Daniel Radcliffe on Johnny Depp's Fantastic Beats casting row: 'Can see why people are frustrated'
The star of Harry Potter franchise Daniel Radcliffe has finally weighed in on the controversy surrounding Johnny Depp’s continued casting as the main villain Grindelwald in the multi film spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts.
Depp’s casting in the next film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has divided fans over the domestic abuse allegations against him by his ex wife Amber Heard, but had found support from the film’s writer JK Rowling, director David Yates and the Warner Bros. studio who had stood by the decision.
Daniel Radcliffe.
Now, Daniel Radcliffe has commented on the issue and said, “I can see why people are frustrated with the response that they were given from that. I’m not saying anything that anybody hasn’t already said — and this is a weird analogy to draw — [but] in the NFL, there are lots of players arrested for smoking weed and there is other people’s behavior that goes way beyond that and it’s tolerated because they’re very famous players. I suppose the thing I was struck by was, we did have a guy who was reprimanded for weed on the [original Potter] film, essentially, so obviously what Johnny has been accused of is much greater than that,” as reported by EW.
Radcliffe has referred to the dropping of actor Jamie Waylett, who played Vincent Crabbe from appearing in the last two Harry Potter films after being arrested for growing marijuana plants in 2009, calling the allegations against Johnny Depp of a very high magnitude.
In December JK Rowling had issued a statement in support of Depp, saying, “The agreements that have been put in place to protect the privacy of two people, both of whom have expressed a desire to get on with their lives, must be respected. Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.”
The studio too had defended Johnny Depp with a statement, “we are of course aware of reports that surfaced around the end of Johnny Depp’s marriage, and take seriously the complexity of the issues involved. This matter has been jointly addressed by both parties, in a statement in which they said ‘there was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.’ Based on the circumstances and the information available to us, we, along with the filmmakers, continue to support the decision to proceed with Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald in this and future films,” as reported by EW.
The Crimes of Grindelwald is slated for a 16 November release this year.
Published Date: Jan 15, 2018 11:03 AM | Updated Date: Jan 15, 2018 11:03 AM
