Johnny Depp — a gorgeous, tortured unicorn of a man who fell into a toxic waste dump ten or so years ago — is embroiled in a lawsuit right now with his former managers at The Management Group. They say he’s irresponsible with his money. He says spending $5 million on a cannon with which to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes isn’t irresponsible. People are pointing fingers! And making statements! And I love it. Public sparring is like chicken soup for a gossip writer’s soul.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, TMG isn’t taking Depp’s recent comments about the dispute lightly. In fact, they’re firing back with escalated claims against the 53-year-old in an amended complaint. Depp had complained that if he was really so irresponsible with his money, TMG should have dropped him. “It’s my money,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “If I want to buy 15,000 cotton balls a day, it’s my thing.”
In response, TMG is calling Depp’s sense of entitlement “clear and epic,” which, duh. “Depp listened to no one, including TMG and his other advisors, and he demanded they fund a lifestyle that was extravagant and extreme,” writes attorney Michael Clump in the amended complaint. “Ultimately, Depp and/or his sister and personal manager, Elisa Christie Dembrowski, knowingly approved all of Depp’s expenditures.”
The most insane of those expenses? The claim that Depp spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on a sound engineer who feeds him lines on set. Depp apparently kept a dude on a yearly retainer, because honestly, as an actor, why should he have to memorize lines anyway?
Fascinatingly enough, Vulture notes that none other than Kirsten Dunst may have exposed Depp’s habit way back in 2008. “Johnny Depp has music playing in his ear when he acts,” she told the mag. “He has an earbud. That’s why he’s so great.”
Maybe Depp should publicly acknowledge the whole sound engineer thing. Could be a good excuse for his performance in the universally panned “Mortdecai.” Just a thought.
