Johnny Depp played Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, or at least he did, until Warner Bros. asked him to step down from the role due to his very public legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. Now, the actor has reflected on being booted from the franchise.
“Listen, they’ve said all kinds of things out there in the world about me, and it doesn’t bother me. I’m not running for office,” Depp told the Telegraph. “It literally stopped in a millisecond, like, while I was doing the movie. They said we’d like you to resign. But what was really in my head was they wanted me to retire.“
When asked how he responded to that “request” at the moment, Depp said, “F*** you. There’s far too many of me to kill. If you think you can hurt me more than I’ve already been hurt you’re gravely mistaken.“
The studio quickly tapped Mads Mikkelsen to replace Depp. Mikkelsen later said it was difficult to replace Depp, but suggested that Depp “might” return to the role. “It was very intimidating,” Mikkelsen said. “Obviously, well, now the course has changed—he won the suit, the court [case]—so let’s see if he comes back. He might. I’m a big fan of Johnny. I think he’s an amazing actor, I think he did a fantastic job. Having said that, I could not copy it. There’s there was no way I could just copy it, because it’s so much him. It would be creative suicide.” I can’t imagine that will happen as Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore prematurely ended the franchise following its disappointing box office performance. Disappointing may be putting it mildly, as the film is the lowest-grossing installment of the Wizarding World franchise by a fair margin.
As far as Depp’s future, the actor is starring alongside Penélope Cruz and Madelyn Cline in Day Drinker, an upcoming thriller from The Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb. According to Lionsgate’s official description, the film tells the story of a private yacht bartender (Cline) who encounters a mysterious onboard guest (Depp). They soon find themselves entangled with a criminal figure (Cruz) and connected in ways no one saw coming.
There have also been rumblings that he could return as Captain Jack Sparrow in the next installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
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