Too Big To Boycott: Johnny Depp Leads Hollywood’s New Class of ‘Uncancellable’ Stars

If you’ve ever wondered what Ebenezer Scrooge’s “origin story” was, not, admittedly, a concern that many of us have had up until now — then today, and not December 25, is your lucky day. A new film, entitled “Ebenezer” and billed as a “dark reimagining” of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,”is due to hit cinemas later this year, complete with a star-studded cast including Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit and Sam Claflin as Scrooge’s saintly nephew Fred. In the lead role is none other than Johnny Depp who is making his big Hollywood comeback in the part of the eponymous miser, hamming it up for all he is worth.The trailer for “Ebenezer”does not inspire much hope. It is a “Ye Olde Hollywood Depiction” of Victorian London, and Mr. Depp, buried under wigs and heavy make-up, appears to be mugging so absurdly that he might as well be starring in vaudeville. The supporting cast look askance, as well they might.Under normal circumstances, this would be one to avoid when it comes out. Yet it has far greater significance than yet being another desecration of a much-loved nineteenth century novel (naming no names, Emerald Fennell). The preview is explicitly based around Mr. Depp, trumpeting previous quirky character roles of his such as Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow and the Mad Hatter from “Alice in Wonderland.” He could be forgiven for wishing it was directed by his friend Tim Burton, rather than the horror hack Ti West.There is even a scene when a grinning Depp-as-Scrooge cackles, “It’s good to be back.” The implication is clear. After years in the cinematic wilderness, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars has returned to the fold, and his fans should be grateful for the opportunity to see him in a major film once again.There is, admittedly, something appealing about the return of one of the industry’s most eccentric yet charismatic stars to our screens. Mr. Depp has had one of the most eclectic careers of any Hollywood A-lister, finding arthouse success in a variety of quirky and low-budget films and alternating them with mainstream work chiefly for Mr. Burton. He then ascended into a new league of well-paid superstardom with his offbeat performances in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, in which a combination of slapdash eyeliner, slurring line readings, and a zoned-out demeanor apparently borrowed from Keith Richards, elevated otherwise unexceptional pictures into box office smash hits.Johnny Depp was unimpeachable, it seemed: the movie star it was actually cool to like. Matters went horribly wrong when he met and married Amber Heard on the set of the 2011 Hunter S. Thompson adaptation “The Rum Diary.” The collateral damage from the relationship ended up damaging both of them immeasurably. Firstly, he lost a libel case in Britain against News Group Newspapers, which accused him of physically assaulting Ms. Heard, but then he won a defamation case against his former wife over an op-ed that she wrote for the Washington Post in which she made similar claims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.Many unedifying and embarrassing revelations for both parties came out in court, on both occasions, and it seemed that Mr. Depp was in the strange position of having been half-exonerated, half-condemned, which meant that Hollywood was queasy about employing him again. He was fired from his last high-profile film, as the villainous Grindewald in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” and has struggled to find mainstream work since then, although he appeared as King Louise XV in the French-language “Jeanne du Barry” in 2023 and directed a drama based on the life of the artist Modigliani, entitled “Modi, Three Days on the Wings of Madness.”Neither troubled your local cinema for long, and it seemed as if the actor — whose revelations of heavy drinking, casual drug use, and general disrepair damaged his brand, apparently beyond repair — was doomed to fall foul of both the #MeToo movement and the new culture of puritanism that had overtaken Hollywood. Yet the industry loves nothing more than a redemption story for its favorite sons, as the likes of Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage have discovered in recent years, to their benefit. (It should be noted that Cage’s career dip came about from insane extravagance, rather than anything more untoward or criminal, as befits his status as one of the industry’s great eccentrics.) And, of course, Robert Downey Jr, about to make squillions for his villainous and definitely non Tony Stark-related role in the next “Avengers” film, served time in prison for various drugs offences. It has not, in the long run, hurt his career, and might even have benefited him.What has happened with Johnny Depp is also the case for many other actors, from Armie Hammer — currently seen shooting and stabbing with grim conviction in Uwe Boll’s Elon Musk-approved “Citizen Vigilante” — to Kevin Spacey. The latter thespian might well be the best actor who has been cancelled, a double Oscar-winner whose stage performances in both London and Broadway were masterpieces of technique. While his acting career seems mired in C-list hell, he has diversified into other areas, including a strange side-hustle as a QVC-esque figure, selling hand-signed limited edition collectible rings supposedly celebrating America’s 250th anniversary and engraved with the words “Per Ardua Ad Astra,” meaning “Through adversity, to the stars.” I can only imagine what the significance of this beleaguered actor railing against “adversity” would be.But Messrs. Spacey, Depp and Hammer, along with Gina Carano, who won an impressively groveling apology and settlement from Disney after being fired from “The Mandalorian” for expressing her political views on X, are all beneficiaries of a changing world when it comes to the entertainment industry. This goes beyond film and television, too. The fashion designer John Galliano, who once saw his career implode amidst reports of antisemitic behavior, has been so restored to prominence that he will be at the heart of the 2027 Met Gala and accompanying exhibition, which will be entitled “John Galliano: Horizons.” The press release about what we can expect from the show suggests that it will not be “a conventional narrative of disgrace and redemption” but rather “how aesthetic achievement, ethical accountability and institutional recognition intersect.”Kevin Spacey showing off his ‘adversity’ ring. Via XMuch the same can be said about his once A-list peers throughout the entertainment industry. Lesser names might be hit harder — see how the actor Geno Segers was recently axed from the Broadway cast of “Hadestown” amidst controversy at his social media postings about trans athletes — but those who have made various studios, or fashion houses, an awful lot of money over the years are, quite literally, too big to fail. The notion that Johnny Depp is back, as though he had never seen the inside of a courtroom in the past decade, is reinforced by an email that was sent out to subscribers of a test screening firm, Preview Free Movies, inviting them to “an exclusive screening of a new movie from a major motion picture studio starring Johnny Depp in a bold reimagining of a beloved classic holiday story.” Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ 2004. Wikimedia Commons Such invitations suggest that, for Hollywood A-listers, cancellation now resembles a European sports system of promotion and relegation. After nearly a decade in a lower division, owing to misconduct, Mel Gibson got himself promoted with 2016’s war drama “Hacksaw Ridge.” Next year he returns with the two-part spectacle “The Resurrection of the Christ,” with Part One being released on Good Friday 2027 and Part Two hitting cinemas on Ascension Day. To whet appetites, Mr. Gibson’s blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ” is being rereleased in cinemas next month.Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer Scrooge might be chortling that he is pleased to be back in business, but the actor, as well as the character, increasingly seems in elevated company amongst his fellow redeemed reprobates, too.

Too Big To Boycott: Johnny Depp Leads Hollywood’s New Class of ‘Uncancellable’ Stars

Too Big To Boycott: Johnny Depp Leads Hollywood’s New Class of ‘Uncancellable’ Stars

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