Johnny Depp was to receive £17.9m for Pirates of the Caribbean 6 before Amber Heard op-ed, agent says

Johnny Depp was allegedly set to receive $22.5m (£17.9m) to star in the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film before Disney decided to go “in a different direction”, according to the actor’s agent.

Jack Whigham, who represented Depp at Creative Artists Agency and later at Range Media Partners, was among the latest to testify amid the ongoing defamation trial between the actor and his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

Heard is being sued by Depp for $50m (£38.2m). He alleges that Heard implied that he abused her during their relationship in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence.

On Monday (2 May), Whigham testified that Heard’s article had a “catastrophic” impact on Depp’s career.

“After the op-ed it was impossible to get him a studio film,” Whigham told the court.

The agent testified that he began working with Depp in October 2016 and that Depp worked steadily in 2017.

Whigam said that Depp took home $8m (£6.4m) for City of Lies, $10m (£7.9m)for Murder on the Orient Express, and $13.5m (£10.8m) for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

All three films were shot in 2017, prior to the op-ed’s publication.

In 2018, he was paid $1m (£798,000) for the independent film Waiting for the Barbarians. He also allegedly took a pay cut for another independent film Minamata, which he eventually took home $3m (£2.4m) for.

Whigam claimed that the op-ed had a “catastrophic” impact on Depp’s career. “It was a first-person account coming from the victim,” he said. “It became a death-knell catastrophic thing for Mr Depp in the Hollywood community.”

Whigam said that following its publication, the financing on Minamata became uncertain, leading Depp to take a pay cut in order to save the film. The actor has not appeared in a movie since.

The agent said that he learned Depp would not star in the sixth Pirates film in early 2019, adding: “It became clear [Disney] were going in a different direction”.

He claimed that Depp was set to receive $22.5m (£17.9m) to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.

On cross-examination, Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft clarified that Depp had never secured a contract for $22.5m (£17.97m) for the film, and that the figure was never committed to writing.

Her attorney also highlighted prior testimony, which suggested that Disney had been hesitant to cast Depp in the film as early as autumn 2019.

In response, Whigam said that producer Jerry Bruckheimer was advocating to include Depp in the film.

In earlier testimony, Depp claimed he was approached to contribute to the screenplay of the sixth Pirates movie before his exit, but the project is now in “dangle mode”.

Depp first starred as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003. The actor went on to reprise his role in sequels Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, On Stranger Tides, and Dead Men Tell No Tales.

During cross-examination, Depp was asked by Heard’s lawyer about an October 2018 article in the Daily Mail published prior to her op-ed, which reported that the actor had already been dropped as Jack Sparrow due to “financial issues and personal dramas”.

Depp testified: “I wasn’t aware of that, but it doesn’t surprise me. Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife beater. So I’m sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe.”

The Depp v Heard trial is currently ongoing. You can follow all the live updates here.