Depp v Heard: one of the most talked about court cases in recent Hollywood history has been made into a new documentary that’s about to debut on Netflix.
The film follows the drawn-out battle between former couple Amber Heard and Johnny Depp.
The difference with this case was that cameras were allowed in the courtroom. Streamed for millions of viewers from Fairfax County Court in Virginia, the six-week case was a spectacle full of memorable court outfits and jaw-dropping testimonies.
Exploring both sides of the explosive testimonies, the upcoming Netflix show aims to unlock how this narrative has been shaped by public opinion.
So when can we expect the new series to hit our screens?
What is the Netflix show about?
Directed by Emma Cooper, the new three-part Netflix series claims to take a neutral view of the trial, while exploring how public opinion started to shape reality. It also addresses the role that social media played in shaping these public opinions and even potentially shaping the outcome.
“It’s a curious element of the human mind and brain that we observe the same scenarios differently, and have different perspectives,” Cooper said, according to a Netflix press release. “I simply wanted to put forward that these two people passionately believed their own truths, but those truths were not interlocking. They were not the same.”
The show will combine over 200 hours of trial coverage from news and TikTok sources to explore this story.
When is it released?
Depp v. Heard was released on Netflix outside of the U.K. on August 16.
Can you watch Depp v Heard in the UK?
Depp v Heard was actually aired on Channel 4 earlier this year.
While there is no official release date for UK audiences that want to watch the show on Netflix, it is currently available for streaming through Channel 4.
What happened in the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard case?
Depp and Heard met in 2011 on the set of their shared film The Rum Diary and began dating shortly afterwards. They married in 2015 but split and divorced a little over a year later.
The saga that eventually led to their court case began in 2018 when Heard wrote an op-ed in which she implied that she was a victim of abuse. Although she didn’t name her ex-husband in the article, Depp launched a lawsuit in 2019 arguing that he had been boycotted in Hollywood.
Heard then filed a counterclaim for defamation against Depp worth $100 million, accusing him of a smear campaign.
In the six-week court showdown, the jury heard many accounts of incidents that occurred while the pair were together. This included claims of violence as well as claims that Heard had defecated in his bed. In May 2022, a jury awarded Depp $15 million (£12.4 million) in damages.
