20h 15min, apr 12, 2019 y - PAGE SIX Warner Bros ‘freaking out’ Depp suit will harm Harry Potter films

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AN EXCLUSIVE By Emily Smith

Warner Bros. is “freaking out” over its hit Harry Potter movie franchise’s connection to Johnny Depp after Amber Heard‘s new court documents described in painstaking detail how he allegedly beat, choked and tormented her during their relationship, sources told The Post on Friday.

Depp — who denies abusing Heard — is slated to star in “Fantastic Beasts 3,” the next installment of J.K.Rowling‘s Harry Potter movies. The script has been completed, although filming, which was due to start this summer, has been delayed to the fall of next year.

“Executives at Warner Bros. are wondering how to deal with the backlash of the Depp matter on the Harry Potter franchise,” a source said. “High-level female execs at the studio are extremely worried about working with Depp and the message it sends to the public, especially after the recent sordid departure of CEO Kevin Tsujihara,” who last month announced he was leaving amid a casting couch scandal.

This is yet another blow to the morale of female employees at the studio,” the source said. “If Warner Bros. continues to stick by Depp, it would reveal a lot about the values the company holds.”

While reps at Warner Bros. didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from The Post, insiders said executives are unsure how to proceed, since author J.K. Rowling came out strongly in support of Depp’s casting in a previous Potter flick in 2017 after his marriage to Heard crumbled.

“Many at Warner Bros. wish that Rowling hadn’t come out so strongly behind Depp, because having made her opinion so public boxes them into a corner,” a source said.

Rowling broke her silence on the controversy surrounding Depp’s casting as the villain Grindelwald when she wrote on her website in December 2017, “When Johnny Depp was cast as Grindelwald, I thought he’d be wonderful in the role. However, around the time of filming his cameo in the first movie, stories had appeared in the press that deeply concerned me and everyone most closely involved in the franchise.


SOURCE:
US VA Court Documents:
Amber Heard Exhibit 966 & 1241

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