Johnny Depp was set to earn an impressive $22.5million for his role in the sixth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise before being dropped from the film following allegations of domestic violence.
The actor's agent Jack Whigham testified in Depp's defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard Monday, telling the court the actress's 2018 op-ed was 'catastrophic' for his career.
Whigham noted that Heard's piece, published in the Washington Post in December 2018, was 'rather shocking because it was the first time I'd heard an allegation of sexual abuse.'
Depp, 58, issuing Heard for $50million, claiming she defamed him and destroyed his career after she wrote about being a survivor of domestic violence in the piece.
The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyers say it was clear Heard, 36, was referencing the Hollywood leading man.
Jurors in the defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp heard the Hollywood actor was set to earn $22.5million for his role in the sixth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise
Depp played swashbuckling pirate Jack Sparrow in the hit films in the 14th highest-grossing series of all time (pictured with Orlando Bloom as Will Turner)
Testifying live via video link, Whigham described the negative impact and damage the piece had on Depp's reputation as a Hollywood star.
'With respect to Johnny, it was catastrophic because it was coming from a first person account, it was not from a journalist, not someone observing, it was from someone saying this happened to me,' the agent said.
In the two years after the op-ed was publication, between December 2018 and October 2020, Depp appeared in 'zero' studio films, Whigham told the court.
He said the actor scored a $22.5million deal with Disney to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 but in 2019 learned the studio would not be casting him in the new installment.
Disney instead decided it was going in a 'different direction', Whigham said, and was looking to develop a 'Pirates project' for actress Margot Robbie instead of featuring Depp. The movie is yet to be made.
Whigham noted that even when Depp was cast in 2020 drama, Minimata, an independent film, the movie struggled after the article came out.
Whigham said: 'The op-ed came out in December (2018) right as we were going on Christmas break.
'Minimata was supposed to start (showing) in January (2019). It was very, very difficult to keep Minimata together.
'The financing became shaky, Johnny's fee came down in order to save the movie,' the agent added.
Whigham said after the op-ed 'it was impossible to get him a studio film which is what we would have normally been focused on.'
Jack Whigham, talent manager for actor Johnny Depp, is seen on a monitor as he testifies remotely in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court Monday
Whigham told the court Heard's Washington Post op-ed was 'catastrophic' to the actor's career. Depp is seen reacting to the article being shown to the court on Monday
Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a 'public figure representing domestic abuse'
During Whigham's testimony the court heard about how much Depp earned for other movies.
For City of Lies, the 2018 movie about the investigations into the deaths of rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, Depp earned $8million.
Depp was paid $10million for the 2017 murder mystery Murder on the Orient Express.
For Fantastic Beasts 2 - Crimes of Grindelwald, the spin-off from the Harry Potter films which came out in 2018 and starred Depp in the lead role as Gellert Grindelwald, Depp was paid $13.5million.
Depp earned $3.5million for the 2018 comedy drama The Professor and $1million for Waiting for the Barbarians, the 2019 adaptation of the J. M. Coetzee novel.
Depp earned $3million for Minimata, a drama which came out in 2020, Whigham told the court.
That means Depp earned a total of $38million between 2018 and 2020 for his acting.
During cross-examination, Heard's attorney Elaine Bredehoft questioned Whigham's claims that the lucrative contract between Depp and Disney for the new film was a done deal.
'Do you have an explanation why there is not even a piece of paper ... nothing that suggested Mr. Depp is going to be in Pirates 6 as Jack Sparrow?' she asked.
Whigham replied: 'We would work on many deals where you wouldn't see a contract, they would be a verbal agreement.'
The latest testimony helps support Depp's claims that his long-running career in Hollywood suffered as a result of Heard's op-ed.
Monday's third witness, Richard Marks, an entertainment lawyer who has worked in Hollywood for decades, also told the jury about his assessment of the impact of Heard's op-ed on Depp's career.
Marks, testifying as an expert in the entertainment industry, said: 'The op-ed damaged Mr. Depp, created a cancel situation if you will, harmed his reputation and ability to get work in the Hollywood industry'
Johnny Depp listens as Jack Whigham, talent manager for Depp, is seen on a monitor as he testifies remotely in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court
Depp was paid $13.5million for his role as Gellert Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts 2: Crimes of Grindelwald, the spin-off from the Harry Potter films in 2018
Monday's third witness, Richard Marks, an entertainment lawyer who has worked in Hollywood for decades, told the jury about his assessment of the impact of Heard's op-ed on Depp's career
Marks said that studios 'wouldn't want to hire an actor who has negativity following them, you wouldn't want to pay to bring your brand down'.
He said: 'That's very important and especially in the last five years of MeToo movement, you wouldn't want negativity, hiring an actor who 'had been canceled'.
Asked what in particular might stop an actor getting hired, he said: 'We're talking illegal activity, criminal record but right now the pinnacle of negativity in Hollywood is being accused of domestic abuse, domestic violence.
'We've seen, almost immediately, terminations and cancelations for the investors to move away from that negativity'.
Marks said that the op-ed was so impactful because it was in the Washington Post, which he called a 'flagship journal of American news'.
He said: 'We're not talking about a trade paper. It is geared
