Johnny Depp’s ‘Crimes’ enrage Potter fans

JOHNNY DEPP’S striking appearance in Fantastic Beasts has been revealed — and many Potter fans are furious.

While the Pirates Of The Caribbean star has created another memorable look for his role as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald — a shock of white hair and one piercing blue eye — not everyone is happy with his involvement, due to lingering questions over accusations of domestic abuse made by his former wife Amber Heard.

Although the pair eventually divorced issuing a joint statement that read, ‘There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm’, many fans of author JK Rowling’s world are unhappy about his casting.

One tweeted: ‘So many abuse victims have turned to Harry Potter as a source of comfort and healing. The Crimes of Grindelwald shows how little the creators of this franchise care about its fandom, and I’m over it.’

Another agreed, pointing out that the title of the movie is ‘pretty ballsy… for a film failing to address the problematic assault charges of its biggest star’.

And one wit riffed on the original movie’s title, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, saying: ‘I wholeheartedly agree that Johnny Depp is a fantastic beast. However, I wish I did not know where to find him.’

Others objected on a more aesthetic level.

‘The cruelest trick a movie has ever played on us: replacing Colin Farrell with what appears to be the bloated, sun-bleached corpse of Johnny Depp,’ wrote one, while another pointed out that Depp seemed to be channelling a certain distinctive actress.

‘SWINTON by Tilda Swinton for TILDA by Tilda Swinton in collaboration with TILDA SWINTON for TILDA by Tilda Swinton,’ they captioned the image.

But many others approved of Johnny’s look and involvement.

One tweeted: ‘Johnny Depp as Grindelwald is stunning!! I’m crying!’ while another wrote: ‘He is pure magic! Gorgeous!’

The naysayers would not be silenced, however, with some commenters referencing the eleventh-hour replacement of disgraced Kevin Spacey from Ridley Scott film All The Money In The World.

‘It really isn’t too late to replace Johnny Depp, guys,’ one wrote.

In the new movie, Depp’s character Grindelwalk has ‘escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings’.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is set for release on November 16, 2018

Author: Anna Thomson