Johnny Depp will star in his biggest film project since his lawsuit with his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard.
Johnny Depp is set to make his return to Hollywood with his biggest film project since the legal troubles and intense public scrutiny that followed his highly publicized lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Heard.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depp is in talks to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The project, backed by Paramount Pictures, is expected to be directed by Ti West, with Nathaniel Halpern handling the screenplay.
The studio reportedly describes the film as “a thrilling ghost story set in Dickensian London, following one man’s supernatural journey to confront his past, present, and future and fight for a second chance.”
Depp’s return marks a major step after several years away from big-budget Hollywood productions. Following the defamation lawsuits in 2020, he was dropped from Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts franchise. Since then, he has appeared only in independent and international films, such as Jeanne du Barry (2023), in which he portrayed King Louis XV. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to mixed but notable attention.
How did the legal dispute between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard end?
The Pirates of the Caribbean star has rarely spoken publicly about the 2022 court battle. On June 1 of that year, a Virginia jury found that Amber Heard had defamed Depp, awarding him $10.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The jury also granted Heard $2 million in compensatory damages for one of her counterclaims.
Both parties initially filed notices of appeal, but by the end of 2022, they reached a settlement. According to official court documents, Heard’s insurance company agreed to pay Depp $1 million. Depp’s legal team announced that he would donate the full amount to several charities.
