Johnny Depp's massive pay cut for new comeback role Ebenezer revealed
Johnny Depp has returned as Ebenezer Scrooge, but his pay packet has taken a significant hit, according to reports.
The 63-year-old has reprised the role for the upcoming movie Ebenezer, and was paid $5 million, which is just a small fraction of his usual salary for starring in a film, in his first Hollywood comeback since his legal battles with ex Amber Heard.
Back in 2018, Depp was paid a whopping $16 million for appearing in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, despite only having filmed one scene before Warner Bros. decided to cut him out the movie. The decision to remove him came after he lost his libel case against The Sun newspaper for calling him a 'wife-beater'.
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While the actor has appeared in a couple of films since the legal battles, Ebenezer marks Depp's first major Hollywood production in eight years, but according to Variety, this hasn't been reflected in his salary.
At one point, the Pirates of the Caribbean lead was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, making $50 million for appearing onscreen for just a few minutes in Alice in Wonderland in 2010.
By 2015 and 2016, Forbes had named Depp as Hollywood's most overpaid actor, by comparing his wage to the box office return. The publication found that for the 2016 Alice sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, he turned just $2.80 for every $1 he was paid.
In 2011, Depp confessed to being paid 'stupid money' for returning as Captain Jack Sparrow, insisting he would take the cash for his two kids, daughter Lily-Rose, 27, and son Jack, 24, who he shares with ex Vanessa Paradis.
"Basically, if they’re going to pay me the stupid money right now, I’m going to take it," he told Vanity Fair in 2011.
"I have to. I mean, it’s not for me. Do you know what I mean? At this point, it’s for my kids. It’s ridiculous, yeah, yeah. But ultimately is it for me? No. No. It’s for the kids."
When it comes to his measly-by-comparison salary of $5 million for Ebenezer, we're told Depp took the role because he believed in the movie and wanted 'real ownership of the film'
A source told UNILAD: "He took a creative deal because of his passion for the material, and so he could receive a significant back end. It's not a 'potential backend bonus,' but real ownership of the film."
Ebenzer is the most recent re-imagination of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which is reported to be much darker and more gothic than we have seen before. Depp is joined by Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Scrooge's dead business partner Jacob Marley and Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit.
The movie is directed by Ti West, an American film maker who is best known for horror films, including, X, Pearl and MaXXXine.
Topics: Film and TV, Johnny Depp, Celebrity
Emma Rosemurgey
