Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial gets film dramatisation, and it sounds kinda gross
The Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial is becoming a film. (Getty)
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation trial is being turned into a straight-to-streaming movie for Fox’s US-based service Tubi.
Hot Take: The Depp/ Heard Trial stars Mark Hapka and Megan Davis as Depp and Heard respectively, and is reported to cover the tumultuous relationship between the actors as well as the two-month-long trial.
Adam Lewinson, Tubi’s chief content officer, told Variety the movie was “fast-tracked” by the Fox-owned streamer and production company MarVista in order “to capture a timely take on a story that became part of the cultural zeitgeist, painting a unique picture of what millions watched play out in the headlines over the summer”.
In a separate statement, the EVP creative of affairs for MarVista, Hannah Pillemer, referred to the upcoming film as “timely [and] culturully relevant”.
She continued: “Connecting viewers to stories with this kind of social currency and topicality make watching them a must for any fan of pop culture or celebrity drama.”
Amber Heard waits before the jury announced the verdict in the Depp v Heard civil defamation trial. (AFP via Getty/ POOL/ EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)
The Depp v Heard case was live-streamed globally, and became the subject of intense public and media scrutiny.
Depp, 58, sued Heard, 36, for defamation over a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”. It did not mention Depp by name.
Depp countered Heard’s statements and said her allegations of abuse were an “elaborate hoax” that cost him his career and damaged his reputation, suing her for $50 million.
Johnny Depp appears at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse, Virginia in his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard (Jim Watson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Heard responded with a countersuit for $100 million. Her defamation claim against Depp centred on his lawyer Adam Waldman’s remarks to The Daily Mail, in which he called her allegations an “abuse hoax”.
After a lengthy and increasingly bitter trial at Virginia’s Fairfax County district courthouse, the seven-person jury sided largely with Depp. It also ruled in favour of one claim in Heard’s countersuit against Depp. She was ordered to pay him $10 million, and he ordered to pay her $2 million.
Heard has officially appealed the ruling, saying the verdict set “back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated”.
The social media furore saw Heard become the target of abuse and criticism, with social media users and celebrities – like Lance Bass and Saturday Night Live – using the actor’s experience as a punchline for jokes.
