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Well, that didn’t land.
The Fall Guy is hitting cinemas this weekend, but some people who got to preview the film aren’t impressed with a joke that references Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship.
In the stunt actor-inspired action-comedy, Hannah Waddingham’s producer character walks into a messy trailer, where she tells Emily Blunt, playing a director: “It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here.”
The scene didn’t sit right with many people online, who thought the “distasteful” and “cheap” line made light of domestic violence.
Others posted that they had been excited to see the movie before hearing about the off-colour joke.
Heard and Depp married in 2015 but split just 15 months later.
Details about the pair’s tumultuous relationship would become public years later, when Depp sued Heard for defamation after she called herself a “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post.
An intense court battle ensued, in which both actors accused each other of abuse. In the end, a jury ruled in Depp’s favour and ordered Heard to pay him millions in damages.
HuffPost has reached out to the distributor of The Fall Guy, Universal Pictures, for comment.
See some reactions here:
the fall guy: was just kind of cringe and smug until the weird j*hnny and a*ber joke, then it was unpleasant
— hannah strong (@thethirdhan) April 22, 2024
I know it’s a brief a throwaway line, but still not sure what was up with the domestic violence joke in The Fall Guy.
— Michael (@JokerCritic) April 25, 2024
“the fall guy” made a distasteful “joke” about the domestic abuse amber suffered at the hands of johnny. it’s 2024, why are we writing these kinds of lines into movies? nasty work https://t.co/n1eCsM2o38
— lily (@lavfeysun) April 23, 2024
everyone should be aware that the new “comedy” movie The Fall Guy (which is getting a wide theatrical release in a few weeks) allegedly makes a cheap Amber / J*hnny joke. would love to ask the writer what he thinks is so funny about domestic violence…
— shane russo (@shxnerusso) April 22, 2024
The Fall Guy isn’t out till next Friday – maybe before then Leitch and company can read the room, make a last-minute edit, and replace that one unfortunate joke with… I dunno, even a second or two of dead silence would be an improvement.
— Josh Gilbert, Occasional Artist ✊🌘 (@ShokXoneStudios) April 24, 2024
Hearing about the Amber Heard joke in The Fall Guy has just completely obliterated any interest I had in seeing it, even for Gosling in another comedic role
— Björk’s Tulpa ☭ (@Bjorksbxtch) April 24, 2024
I don’t really get Johnny Depp stands who defend the Fall Guy joke. If you believe him, don’t you think it’s kinda shitty to joke about a domestic abuse situation like that? I think it speaks to the type of people they are
— row (@spaceageranger) April 25, 2024
