This says it all:
Congratulations to @JoeBiden, @KamalaHarris and our beloved country. Honesty and integrity won out! pic.twitter.com/RlaZr88O0R
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) November 7, 2020
“Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise,” said the studio in a statement today. “We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022.”
Depp was accused of wife beating and other sundry infractions during the long, public trial.
Now the question is, will Disney allow him to return to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies? He was already on shaky ground, but the family friendly studio may not want Depp as their star after this colossal mess.
Deeply in debt after spending and losing hundreds of millions of dollars, Depp really needed “Fantastic Beasts 3.” But the production has enough trouble considering the anti-trans comments of author J.K. Rowling. With the movie business teetering, Warner Bros. is looking to cut their troubles, not look for more. They’re also fighting a scandal concerning Anne Hathaway’s character in “The Witches,” directed by Robert Zemeckis. Hathaway, without meaning harm in creating the character, has caught the ire of advocates for disabilities.
Hathaway’s Grand High Witch and her minions have three-fingered hands that resemble the real-life condition ectrodactyly, otherwise known as “split hand” in the film. This is a rare congenital disorder involving the deficiency or absence of one or more central digits of the hand or foot. Since Anne Hathaway is one of the kindest and nicest people on the planet, you can’t blame her. It’s the production’s fault.
Here’s Johnny Depp’s announcement on Instagram:
Barry says in a press release: “From the first day we stepped into RCA Studios in Nashville (the very place where Elvis, Willie, Waylon, Roy, the Everly Brothers and so many other legends made their magic) the album took on a life of its own. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to work with Dave and all the artists who stopped by. They were all incredibly generous with their time and talent. They inspired me more than words can express. I feel deep down that Maurice and Robin would have loved this album for different reasons. I wish we could have all been together to do it…but I think we were.”