Coronavirus, JK Rowling, and Johnny Depp: how Fantastic Beasts 3 became Hollywood's most toxic movie

Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne had cheery tidings for fans of the Wizarding World when asked about the troubled franchise recently.

“Everyone is working at the top of their game,” he said, confirming filming had resumed on the much-delayed latest romp through the JK Rowling expanded universe at the 200-acre Warner Brothers complex in Leavesden, Hertfordshire.

However, today he and everyone else involved may have reason to revise that opinion, after co-star Johnny Depp lost his libel case against the Sun newspaper.

In an extraordinary turn of events, a High Court judge found 12 allegations of domestic violence by Depp against then-wife Amber Heard “substantially true”. Among the incidents were a drug-fuelled attack aboard a private jet and a violent freak-out after Heard mocked Depp’s “Wino Forever” tattoo.

Depp’s future as a movie star is now in serious doubt. The drugs allegations alone could see him denied visas for countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Yet it is the charges of domestic violence that will really damn him – and could likewise hole Fantastic Beasts from beneath the waterline. What sort of message would Warner Brothers be sending out if it gives pride of place in a beloved children’s series to a proven wife-beater? And what of Rowling – is this a look she wants to wear?

She will surely regret publicly pledging her support to Depp when he was unveiled in 2016 as Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald. “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,” she said. Those remarks have aged about 1,000 years in the past several hours.

It’s possible that Warners executives are, even now, locked in meetings attempting to strategise a way forward. Ironically, the chaos caused by Coronavirus might be their salvation. Filming was due to begin at Leavesden on March 16 only to be cancelled that morning as Britain headed into lockdown; work resumed at the beginning of September.

So the production is still in flux to an extent. Would it be unthinkable to do away with Grindelwald off-screen? That was the route pursued by Netflix with House of Cards when star Kevin Spacey was caught up in a MeToo scandal in 2017. Or perhaps they could reshoot with another actor, as Ridley Scott did with Christopher Plummer and his Kevin Spacey drama All The Money In the World?

If rock band Kasabian were willing to boot out lead singer Tom Meighan after he admitted in court to assaulting his girlfriend, surely a major Hollywood studio will be prepared to respond in similar fashion? There seems to be little to gain in continuing to associate with Depp and a great deal to lose.

Even before the High Court judgement, Fantastic Beasts 3 was widely viewed as “cursed”. Rowling has notoriously become a lightning rod in the debate over gender identity. Over the summer, Harry Potter fans – even Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe – have turned on the author because of her “transphobic” tweets.

As if that wasn’t enough for a saga already suffering diminishing box office returns, there are also question marks over the participation of Ezra Miller. The young actor went viral in the worst possible way – is there a good way of going viral any more? – after a video of him appearing to choke a fan in Iceland pinged around social media in April.

That’s the worst “triple threat” imaginable for a film which has already seen its release date shunted back to November 2021 because of Coronavirus.

Fantastic Beasts 3 has been wrapped tightly in a veil of mystery by Warner Brothers. Little is known of the storyline, thought at least some the action is rumoured to unfold in Rio De Janeiro ( it is unclear whether any filming will take place on location).

Miller plays the central character of Credence Barebone and was due to return for Fantastic Beasts 3 (such is its working title). One theory ricocheting around Hollywood gossip blogs is that Warner Brothers is considering quietly bumping off Barebone off screen. This, though, has yet to be confirmed.

Whether or not Miller stays there are likely to be some uncomfortable silence as production resumes at Leavesden. Eddie Redmayne, around whose wide-eyed performance as wizard Newt Scamander the entire wand-waving edifice has been constructed, is among the Potter stars to publicly take issue with Rowling’s remarks on trans people.

The actor went so far as to issue a statement criticising Rowling’s view that “if sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives” .

“They simply want to live their lives peacefully,” said Redmayne of his transgender friends and colleagues. “It’s time to let them do so.” (He later called the online abuse hurled at Rowling "disgusting".)

The problem – one of the problems – for Fantastic Beasts is that Rowling isn’t simply the creator of the source material, as she was with the Harry Potter films. She is intimately involved in the new movies as producer and screenwriter (while HP veteran David Yates directs). This is entirely and utterly her cinematic vision. Thus at some point, she and

Redmayne are going to have to cross paths. It is going to be awkward. She will also surely have some uncomfortable interactions with Depp having put her reputation on the line for him. Depp himself acknowledged he had made life awkward for her in a 2018 Entertainment Weekly interview.

“I felt bad for JK having to field all these various feelings from people out there,” he said. “I felt bad that she had to take that. But ultimately, there is real controversy. The fact remains I was falsely accused, which is why I’m suing the Sun newspaper for defamation for repeating false accusations. JK has seen the evidence and therefore knows I was falsely accused, and that’s why she has publicly supported me.”

Fantastic Beasts’ reputation would take a further hit over claims of “queer washing” the character of young Dumbledore, portrayed by Jude Law. Rowling had stunned the

Potterverse when in 2007 she revealed  Harry’s grandfatherly mentor was gay. Later she elaborated his “great tragedy” was falling for Grindelwald.

But when presented with the opportunity to depict a gay romance in a tentpole film, Fantastic Beasts 2 baulked. This led to accusations that Rowling was happy to score “progressive” brownie points without meaningfully addressing in her work Dumbledore’s sexuality. She was telling, not showing.

There was also a groundswell against lack of representation in the Potterverse. An Asian character named “Cho Chang” has drawn claims of lazy stereotyping. Rowling’s “hook-nosed” goblin bankers have come in for criticism too. In the case of the Crimes of Grindelwald there was pushback over the casting of Korean actress Claudia Kim as ‘Nagini’, given that the Nāga mythology that inspired the character of South and South East Asian origin.

Did Depp’s involvement and the “queer-washing” accusations impact negatively on the box office of the Crimes of Grindelwald? It is hard to say as there was already a great deal amiss with the film, which was noisy, confusing and entirely lacking in the charm of the original Potter pics. What we do know is that audiences globally were cool on it, with FB2 grossing a ‘disappointing” $654 million – some way behind the $814 million earned by its predecessor and the lowest total to date for a Potterverse movie.

One controversy might be survivable. In the case of Fantastic Beasts new ones seem to be popping up quicker than a hyperactive magician can yank rabbits from a hat. Can it survive them all? That may require a feat of movie-making sorcery that would challenge the wand-work of even the mighty Dumbledore.