Johnny Depp Had $22.5M Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 Deal According to His Manager
Johnny Depp's trial against ex-wife Amber Heard has revealed that the Jack Sparrow actor allegedly had a deal in place that would've paid him $22.5 million to appear in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean 6. Depp's former manager at CAA (and current talent manager) Jack Whigham made the claim about the Pirates 6 deal during questioning by Depp's lawyer during the trial today.
However, after Whigham laid out the claim about Depp's $22.5M deal for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, he was swiftly cross-examined by Amber Heard's head lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft. Bredehoft pushed Whigham to admit that "it would be fair to say I have not seen a document... I have not seen $22.5 million written on a page."
The question of Depp's deal for Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is particularly relevant to Depp's case against Heard. Depp's side has been claiming that an op-ed from Heard in The Washington Post in late 2018 (detailing her allegedly abusive relationship with an unnamed partner), ruined the actor's career. After the article came out (and Depp lost a 2020 lawsuit against a UK tabloid for printing Heard's accusations) Disney distanced itself from Depp, and Warner Bros. dropped him from the Harry Potter spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts.
Heard countersued Depp, claiming that the actor retaliated against her op-ed by organizing online petitions to get her dropped from Aquaman and or L'Oreal campaign, and generally trying to sabotage her career. During the current trial, Depp actually countered that Heard's success with the billion-dollar Aquaman franchise (and its impending sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) as proof that he in no way impeded her career.
During the trial, Johnny Depp spoke about what he thought caused him to lose out on another opportunity to play Jack Sparrow – even though that career opportunity seemed to dry up before Heard's op-ed dropped:
"Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife beater," Depp claimed. "So I'm sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe. The #MeToo movement was in full swing at that point."
Then again, Depp may have stepped on his own feet, when Heard's attorney Ben Rottenborn pressed him about whether he would've even been willing to return to Pirates of the Caribbean:
"The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?" Rottenborn inquired.
"That is true, Mr. Rottenborn," Depp admitted.
Via: Deadline