The Rise and Fall of Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has scored a few extra points in his lawsuit against Amber Heard by having his case stick to its Virginia location instead of California, the latter a state in which progressive values could sometimes interfere with actual justice.

When did Depp’s artistic downfall occurred? I would say something happened around the time of his split with Vanessa Paradis, his partner of 14 years and mother of his two children. That's when Amber Heard came into the picture and their now infamous and brief marriage back in 2014. To say this was a nightmare for Johnny, and Amber of course, would be an understatement. The divorce battle the two raged against each other was hateful and nasty, with Heard claiming that Depp was verbally and physically abusive to her. This drama was happening as Johnny faced great problems, he was bankrupt. The guy was a big spender, still is; One of the more famous stories has Depp paying $5 million for his good friend's ashes, the late Hunter S. Thompson, to be cannon-balled to the sky. 

Depp's inner circle had begged him not to wed Heard or to at least obtain a prenup. Depp ignored their advice. Coincidentally this led to Depp's recreational drug and alcohol use, which seems to have had a self-destructive result on his life. Depp has made $650 million on films that netted $3.6 billion. Almost all of it is now gone.

And so, the mystery of Depp’s downfall isn’t really a mystery at all, it was just a potent mix of marrying Heard being very stupid with his money and family tragedy striking all at the same time. Human frailty is s nasty thing.

As it stands, Depp’d last good movie was 2009's "Public Enemies.Ever since then? "The Tourist," "Alice in Wonderland," "Pirates 4," "Dark Shadows," The Lone Ranger," "Transcendence," Mortdecai," "Alice Through the Looking Glass," "Tusk," "Murder on the Orient Express," and "Pirates 5." Yikes.

However, here's the thing, he's still making movies that are raking it in, thanks to being attached to blockbuster franchises such as Fantastic Beasts and the surprise worldwide success of “Murder on the Orient Express.”

Artistically, he has a shot at a comeback, he stars in Ciro Guerra’s "Waiting for the Barbarians” alongside Robert Pattinson, which will be in competition this coming September at the Venice Film Festival.

Seminal Depp performances: “Ed Wood,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”