Johnny Depp reveals his reaction to being dropped from “Fantastic Beasts” movies: 'F‑‑‑ you'

Johnny Depp believes he was "shunned, dumped, booted, deep-sixed, cancelled" for the defamation lawsuit he brought against ex Amber Heard, but being dropped from the Fantastic Beasts franchise is the one bit of fallout that particularly stings.

"It literally stopped in a millisecond," he told The Telegraph in an interview published Saturday. "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."

Depp's response to the casting decision he interpreted as a bit of coded negging was to say, "'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.'"

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Depp, who rose to fame in the late 1980s and early ʼ90s with roles in zeitgeist-y films and series like 21 Jump Street, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, and Edward Scissorhands, placed himself at the center of a controversy in the late 2010s regarding his relationship with Heard.

The actress filed for divorce a year after the couple married in 2015, alleging he'd verbally and physically abused her. Depp denied the claims and the divorce was finalized in 2017, but the following year, he sued publishing conglomerate News Group Newspapers, after the British tabloidThe Sun referred to him as a "wife beater." A British court rejected his claim, finding Heard's own account of their relationship "substantially true."

But that didn't stop Depp, who brought another suit against Heard for defamation in 2019, when she wrote that she "spoke up against sexual violence" in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.

Depp won that trial, but now claims he's suffered as a result.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald in 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'

Depp starred in the first two films in the Harry Potter spinoff prequel series, which is seemingly plagued by controversy. The films were written by original Potter scribe J.K. Rowling, who has been criticized for having divisive anti-trans views, and co-starred Ezra Miller, who hasfaced accusationsof assault, abuse, and grooming children.

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In 2018, Depp acknowledged the controversy around his libel suit, still in litigation, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The actor said he "felt bad for J.K. having to field all these various feelings from people out there... but ultimately, there is real controversy. The fact remains I was falsely accused, which is why I'm suing theSunnewspaper for defamation for repeating false accusations. J.K. has seen the evidence and therefore knows I was falsely accused, and that’s why she haspublicly supportedme."

Eventually, Depp announced he would step away from the role of the villainous Gellert Grindelwald, claiming Warner Bros. asked him to resign his role. He was recast by Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale), who starred in 2022's Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

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Depp claimed in June that he has "no regrets" over how he handled the legal case and told The Telegraph, "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."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly