Last year, Johnny Depp lost his libel case against The Sun newspaper who had referred to him as “a wife beater”, an accusation he strongly denies. Following the UK High Court’s ruling, the 58-year-old was asked by Warner Bros to resign from Fantastic Beasts 3 after shooting just one scene. The Grindelwald star accepted and has since been replaced by Mads Mikkelsen as the Harry Potter prequels villain.
Now in a new interview with The Sunday Times, Mads has admitted that he wishes he could have spoken to Johnny Depp about the Grindelwald role.
The Danish actor said: “I mean, obviously, they were going to do the film, and obviously he was not involved anymore.
“But I didn’t have a dog in that fight. And I don’t know what happened [in his private life], and I don’t know if it was fair, him losing the job.
“But I just knew that the show was going on, and I would’ve loved to have talked to him about it if I had the chance, but I just don’t know him in that sense.”
Mads, who was promoting his new movie Another Round, continued: “But they called me and they were obviously in a hurry, and I loved the script and so said yes.
“And I know it was controversial for many people, but that’s just the way it plays out once in a while.
“I didn’t want to copy what Johnny had done. I think he’s a masterful actor, so copying him would’ve been creative suicide.”
The 55-year-old said how he had to figure out something that was definitely his own but also act as a bridge to what Depp had done in the first two Fantastic Beasts movies.
Mads is rumoured to be playing a former Nazi scientist in what is set to be the fifth and final Indiana Jones movie starring Ford.
The blockbuster co-stars Phone Waller-Bridge and Toby Jones, while Logan’s James Mangold is directing.
Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first four movies in the franchise, remains on the project as a hands-on producer.
Fantastic Beasts 3 hits cinemas on July 15, 2022, while Indiana Jones 5 follows two weeks later on July 29, 2022.
READ THE SUNDAY TIMES INTERVIEW HERE.
Published at Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:18:44 +0000
Fantastic Beasts 3: ‘It's creative suicide to copy masterful Johnny Depp’ – Mads Mikkelsen
