Recent events surrounding Johnny Depp have really polarized opinions on the actor. The Pirates of the Caribbean star has been embroiled in a court battle against his ex-wife Amber Heard, who he sued - and won against - in a defamation trial held in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Depp emerged victorious in the suit, and the jury awarded him a total of $15 million from Heard in compensatory and punitive damages, although the presiding judge reduced that total to $10.35 million.
Heard's lawyers have already announced plans to appeal the decision, and insist that their client 'can absolutely not pay' the amount mandated by the court. The Aquaman actress' current estimated net worth is, in fact, more than $2 million less than what she now legally owes her ex-husband.
Noises from within Depp's camp suggest that he will not be pursuing an enforcement of the judgment. Nonetheless, there are still mixed opinions on the actor and his actions during his relationship with Heard, and over the course of the recent trial.
Of all the sensationalism around Depp right now, nothing sounds quite as extreme as a reference by one of his former directors.
Johnny Depp Worked With Director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck In 'The Tourist'
The 2000s could be fairly referenced as the pinnacle of Johnny Depp's acting career. It was in that decade, after all, that he achieved superstardom for his portrayal of the very popular character of Captain Jack Sparrow in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films.
The third picture in that movie series was titled Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and was released in 2007. At the time of its production, it was the most expensive film ever made in history, with a budget of around $300 million.
Unsurprisingly, Depp and co. were great value for that money, as the movie grossed more than triple that amount at the box office, and another sequel (titled On Stranger Tides) was announced and scheduled for release in 2011.
During the hiatus between At World's End and On Stranger Tides, Depp was tapped to play a career criminal masquerading as a Math teacher in the Columbia Pictures romantic thriller, The Tourist.
German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was the director in charge of the project.
Why Did Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck Liken Johnny Depp To A Serial Killer?
The Tourist received a mixed bag of success, as it was widely panned by critics but proved to be a hit at the box office. From a production budget of about $100 million, the movie was able to bring back nearly $278.3 million from ticket sales.
Angelina Jolie agreed to star in the film as a stopgap while she awaited to work on a bigger project. As such, it would not have been that shocking for her to see critics and audiences question her lack of chemistry with Johnny Depp, despite playing lovers.
On leading critic website Roger Ebert, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was also called out. 'There's a way to make a movie like The Tourist, but Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck doesn't find that way,' a stinging review said.
In this bittersweet aftermath of the movie, von Donnersmarck was interviewed by Vulture, where he made the sensational comparison. According to the director, the desire by Depp to make his character feel as 'normal' as possible was the reason he compared him to serial killers.
Does Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck Still Work In Hollywood?
Johnny Depp is known for his extensive physical transformations for roles, as he usually did in Pirates of the Caribbean, and more recently, for a Donald Trump parody film.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's interviewer for the Vulture profile felt that Depp didn't change too much for his role in The Tourist, but the director urged him to look a lot more closely at the character.
"If you look at [Depp's character's] styling, it’s quite unusual in a way. Okay, he’s a math teacher, and he has long hair? That’s weird," von Donnersmarck said.
This was the actor's attempt, he argued, to explore 'the so-called everyman' - like a serial killer would. "We know that from reading about serial killers, what do their neighbors say? 'Oh, he was such an average guy.' And then he turns out to be not-so-average after all," he added.
Although he lives in Los Angeles, Von Donnersmarck does not work directly in Hollywood. His latest film was a German romantic drama titled Never Look Away, which was nonetheless nominated for two Oscars and a Golden Globe in 2019.