Johnny Depp will still be paid at least $10 million for Fantastic Beasts 3

J.K. Rowling defended the choice to cast Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, but when Warner Bros. decided to let him go, she didn’t push back. Notes on a scandal:

Last week, a British court ruled against Johnny Depp in his defamation lawsuit against The Sun, which had characterized the actor as a “wife-beater” in an article. It was part of an ongoing scandal stemming from Depp’s turbulent, two-year marriage with actor Amber Heard. After Judge Andrew Nicol accepted Heard’s testimony, which characterized Depp as abusive, Warner Bros. film chief Toby Emmerich made the decision to cut the actor out of the five-film Fantastic Beasts franchise, where he was playing the villain Gellert Grindelwald.

The studio asked Depp to resign. He did, vowing to “prove that the allegations against me are false” on the way out. He is currently suing Heard for defamation in Virginia. As for Fantastic Beasts, there are three more films to go, with Warner Bros. now intending to recast the role of Grindelwald.

Depp did actually shoot one scene as Grindelwald since production on Fantastic Beasts 3 started up in September, but obviously they’re not going to use it. Still, The Hollywood Reporter has it that Depp will still be paid his full “eight-figure” salary, meaning that he’s getting at least $10 million.

That’s because Depp, like many stars of his size, has a “pay-or-play” contract, meaning he gets paid his full salary even if the film doesn’t get made at all, or if he’s recast. No wonder he can afford to pursue all this litigation.

The Fantastic Beasts franchise is probably the most scandal-ridden in Hollywood right now. The Depp stuff has been hanging over it for years, but initially, the studio was willing to go ahead anyway, especially with screenwriter and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling standing behind the actor. “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies,” Rowling wrote back in December or 2017.

But according to THR, this time, Rowling didn’t push back against Warner’s decision to let Depp go. One wonders if some of her power at the studio has been reduced by her own scandal, as she’s been under heavy criticism for months after making transphobic comments (and writing transphobic manifestos; she went all in on this).

And then there’s the fact that the second Fantastic Beasts movie, while still successful worldwide, earned over $100 million less at the box office than the first, and was critically panned to boot. Is “cut and run” an option for Warner Bros.?

The third movie, assuming it goes forward as planned, is set to divide its time equally between Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmaybe), Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald. Speaking on costar Dan Fogler’s 4D Experience podcast, Law at least sounds happy to be on board:

"I’m so happy to be in this company and I’m so happy to be playing this character. It feels like every day we make these films, it feels like such a blessing. And there’s also such a sense of well, it’s the reverence I suppose, because they hold such a special place in so many people. Hold people’s hearts and lives. I’ve never really felt that the way I have on this job. The responsibility that comes with that. But it’s a beautiful thing too it’s like being given a really precious artifact or something that you have to look after, maybe clean up a bit. You know?"

Of course, that episode came out a few days before Depp resigned as Grindelwald and the franchise put on a fresh pot of scandal, so who knows if things are any different now?

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