Johnny Depp is slowly rebuilding his Hollywood career with his new film and is intent on moving on from his past troubles.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the Rome Film Festival, Depp followed up on his past comments referring to his life as a “soap opera.”
“Some of it was not the most beautiful time, some of it was hilarious. Some of it was mad. The thing is, it simply just was, and it simply just is. So, for me, it happened. I learned, man,” he told the outlet.
He continued, “Everything that we experience, whether you’re given a snow cone or walking your dog, you learn something somewhere along the way. So I don’t have any ill feelings toward anyone.”
“I don’t have this great reserve of hatred, because hatred requires caring. Why carry that baggage?”
Depp, who directed a film about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani titled “Modì – Three Days on the Wing of Madness,” also spoke about shaking up his approach to filmmaking, after having previously said he didn’t feel like he needed Hollywood anymore.
“I had a few bouts with Hollywood over their particular easy way and the fluid three-act structure and all the stuff that is predictable. And I am sorry, but I had to get in there and whip it around a little bit…” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star said.
“Everything that we experience…you learn something somewhere along the way. So I don’t have any ill feelings toward anyone.”
Johnny Depp
Depp went through a seven-week trial in 2022 with ex-wife Amber Heard over alleged defamation that resulted in a media circus, including celebrity witnesses like Kate Moss and Ellen Barkin and fans swarming the Virginia courthouse.
He was awarded $10.35 million in damages after a jury declared Heard defamed Depp with allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Heard and Depp eventually settled, with the “Aquaman” star agreeing to pay Depp $1 million.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Depp said working can be helpful “especially when things are crumbling all around.”
“It’s weird to be able to escape, not into a character, but it is good to be able to inhabit a character, and as everything is in your toolbox — some of that stuff can be used as available stimulus, which is great,” he said.
He added, “Everything has been … it has really, it just is. And on some level, it is gonna be around, that kind of thing. It’s like O.J. or something. But hey, it just happened. That’s all.”