Johnny Depp Accused Hollywood Of An Anti-Johnny Boycott

In another universe, we might be hearing the words, “And the awards for Best Actor goes to…Johnny Depp!” around Oscar time. Because Johnny Depp’s latest project is a very serious, important biopic called Minamata, which is about American photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, who exposed the effects of radiation poisoning in Japan in the 1970s. It sounds like the perfect recipe for a long-awaited Oscar win, but that’s not happening, because in this universe, Johnny Depp is very much an actor who is fighting for a headline that doesn’t mention leaving movie projects, or a reminder that a court of law said it was 100% a-ok for The Sun to refer to him as a “wife beater.” The director of Minamata has accused MGM of burying the release of the film, because they don’t want to deal with any questions or press surrounding Johnny Depp. Now Johnny Depp is doing much of the same, except he’s accusing all of Hollywood of boycotting him.

Johnny has given his first interview to The Sunday Times since losing his defamation lawsuit against The Sun. Johnny spoke about Minamata, and how the film isn’t able to touch people the way it should, simply because Hollywood has decided to target him. Minamata was released last Friday in the UK , where it’s distributed by Vertigo Releasing. In North America, it’s being released by MGM. And so what Johnny is trying to say is that the reason you haven’t heard or seen much about Minamata in North America, is because that’s a completely intentional plan by the powers that be. via Variety:

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Depp called his fall from Hollywood’s good graces an “absurdity of media mathematics.”

“Some films touch people and this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things,” Depp said. “And for anything…for Hollywood’s boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?”

He added that he is “moving towards where I need to go to make all that…to bring things to light.”

Um, I don’t know if I would describe the situation as “unpleasant.” Messy, sure – all that testimony about the turd in the bed classified it as a very messy situation, literally. An unpleasant situation is when you accidentally sit on a meatball sub on a bus seat. Johnny was accused of getting violent with his then-wife Amber Heard who has also admitted to getting violent with him. Although Johnny is probably correct in assuming there’s an unofficial boycott happening in Hollywood right now. Last December, The Hollywood Reporter ran a front-page story about how Johnny Depp is “radioactive.” Warner Bros. claimed that it was Johnny’s choice to step away from his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise after the verdict was read in his lawsuit against The Sun, but one could assume Warner Bros. probably isn’t going to be calling Johnny Depp any time soon.

But that’s just Hollywood. The film industry world-wide seems to be ok with Johnny Depp. His latest film premiered in the UK, and he’s being honored at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain next month with the festival’s highest honor (when asked “WHY?!”, the SSFF argued that Johnny had not been convicted “of any form of violence against women“). As well, Johnny Depp’s career is being honored at the Karlovy Vary Festival in the Czech Republic in October. According to Screen Daily, Johnny is expected to make appearances at both film festivals. And, Johnny’s most recent gig has been to voice a puffin in an Italian animated series, Puffins.

At the very least, it sounds like Europe is ready to welcome Johnny with open arms as Hollywood folds theirs tightly to their metaphorical chest. But I can see why Johnny is sweating this situation. The only thing worse than hearing a dial tone when you try to get through to Hollywood, is knowing Plan B involves jetting off to Europe, finding some kindred spirits who know what you’re going through, and asking yourself, “Okay, do I take the Roman Polanski film or do I star opposite Kevin Spacey in an Italian buddy comedy.”

Pic: Wenn.com