Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have become monumentally famous, even beyond the recognition that Disney or DC can bring them after the 2022 defamation trial made them the media and the public’s primary subjects of interest. In the aftermath of the televised courtroom drama, the ruination that waited for the stars outside the court’s walls was so drastically hateful and corrosive to Amber Heard that the actress had to move an ocean away to find refuge with her infant daughter in another country altogether.
And while Heard waits out the years before she can seriously consider returning to Hollywood once more, the industry looks back at one of her final, most controversial, and disastrously bad movies to come out before the walls came crumbling down.
Amber Heard’s Flop Movie Finds a Surprising Cameo
In the past decade, Amber Heard’s career in Hollywood had begun to pick up pace, especially after her being cast in the major DC ensemble of production, Aquaman, beside Jason Momoa. But while the 2018 film stands as her career’s biggest hit, the same year also witnessed her biggest flop aka London Fields. The infamous film, directed by Matthew Cullen, which underwent a 5-year production treatment from 2013 before finally premiering in 2018 now holds a 0% rating on the film critic website, Rotten Tomatoes.
Also read: Worst Amber Heard Movies We Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead Watching
However, despite the impossible conditions in which the film found an outlet (details of which have been discussed below), not all aspects of the film were horribly unbearable. During its filming in 2013, Amber Heard, the lead, was dating the Pirates actor, Johnny Depp and their formative relationship was romantic enough for the latter (and much bigger star) to endow the sets of her movie with his transitory presence. The cameo, although brief, snagged plenty of attention but it wasn’t enough to save London Fields from the utter decimation that was to follow. Made on a budget of $8 million, the film made a paltry sum of $487,420 at the box office.
The Difficult Production and Premiere of London Fields
Adapted from Martin Amis’ 1989 black comedy murder thriller of the same name, the film was deemed unadaptable in all its neo-noir sensibilities – a warning that director Matthew Cullen regretted not paying heed to after the film’s release. Projected to be screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (one of the largest film culture events in the world), London Fields would never make it to the destination after being swamped with a slew of lawsuits being filed from all directions.
Director Matthew Cullen sued the producers in 2015 accusing them of investor fraud after they pulled the film from the TIFF line-up. They counter-sued Cullen claiming the director went $4.5 million over the projected budget. Producers Jordan Gertner and Chris Hanley (The Virgin Suicides, American Psycho) sued Amber Heard in 2016 for $10 million accusing her of sabotaging the film’s premiere at TIFF and not “complying with her clear-cut contractual obligations”. The lead, Amber Heard also filed a lawsuit in 2017 claiming the producers violated a nudity clause in her agreement.
As all legal battles were settled, the film was released on October 26, 2018, two months before Aquaman hit the theatres and her Washington Post op-ed was published, launching Heard and Depp into a tornado of career-ending libel lawsuits and defamation trials across two continents.
Source: The Things
