Johnny Depp: Don't Have Much Need for Hollywood

Johnny Depp is addressing being "boycotted" by the entertainment industry, saying he has "no further need for Hollywood."

The actor, whose latest film — the French-language movie "Jeanne du Barry" — opened the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, made his comments the next day at a press conference. 

Asked whether he still agreed with previous comments that he had been "boycotted" by Hollywood, Depp said: "Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? You'd have to not have a pulse at that point to feel [like] none of this is happening, this is actually just a weird joke – you've been asleep for 35 years," according to the Independent.

Depp's career took a knock amid a highly publicized defamation trial in which he sued ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million after she wrote a 2018 column for the Washington Post claiming she was a survivor of domestic abuse. She did not publicly name Depp, but Depp said the allegations affected his ability to work.

Heard countersued, claiming Depp orchestrated a smear campaign against her, but in June the jury determined Heard defamed Depp on all three counts. He was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages.

In 2020, Depp shared that he would leave the "Fantastic Beasts" film franchise, saying that Warner Bros. asked him to resign.

His announcement came after losing a libel case against the U.K.'s The Sun. Depp sued the publication for an article in which he was described as a "wife beater," but a U.K. court ruled that the claim was "substantially true." Depp has not been cast in any major U.S. role since. 

Commenting on being blacklisted on Wednesday, Depp said: "Of course, when you're asked to resign from a film you're doing because of something that is merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air, you feel a bit boycotted.

"Do I feel boycotted now? No, not at all. I don't feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don't think about it. I don't think about Hollywood. I don't have much further need for Hollywood myself.

"It's a very strange, funny time where everybody would love to be able to be themselves but they can't, because they must fall in line. You want to live that kind of life? I wish you the best. I'll be on the other side somewhere."

Addressing the idea that he was making a "comeback" with his latest film, Depp stated it was "bizarre."

"I didn't go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away… Comeback, it's almost like I'm going to come out and do a tap dance," he said. "The notion of something like that, it's a bizarre mystery."

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