Even though Johnny Depp expressed during his testimony in his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard that he would never return to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to play Captain Jack Sparrow again, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt that Disney parted ways with him soon after Heard’s allegations of abuse went public. In new testimony, via Toofab, Depp went on to further express why his relationship with Disney and the franchise is really over.
Depp revealed in testimony during the defamation case how he learned that he and Disney would be parting ways. Heard described herself as a victim of abuse in an op-ed written for The Washington Post back in 2018. Even though Heard didn’t mention Depp by name, the damage was done. The actor had previously discussed a sixth Pirates film with Disney so to learn he was being let go completely blindsided him:
“Hurt. Blinding hurt. It was like somebody hit me in the back of the head with a 2×4… Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I built from the ground up and was something that I, of course, put a lot of [myself] into the character and also having worked on these films with these people and added much of myself, much of my own re-writing of the dialogue and scenes and jokes. I didn’t quite understand how, after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent.”
Depp also revealed that he wanted to give the character a “proper goodbye” because it was his understanding that he and Disney would be continuing on for another film after 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. That release wasn’t written as a full ending for Captain Jack Sparrow and that left the actor feeling cheated because he wanted to end things properly for himself, his co-stars, and the fans.
“My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were. A franchise can only last for so long and there’s a way to end a franchise like that and I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out, to end the franchise on a very good note. I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”
When he was grilled further about not wanting to reprise the role even if Disney offered him “$300 million and a million alpacas”, he clarified the statement by expressing the betrayal ran deep when they parted ways with him. Depp said, “There was a very deep and distinct feeling of having been betrayed by the people that I had been working with, the people I had worked hard for, people I had delivered a character to that they initially despised.”
I can see why Disney opted for this from a business standpoint as they wanted to separate themselves from the drama but I can also see Depp’s point that they had a very collaborative and successful relationship on all of those films and they all benefitted from it. From Depp’s point of view, they canceled him before he was even given a chance to refute the claims. The whole situation is rather ugly and it’s going to take time to see how both parties come out of this in terms of their career status once the smoke clears.
Do YOU think Disney was right to part ways with Johnny Depp?