Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial, a Tubi Originals film starring Mark Hapka as Depp and Megan Davis as his ex-wife Amber, will be available for OTT streaming beginning today. Almost four months after the contentious Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial judgement was announced, a movie based on the high-profile court case that had everyone glued to their TV or smartphone screens is being released.
But when the movie’s first trailer debuted on the platform’s official YouTube account on Thursday, it didn’t meet with the anticipated response and was harshly criticised by fans for producing a movie nobody needed. Millions of people watched the case, which included extremely graphic and confidential information about the private lives of Hollywood celebrities as well as some incredibly outrageous charges.
In the trailer, Hapka and Davis can be seen adopting the personas of their characters, in this case, famous actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. In the teaser, which depicts Depp’s admirers camped outside the courtroom after travelling from far and wide to attend the hearings, a reporter is heard saying, “It’s day one of the Depp vs. Heard defamation trial; though fans are showing support for both sides, there’s clearly a favourite here.”
After a lengthy six-week trial centred on hotly contested claims of domestic abuse, the jury earlier this year, in June, found Depp and Heard responsible for defamation, but sided more heavily with Depp. After the jury determined that Heard’s 2018 newspaper article about her experience with sexual violence was defamatory, Depp was given a $10 million damage award.
The Depp had sued his ex-wife over a Washington Post op-ed in which she did not specifically mention him but claimed to be a public advocate for domestic violence.The 36-year-old actress who had filed a countersuit was given $2 million by the jury. By all accounts, their marriage suffered in real life due to a collision of poisonous, mismatched personalities.
