Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s highly publicised defamation trial is getting the Netflix documentary treatment over one year after the world watched the courtroom battle unfold live on TV.
A trailer for the streaming service’s three-part series “Depp v. Heard” debuted on Wednesday, promising to will reshine light on the case between the ex-spouses. The series “explores the trial that set Hollywood ablaze and the online fallout that ensued,” a synopsis from Netflix reads.
“This has moved from a news story or lawsuit and it’s transformed into a cultural movement,” one commentator says in the roughly two-minute trailer.
The series will show “both testimonies side-by-side for the first time,” according to the synopsis.
The upcoming documentary, directed by Emmy nominee Emma Cooper (Netflix’s “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes”) comes after Tubi TV dramatised the trial in a movie called Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial.
In Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Heard, which he filed back in March 2019, he alleged that an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post damaged his career. In the op-ed, she alleged that she had been a victim of domestic abuse, though she did not mention Depp by name.
He claimed that the op-ed caused him to be dropped from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” reboot.
Heard, who accused her former husband of physically and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions during their short-lived marriage, faced public scrutiny during the lengthy trial that kicked off in April 2022.
Depp also claimed that he was the victim of spousal abuse. Both parties denied each other’s claims.
In court filings, Depp had requested $50 million in damages, while Heard countersued for $100 million.
The jury decided primarily in favor of Depp in the trial, awarding the Disney star $15 million in total damages. Due to a Virginia law capping punitive damages,. Heard was ordered to pay $10.35 million.
Heard was granted $2 million in compensatory damages in her countersuit for a statement by Depp’s attorney that was found to be defamatory.
In the end, Heard agreed to pay her ex $1 million in the settlement, according to Depp’s legal team.
Depp v. Heard hits Netflix on August 16.