nme.com
19.04.2022 / 16:27
Mads Mikkelsen recalls “chaotic” Johnny Depp replacement process for ‘Fantastic Beasts’
Fantastic Beasts franchise.The actor is now playing Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore after Depp was asked to leave the franchise by Warner Bros in 2020.Depp lost his libel case against The Sun in November 2020, which was launched after the newspaper described the actor as a “wife-beater” in relation to allegations from his ex-wife Amber Heard, claims Depp has strongly denied.Depp later addressed the Fantastic Beasts situation on his Instagram account in a statement responding to “recent events”, explaining why he was leaving the franchise.In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mikkelsen has now recalled how he was given just two days by producers to make a decision on playing Grindelwald.“It was quite chaotic,” Mikkelsen said of that period, during which he watched the first two films and read the script for Secrets, which he said was “a great story”.“You don’t want to copy anything [Depp was] doing — that would be creative suicide,” the actor added. “Even if [a role has] been done to perfection, you want to make it your own.