After being ousted from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie in 2018, Johnny Depp is allegedly slated to ‘come back.’
Depp played the main character in five Pirates films during the last 15 years, including Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was considered to be his final journey aboard the Black Pearl.
However, a source told that following winning his defamation suit against Amber Heard, the actor, 59, has been in negotiations with Disney over a ‘$300 million contract.’
According to the source, Disney is keen on repairing the connection with Depp and has lately contacted him.
They approached the actor before his defamation trial against Amber Heard and asked if he would be willing to return for another pirate picture or two, they added.
Another project for Disney Plus is in the works, according to the source. The contract is purportedly for Johnny Depp to come back as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and a spin-off Disney Plus series about the Captain of the Black Pearl, they stated.
What they can tell us is that the studio has already written a screenplay for a picture about Jack Sparrow, so they are quite optimistic that Johnny would pardon them and rejoin his famous role.
According to the source, the media company is working on a ‘$301 million agreement’ to entice Depp to return soon, as well as as a ‘sizeable gift’ to a charity of Depp’s choice as a show of goodwill.
After being cut from the sixth Pirates film, the Edward Scissorhands star earlier informed the jury that he would not associate with Disney again.
His legal team alleges Depp was denied a $22 million payout after Heard penned an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018 that did not name Depp but unmistakably characterised him as a domestic abuser.
With Disney officials, Depp claimed he felt ‘guilty until proven innocent.’
Stuart Beattie, the initial Pirates scriptwriter, was the first to openly reveal that Disney Studios was dumping the star in 2018 when they reworked the whole franchise.
Speaking exclusively on the red carpet at a Hollywood event, Beattie revealed on camera that the revamp meant Depp would no longer play Jack Sparrow.
When asked if Depp was leaving, he nodded and replied, he believed Depp had a terrific run. Clearly, he’s made that role his own, and it’s now the one for which he’s most known.
And kids all over the globe adore him as that persona, so he thinks it’s been amazing for Depp, great for them, so he is just very, very thrilled about it.
Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard for the op-ed she published, identifying herself as a “public figure symbolizing domestic abuse.”
The jury ruled in favour of Depp on all three of his allegations based on specific comments in the 2018 film.
Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages by the jury, but the court cut the punitive damages verdict to $350,000 due to a state cap.
Heard has stated that she intends to appeal the judgement since she is on the verge of bankruptcy.
According to a source close to the Aquaman actor, the 36-year-old actress is so ‘broke’ that she ‘thinks her Hollywood profession is gone’ and ‘has nothing to lose’ after a dreadful few months.
Heard’s lawyer stated that she cannot pay the $8.3 million in damages granted to Depp.
Following their six-week defamation trial, which concluded earlier this month, lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have now attempted to strike a last-minute deal that may have lowered the damages the actress owed to her former spouse.
However, the trial judge made the jury’s decision official on Friday, issuing a written order requiring Heard to pay Depp $10.35 million for harming his reputation by claiming to be a victim of domestic abuse in an op-ed piece she penned.
Following a short hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Penney Azcarate put a judgement order into the court record, finalising the judgment. Neither Depp nor Heard were in attendance.
She also directed Depp to pay Heard $2 million, the jury’s verdict on her counterclaim that one of Depp’s attorneys defamed her.
After a spectacular trial in which the couple divulged lurid information of their brief marriage during a televised trial that was avidly watched on social media, the order was a formality.
Lawyers for both Depp and Heard were unable to negotiate a last-minute settlement, raising the prospect of a costly and time-consuming appeals procedure.
The matter will be heard by the Virginia Court of Appeals in three weeks, after which both parties will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal.
