JK Rowling was forced to defend the decision to cast Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald recently. After watching Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, fans took to Twitter to complain about Depp’s appearance as the dark wizard, which is unveiled in the last minutes of the movie.
Gellert Grindelwald is Albus Dumbledore’s best-friend-turned-foe in the books. It was later revealed by Rowling that Dumbledore was gay and in love with Grindelwald. It is said that the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts movies will be centered around Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s friendship, animosity and their epic duel.
Fans have slammed the choice of Depp for the part for two reasons. The fans felt that Depp’s look in the film – pale face makeup, blonde hair, appeared similar to his comedic roles in films such as The Lone Ranger, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Second and more importantly, the fans expressed concern over the allegations of domestic abuse made by Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard against him recently.
hello @jk_rowling @FantasticBeasts the Harry Potter universe is all about being against the abuse of power and yet you cast a known abuser?
— Natalie (@wednesdaydreams) November 2, 2016
But Rowling has responded saying she was “delighted” by Depp’s casting as the dark wizard and that “he’s done incredible things with the character”.
“He’s an iconic actor and we needed an iconic actor to play this part. Johnny’s created two or three iconic people, people who are unforgettable. He makes choices, and that was really, really important. Johnny can do that. He was an absolute pleasure to work with,” said David Heyman, Producer.
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David Yates, the director, on the other hand, asked fans to trust the team’s decision. Yates also said that Depp himself was a huge fan of Harry Potter “What you have to remember about Johnny is that extraordinary talent and that talent never goes away. He’s a huge Harry Potter fan. He loves the world. He was beyond excited about working on this material. In fact, he didn’t even want to see a script, he just said ‘I’m in,” he said.
Feature image courtesy: vanityfair.com