If you're hitting the multiplex this weekend, it's possible you're heading out to see the new Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action comedy The Fall Guy. Here's the trailer:
Along with Ryan and Emily, one of the many other stars who appears in the film is Hannah Waddingham. She plays Gail Meyer, an executive producer.
So, according to the Hollywood Reporter, there's a scene in the film in which Hannah's character walks into a messy trailer and says, "It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here.”
It seems safe to assume that the joke is a reference to ex-partners Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, who have been involved in numerous legal cases against each other since the dissolution of their marriage in 2016.
There was a 2020 UK case where Johnny lost his libel trial after the Sun called him a "wife-beater" and a judge ruled that "the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved to the civil standard." There was also a highly publicized US jury trial in June 2022 that found both Heard and Depp liable for defamation, with Depp winning significantly more in damages.
Obviously, it's not the type of thing you necessarily want to joke about at all, never mind in a blockbuster film.
But The Fall Guy did it anyway, and the internet had thoughts:
haven’t felt a single urge to watch the fall guy since i found out there’s an amber heard joke in it
Just Watched The Fall Guy. It could be a better movie without the Amber Heard and De*pp joke... It was totally unnecessary and corny 💀 pic.twitter.com/qrH0snfy9M
“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
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…
