Johnny Depp Prepares for 'Comeback' After He Felt 'Boycotted' by Hollywood Due to Grueling Amber Heard Trial

Comeback kid!

At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, May 17, Johnny Depp spoke about returning to the Hollywood scene while at a press conference for his new movie Jeanne Du Barry.

The Alice in Wonderland star's remarks come almost a year after the actor and ex-wife Amber Heard went through their highly publicized defamation case.

The 59-year-old admitted his career felt affected by the controversial trial, saying, "You'd have to not have a pulse at that point to feel like, 'No, none of this is happening. This is actually just a weird joke.'"

"Of course, when you're asked to resign from the film you're doing because of something that is merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yeah, you feel a bit boycotted," Depp stated.

In June 2022, Heard was court ordered to pay $10.35 million in damages to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory alum, while Depp was required to fork over $2 million to the actress. After appeals, the couple settled the case in December, where they agreed for the mom-of-one to pay $1 million to Depp, which he would donate to charity.

"Do I feel boycotted now?" he added. "No, not at all. But I don't feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don't think about it. I don't think about Hollywood. I don't have much further need for Hollywood myself."

The father of model Lily-Rose Depp added, "I never went anywhere."

"People have seen or heard the word 'comeback' exchanged by folks and using that as a catchphrase. 'He's making a comeback,' or 'He's made a comeback,'" he continued.

"I keep wondering about the word comeback because I didn't go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away. So yeah, maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time. But no, I didn't go nowhere. I've been sitting around," he noted.

"So 'comeback,' it's almost like I'm going to come out and do a tap dance or some kind of spectacular feet on the table and dance my best for you guys, and hope that you will approve. The notion of something like that is a bizarre mystery," Depp said.

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"With regard to me and my life, the majority of what you've read is fantastically, horrifically written fiction," he added, referring to Heard’s domestic abuse claims as fake. "It's like asking a question, 'How are you doing?' But what's underneath in the subtext is, 'God, I hate you.' Do you know what I mean? So that's the sort of media thing."