Johnny Depp: Hollywood boycotting me, won't release latest film

Johnny Depp says that following his failed lawsuit against a U.K. tabloid that had accused him of beating his then-wife, he has been blacklisted by Hollywood and his most recent film will not be released by its American distributor.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sunday Times, quoted in outlets including the U.K. magazine NME and newspaper The Independent, the 58-year-old Depp said MGM is refusing to release "Minamata," in which he stars as acclaimed real-life photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, who documented a corporation's mercury poisoning of the people of the titular Japanese city.

"We looked these people in the eyeballs," Depp said of the families and survivors of Minamata, whom Smith (1918-78) chronicled for Life magazine and a subsequent book in the mid-1970s, "and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we've kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs."

The three-time Academy Award nominee went on to say, "Some films touch people. And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything … for Hollywood's boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?"

He added, "But, you know, I'm moving towards where I need to go to make all that ... To bring things to light."

Following the movie's February 2020 premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, MGM acquired "Minamata" in October and announced a joint theatrical and video-on-demand release date of Feb. 5, 2021. Then a British court ruled in November that the U.K. tabloid The Sun did not libel Depp when it wrote of "claims he beat ex-wife Amber Heard," a star of films including "Aquaman." Judge Andrew Nicol said 12 of 14 allegations of domestic violence "have been proved to the civil standard" during the libel trial, and that the April 2018 opinion column by The Sun executive editor Dan Wootton painting Depp as a domestic abuser was "substantially true." Depp's petition to appeal was denied in March.

In the wake of the November ruling, Depp resigned from his role as Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald in Warner Bros.' upcoming third installment of author J.K. Rowling's "Fantastic Beasts" franchise. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen subsequently replaced him in the film, scheduled for release July 15, 2022. As well, MGM did not release "Minamata" as scheduled. The film's director and co-screenwriter, Andrew Levitas, said last month in a publicly released letter to the studio that an executive there had told him, "MGM had decided to 'bury the film' (acquisitions head Mr. Sam Wollman's words)."

Responding in a statement to Deadline.com, MGM said, "The film was acquired for release via American International Pictures (AIP), a division of MGM which handles day-and-date releases. Minamata continues to be among future AIP releases and at this time, the film's U.S. release date is TBA." The generally well-reviewed film has been released in several countries, including the U.K. last week.

Depp maintains no social media and has not commented further.