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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off about Depp casting

164 replies

Justanothernameonthepage · 08/12/2017 08:23

He doesn't bring in the money at the box office (no more than a lot of other choices). He is abusive towards women (proven in court & caught on camera).
Why has the director of Fantastic beasts brushed it off as he's 'full of decency'. No, abusers are not full of decency.
This is the director who changed a black actress for a white one when the role became bigger so it's not about continuity.

I'm surprised at how angry this has made me, but I'm furious he's being given a free pass on this.

OP posts:
woofmiaowwoof · 08/12/2017 11:01

interesting gwen, that'd make sense. It's funny cos Spacey has one allegation wrt the child, and then a slew of bad press about his fondness for young but legal age men. So really, it has to be like you say the attitude of the director and some misogyny because Depp also has one serious allegation from Amber against him.

FWIW, I bet Depp's lawyers went for the jugular on this, AND Rowling as you say, didn't have a clear legal path. That said, she could've distanced herself and refused to play a part in publicity etc - the threat of that would've done something.

DottyBlue2 · 08/12/2017 11:03

One theory, and shoot me down if you don't agree, is that casting JD as the guy you love to hate is ingenious casting.

Murder on the Orient Express: good, JD is the baddy so we will give a cheer when he dies.

Grindelwald: obviously a nasty piece of work so we allow ourselves to completely hate him. Colin Farrell played an ambiguous character which is why we are OK with a nice guy (in RL) playing the baddy.

Obviously very simplistic but hopefully you get my drift.

woofmiaowwoof · 08/12/2017 11:03

anybody been tempted to tweet Rowling to say it seems a bad call? I know I have.

trevortrevorslattery · 08/12/2017 11:10

He is a silly old fool.
Also Colin Farrell as the very bad wizard .
I was gutted when he transmogrified into Fat Johnny Depp Angry

Nyx1 · 08/12/2017 11:10

Dotty - I knew that was JD's part in Orient but I still couldn't justify seeing a film with him in it.

(to be fair this is not something that comes up a lot because I don't go to the cinema a lot).

manicinsomniac · 08/12/2017 11:27

Acting is a job.

I would support casting directors refusing to cast any and all actors who have been guilty of abuse, violence and/or sexual assault but only if all other industries refused to employ them too.

I would rather watch an abuser on a film screen knowing he can't hurt anyone than see one in a doctors office, a court, a classroom, an office etc.

But, if employers did that, there would probably be so many people unable to work that the country would collapse.

There's no need to like or agree with an actor. They're playing fictional characters in a fictional film to do their jobs.

HoneyIshrunkthebiscuit · 08/12/2017 11:28

There is way more than one allegation against Kevin Spacey....

HoneyIshrunkthebiscuit · 08/12/2017 11:30

manic if I went home tonight and beat up my partner I would lose my job and be struck off a professional council

WhirlwindHugs · 08/12/2017 11:34

I don't like it either. I agree that Colin was excellent too. The reveal was disappointing, even if JD was a Saint the way he plays the part is predictable and boring. I'd much rather they'd cast an unknown. If they'd played it well fans would still be excited.

I don't think we'll be going to see the next one.

worridmum · 08/12/2017 11:34

Allegations are simply that if someone would lose their career for a simply allegation the country would be a far worse place.

If he was convicted that is completely different and should end a career but the fact is he hasn't been convicted.

woofmiaowwoof · 08/12/2017 11:40

this is the nub of it for me - Depp vehemently denies wrong doing, and nothing has been proven. You can't forgive or rehabilitate in that case, they don't want forgiveness as they believe they don't need it.

Of course I believe in second chances, rehab etc but you first have to have acknowledgment. You can't say that anyone that's committed a crime should be unemployable for ever after. Whether they should be a megabucks earning actor, is a different question!

I'm not aware of any other allegation of illegal behaviour than the most well known one against Spacey. It's clear there is other dubious but not illegal conduct. Link? honey

HoneyIshrunkthebiscuit · 08/12/2017 11:53

woof www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/4806252/kevin-spacey-allegations-sexual-assault-anthony-rapp-old-vic-investigation/amp/

That doesn’t include the most recent claim from a member of the Norwegian royal family that Spacey assaulted him at NOBEL PEACE AWARDS of all places

HoneyIshrunkthebiscuit · 08/12/2017 11:54

Apologies for linking to the s*n but it puts all the allegations in one place

paperandpaint · 08/12/2017 12:01

I’ve always felt that there is real double standards with domestic violence - it’s almost as if as long as the person is talented or you ‘like’ them then the DV is overlooked. James Brown is a perfect case in point. I can’t listen to his music without thinking about what awful things he did. People don’t seem to care because they enjoy his music. For me. I can’t separate the two.

MorrisZapp · 08/12/2017 12:08

I get the idea that maybe we're meant to hate him, but that's not acting is it? It's turning up and being repellent.

For that salary, actors should at least be expected to get off their arsed and act.

nolongersurprised · 08/12/2017 12:08

Depp’s casting ruins the backstory of Dumbledore being in love with Grindelwald. Presumably if Dumbledore once loved him then G must have had some redeeming features; yet, for me, the bloated, sneering, one-dimensional JD isn’t capable of nuance.

It’s a shame because Eddie Redmayne is great and I am a big fan of Ezra Miller.

woofmiaowwoof · 08/12/2017 12:18

ah fair enough honey, and ideally, Depp should be as washed up as Spacey is really.

GwenStaceyRocks · 08/12/2017 12:18

Interesting that Amber Heard has re-issued the joint divorce statement on Instagram. She said people shouldn't pick and choose certain lines and use them out of context which I guess is referring to Warner Bros who quoted the line 'there was never any intent of physical or emotional harm' in their statement but missed out the part that said 'Neither party has made false allegations for financial gain'.

woofmiaowwoof · 08/12/2017 12:19

i agree paper - you'll still hear women of my DM's generation victim blaming - for so long people 'minded their own business' on DV.

kmc1111 · 08/12/2017 12:39

Rowling's statement is vile. She's all but saying she and everyone else involved in the film think Heard is a liar, and that the only reason she won't say that outright is out of respect for the legal agreements Depp had Heard sign. This after it's come out that Depp's own business managers were fully aware of the abuse as it was happening.

Just an FYI, Rowling's a producer on this film, as well as the screenwriter. Her contracts with WB have always given her an unprecedented amount of control over casting, and as far as any type of contractual obligation to support Depp, no way. At most WB could stipulate she doesn't speak out against him. There's no way in hell they could stipulate she speaks out in support of him. But really, given her position and wealth, her lawyers would be negligent if they let her sign contracts with any strings like that. She's in an extremely, extremely powerful position, and she's never shied away from using that power. She didn't this time purely because she didn't want to.

GwenStaceyRocks · 08/12/2017 12:46

And WB would have been very remiss if Depp's contract didn't include a clause about not bringing the production into disrepute,etc . . .This isn't about them not being able to drop him. It's about them choosing to keep him.

MissionItsPossible · 08/12/2017 13:26

"Mark Whalberg blinds a Korean Man in a racial attack (has never said sorry"

He didn't. The man was already blind in one eye. He did say sorry, his Victim forgave him. MW was 16 and turned his life around whilst in a young offender prison.

It's a question of whether we believe in rehabilitation or not.

It took him until 2014 to apologise and actually refused to do so before. Call me cynical but this was about his perusal of a pardon than anything else,

Downtheroadfirstonleft · 08/12/2017 13:36

Maybe JKR genuinely believes that Depp was not guilty?

Maybe he isn't guilty.

None of us know.

JaneWonder · 08/12/2017 13:50

WE don’t know for sure whether Depp abused Heard. He hasn’t admitted it and a court hasn’t ruled on it.

The unfairness is that women rarely get the benefit of the doubt that men do. If a woman was widely believed to have falsely cried rape (or refused to sleep with Weinstein before 2017) then she would immediately be black listed. Men like Depp would have to do so much more to be black listed. It’s double standards.

Heard didn’t press charges. Presumably she was offered too much money. And without a judgement or a confession nobody can really be denied work. Not in any field. It’s just unfair that it applies in some fields, and to some genders, but not others.

NotACleverName · 08/12/2017 13:56

anybody been tempted to tweet Rowling to say it seems a bad call? I know I have.

She blocks people who do this, so it seems: twitter.com/hobbitlindsey/status/935774921460011009