MOVIE NEWS – Emma Cooper, director of the Netflix documentary Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard, has spoken about why she decided to leave both actors out of the project.

DEPP V. HEARD, the Netflix documentary series about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, will not feature interviews with either star. Director Emma Cooper explained her decision to forgo interviews with the two stars, who are at the heart of the events the limited series will explore and dissect.

The publicly televised six-week courtroom legal battle, which ended with Depp winning his defamation lawsuit against Heard, was the talk of the town throughout the preliminary period of the proceedings and beyond.

And the conversations surrounding it covered issues that provoked passion from people independent of the case itself. As a result, several media adaptations and depictions were green-lit following the conclusion of the trial, and Netflix has approved a docu-series on the case.

Since the Depp versus Heard lawsuit was already dramatized in Hot Take, director Cooper’s documentary didn’t have to bring in any low-hanging fruit, and the director made her goal clear with the DEPP V. HEARD project, Variety reported.

“Really, my intention was always to try and make it about the conversation around the trial. I wanted to get away from any he-said-she-said from within the trial, and I just really wanted to talk about us and the way we communicate and the way that we look at events that don’t really have anything to do with us,” she said. “That is actually what the series is about – but I can’t help but look at some of the things that are being said about me without people having seen the series, and it’s interesting that people are drawing many conclusions, but that very much was not my intention.”

Clarifying elsewhere in the interview, Cooper succinctly stated that her intention from the outset was “to make a cogent and interesting reflection of what happened without using interviews or experts.”

The decision not to interview either Depp or Heard, whose lawyer was reportedly unable to pay Depp the agreed $10.4 million compensation, did not preclude the director from facing backlash from supporters of either camp. On receiving backlash for the documentary, Cooper humorously mused, “You know, it’s a balanced level of hate. I pride myself that it tends to be very 50/50.”

The polarised public opinion around the trial has not faded. Cooper insisted that she would play by the rules. Among other things, she contacted the two stars’ legal representatives to inform the parties of the docu-series. But she also did not force them for interviews. The Netflix docu-series will attract many viewers. For the first time, it will present a more balanced and nuanced picture of the case.

However, it is worth questioning how Cooper’s noble attempt will fare in the long run…

Source: Variety