Johnny Depp has a major movie role brewing, three years after enduring reputational damage as a result of his his legal ordeal with ex-wife Amber Heard.
TMZ reports the actor, 62, has landed the lead part in a re-imagining of a Charles Dickens classic, a movie called Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol.
Johnny is now in final negotiations to portray the titular role, sources have told the site, which will mark his first big-budget film since the controversy with his ex-wife erupted.
Paramount Pictures is currently working on the film, which is also set to tar Andrea Riseborough.
‘A thrilling ghost story set in Dickens’ London, follows one man’s supernatural journey to face his past, present and future and fight for a second chance,’ a description for the film goes, according to TMZ.
A representative for Johnny confirmed the TMZ report with The Daily Mail but had no further comment.
Johnny Depp is in the throes of a Hollywood comeback after his falling out with Amber Heard threatened his career; pictured December 2024
A source connected to the actor told TMZ that Johnny has had a very busy 2025 with more big projects coming soon, which includes Modi, his upcoming film starring Al Pacino and Stephen Graham.
Depp directed the film, which will be released on November 7.
Additionally, his art exhibition, ‘A Bunch of Stuff’, is bound for Tokyo in November. TMZ also reports he is having loads of fun filming Day Drinker opposite Penelope Cruz.
After winning his 2022 defamation trial against Amber, Johnny began a measured comeback.
He returned to the spotlight with the French film Jeanne du Barry (2023), which premiered at Cannes to a standing ovation.
Around the same time, he re-established his partnership with Dior Sauvage, signing a record-breaking fragrance deal. He’s also focused on music projects with his band Hollywood Vampires.
So far, his comeback has leaned more on European cinema, fashion, and music rather than big Hollywood blockbusters – until now.
Johnny famously lost the libel action which he brought at the UK High Court in 2020, after being called a ‘wife beater’, but successfully brought a libel action against Amber in a US court in 2022. (The jury also ruled with Heard on one of her three countersuit claims, finding Johnny’s lawyer had defamed her in that instance).
As a result of the controversy, Johnny’s reputation took a battering with his stock as one of the world’s leading actors dramatically falling amid sensational headlines of domestic abuse, sexual violence, drug taking and excessive drinking.
The whole ordeal with Amber threatened his entire career as he was dropped from a star role in the Harry Potter spin-off film series ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,’ as Hollywood turned its back on him.
The legal ordeal between Depp and Heard captivated the world
Johnny famously lost the libel action which he brought at the UK High Court in 2020, after being called a ‘wife beater’, but successfully brought a libel action against Heard in a US court in 2022 (Depp gestures to spectators in court after closing arguments at the Depp vs Heard trial)
Heard taking the stand during the Depp vs Heard defamation trial in Fairfax County, Virginia in 2022
He was also dropped by Disney in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow from the sixth edition of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’
Johnny recently admitted to The Telegraph: ‘I was shunned, dumped, booted, deep-sixed, cancelled, however you want to define it.’
Referring to the trials, he said: ‘I fought it because had I not then I wouldn’t have been me.
‘Would I rather have not gone through that? Of course.
‘But I learned more than I ever dreamed I could.’
