Amber Heard says ex Johnny Depp is trying to play their Virginia judge like a fiddle by claiming he can’t possibly make their January trial date — because he’ll be filming “Fantastic Beasts III,’’ new court papers show.
The actor has made “no effort whatsoever’’ to work his schedule around the court’s, assuming the role of pampered Hollywood star to a T, Heard seethed in documents filed Saturday, according to Britain’s The Sun.
“Mr Depp decided that, rather than speak with his employer to work his film commitments around his trial, he asks this court to subserviently reschedule around his employment and the entire film schedule and production,’’ the actress’s lawyers claimed.
The Virginia documents were filed in response to Depp’s recent request to have his $50 million US defamation case against Heard pushed back till later next year.
Depp is suing Heard over an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post about being a victim of domestic abuse. She didn’t name Depp as her abuser, but she has repeatedly publicly alleged he horrifically attacked her before and during their marriage.
Depp famously brought a similar case involving the “Aquaman’’ actress in Britain over a Sun headline calling him a “wife beater.’’ The judge could rule in that case as early as this month.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean’’ actor had argued in court papers in the Virginia case that the coronavirus pushed back the shooting on the latest installment of JK Rowling’s “Fanstastic Beasts’’ movie franchise, creating an “irreconcilable conflict’’ for him with the trial.
But Heard’s camp fired back in the new court papers, “Although Mr Depp had been contacted in late June or July with the proposed filming dates, he did not alert [movie bigs] to the trial dates,’’ The Sun said.
The actress added that she is set to start filming “Aquaman 2’’ in February — and that if the judge agreed with Depp’s request for a delay, this would adversely affect her.
Granting Depp’s request also would pave the way for a “slippery slope’’ of delays, her camp argued.
Heard filed a $100 million countersuit against Depp in Virginia last month seeking to toss what she called his “frivolous lawsuit” against her.
During their London trial, the pair traded accusations that painted him as a drug- and booze-fueled violent monster, while she was allegedly a fame-hungry, lying, vindictive cheater. Both Depp and Heard have denied the allegations.
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