial for defamation against Amber Heard, Johnny Depp has once again mentioned the Pirates of the Caribbean saga.
On April 21, the actor told his ex-wife’s lawyer that he would not take over the role of Jack Sparrow. This week, the 58-year-old actor nevertheless clarified to his lawyer during his cross-examination that he would have liked to play in the sixth film of the saga in order to say goodbye to his character.
The actor says he felt cheated, as he was ready to move on and wrap up the story properly with his co-stars.
“I felt like these characters should be able to say goodbye in due form. There’s a way to end such a big franchise and I think the characters deserved to have a positive ending. I intended to carry on until it was time to stop“.
After starring in 5 Pirates of the Caribbean feature films and making Jack Sparrow an iconic character in popular culture, Johnny Depp saw his contract with Disney terminated just days after the publication in the Washington Post (in December 2018) of Amber Heard’s platform in which she detailed the abuse she allegedly suffered.
Will Johnny Depp return to Pirates of the Caribbean 6?
In the wake of this editorial, Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, mentioned the idea of a reboot of the franchise at the microphone of The Hollywood Reporter: “We want to bring new energy and vitality“. Implying that Johnny Depp would no longer be part of the project.
“I had suddenly become guilty until my innocence was proven”.
In his last testimony, Johnny Depp says: “Captain Jack Sparrow is a character that I built from A to Z and in which I, of course, put a lot of myself. Having worked on these films with the teams, I added a lot of myself to them, I rewrote a lot of the dialogues, scenes and jokes. I did not quite understand how, after this long and fruitful relationship, at least for Disney, I had suddenly become guilty until my innocence was proven.”
Johnny Depp then clarified his last comments in which he announced that he would not be reprising the role of Jack Sparrow “even for 300 million dollars“.
I had this very deep and distinct feeling of having been betrayed by the people I had worked hard with, the people to whom I had delivered a character that they initially despised.
Ben Rottenbord, Amber Heard’s lawyer, then counterattacked by saying that his client’s platform had nothing to do with Depp’s dismissal. The lawyer demonstrated his statements based on an article published by the Daily Mail in October 2018, two months before the testimony of the actress. It states that Depp was fired for reasons of “financial problems and personal dramas“.
Walt Disney Company Jerry Bruckheimer & Johnny Depp on the set of The Fountain of Youth.
Depp responded by saying he didn’t know, but he wasn’t surprised: “Two years had already passed during which the whole world was talking about the fact that I was “a man who beats his wife”. So I’m sure Disney was trying to cut ties as a precaution.“.
Christian Carino, Johnny Depp’s ex-agent, testified on his behalf saying that the breach of contract with Disney “is linked to the charges brought by Amber Heard“.
We still don’t know exactly what Disney plans for the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but 2 hypothetical projects have been announced: a direct sequel carried by the young actors of Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites, and a spin -off/reboot written by Christina Hodson and ported by Margot Robbie.