Although Johnny Depp had only shot one scene before he was replaced in “Fantastic Beasts 3: Dumbledore’s Secrets“, he was paid 16 million dollars.
Johnny Depp was seen as the evil wizard Grindelwald in the first two parts of the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts, who seeks to establish the reign of wizards over humans aka Muggles.
In the continuation of the series, Johnny Depp was supposed to take over the role again. However, due to the public legal dispute with his ex-wife Amber Heard, the actor had to leave the project (via Moviepilot). Nevertheless, he received a huge paycheck.
Here you can see the trailer for the 3rd part of the “Harry Potter” spin-off featuring Mads Mikkelsen:
16 million dollars for a useless scene
Johnny Depp had already shot one scene. Then he was removed from the project. For this one scene, however, the actor receives a total of 16 million dollars, as reported by Hollywood Reporter. That is the fee he would have received had he completed the entire shoot.
The reason Warner Bros. has to pay the full salary to the actor is the contract with Johnny Depp.
This is a so-called “pay-or-play contract“, which obliges the employee to pay the full sum even if the actor is dismissed in the meantime.
Additionally, there is no “morality clause“ in the contract that voids the payment should the actor exit the project for moral reasons.
This is especially frustrating for Warner Bros., considering that this one scene will not even be seen in the finished film, as all further Grindelwald scenes are played by another actor.
As a successor to Johnny Depp, Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal, James Bond) is engaged to continue the role of Gellert Grindelwald.
On April 7, 2022, the “Fantastic Beasts 3: Dumbledore’s Secrets” with the new cast premiered in German cinemas.
Now that Johnny Depp has won the trial against Amber Heard, some fans are wishing for the actor’s return to the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
However, it is still not even certain whether there will be a fourth part of the series. Due to the weak box office numbers of the third film, it currently looks rather bleak.
On the set of another film, a colleague annoyed Johnny Depp so much with the topic of gaming that the actor subsequently teased him:
Johnny Depp teased Leonardo DiCaprio on set because he “always talked about these video games”
