Discovery has commissioned a two-part documentary series on the breakdown of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship and their subsequent legal battle. The series has been titled Johnny vs Amber.
According to a report by Variety, the documentary will be produced as a double bill with each film told from one of their viewpoints. It will feature interviews and testimonies from the actors’ lawyers and close aides, and also examine the footage and audio recordings filmed by the former couple.
Johnny vs Amber is expected by released on Discovery+. It will be executive produced by Nick Hornby and Fran Baker for Optomen production company and by Matt Reid for Discovery.
Hornby, co-CEO at Optomen, said, “Through the tapes, home videos and text messages shown in court, these films will give viewers a rare and important insight into a marriage that went tragically wrong, to better understand the hugely important issue of domestic violence.”
Heard and Depp got married in 2015 after dating for three years. In 2016, Heard filed for divorce stating that Depp was abusive. While their divorce was finalised in January 2017, the two have been engaged in a prolonged legal battle.
Recently, Heard’s plea to dismiss a defamation case filed against her by her former husband was overruled by a Virginia court.
Earlier, in 2020, Depp lost a libel case against the British tabloid Sun for labelling him a “wife-beater” in a 2018 article. In addition to rejecting his case, British High Court Justice Andrew Nicol also found that 12 of the 14 alleged domestic violence incidents did occur. The judge ruled that Depp had assaulted Heard on these occasions and put her in “fear for her life” three times.
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Following this verdict, Depp was asked to resign from The Fantastic Beasts franchise. In an interview with The Sunday Times in 2021, the actor alleged that Hollywood was boycotting him.
Meanwhile, despite a social media campaign by Depp’s fans to oust Heard from the upcoming DC superhero movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the producer of the film said he had no plans to remove her from the franchise. Heard will thus reprise her role as Mera in the sequel to 2017’s Aquaman.
Speaking about the newly commissioned documentary series, Clare Laycock, Discovery’s senior vice president for planning and insights and head of entertainment, said, “The series provides an in-depth insight into the epic battle that powered #JusticeforJohnnyDepp and #IStandWithYouAmberHeard fan campaigns and the very public High Court case that gripped us all.”