The drama created during the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was so pervasive and dominant in the social zeitgeist, avoiding was virtually impossible. Even if you didn’t want to follow it, you’d end up reading about it online, hearing about it from people you know, or catching glimpses of it on television. It was ubiquitous in the worst possible way, driving people into taking sides to defend parties in a toxic, violent relationship. And as it turns out, that’s apparently great fodder for a movie coming to Tubi.
“Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial” released a trailer today that has all the subtlety of a flying mallet in terms of what it aims to do; capitalize on the infamy of the trial in order to get viewers. The fact that we’re not even 4 months removed from the trial verdict and there’s a film already about to premiere, goes to show that this isn’t so much an artistic effort, as it is a financially exploitative one.
The film stars Mark Hapka as Depp and Megan Davis as Heard. The movie is being written by Guy Nicolucci, primarily known for writing for “The Daily Show” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” The trailer itself is nothing really to write home about as it primarily shows snippets of melodrama between Heard and Depp on the stand with quick references to Depp’s eccentricities, like drawing with crayons while in the courtroom. There’s also off-screen narration that briefly mentions Heard’s psychological issues and a news reporter stating that there’s a “clear favorite” amongst the supporters at the trial.
“’Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial ‘ has ‘Hot Take’ in the title for a reason… this Tubi Original was fast-tracked into production to capture a timely take on a story that became part of the cultural zeitgeist, painting a unique picture of what millions watched play out in the headlines over the summer,” Chief Content Cfficer for Tubi, Adam Lewinson said. To that end, there doesn’t seem to be much to insinuate that there’s anything much about the aftereffects of the trial and how things have continued to pan out since the verdict.
While it’s hard to imagine anyone going into this imagining that it’ll be high-class cinema, there’s an almost “ambulance chaser” like quality to the film. The rushed nature of the production, the retelling of events that just happened a few months ago, is there any artistic or cultural value to this film? Tubi is one of the remaining properties owned by Fox that wasn’t bought up by Disney. This will no doubt at least attract some eyes to the platform, which is probably one of the big reasons it’s a Tubi original.
The film premieres on September 30th on Tubi.
