A new Netflix documentary series ‘Depp v Heard’ is set to explore Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation trial and how it became a worldwide obsession.
Netflix has released the trailer for the three-part documentary directed by Emma Cooper, who made Netflix’s 2022 documentary ‘The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes\.
The official synopsis for the series reads: “Depp v Heard is a three-part series examining the infamous defamation case that captured the world’s attention and became the world’s first trial by TikTok.
“Showing both testimonies side-by-side for the first time, this series explores this global media event, questioning the nature of truth and the role it plays in our modern society.”
The goal of the series is to present a “neutral overview of what happens when the court of public opinion starts to overshadow reality”, with testimony from both sides shown side-by-side for the first time. Cooper also dug into 200 hours of live-streamed trial coverage from social media users.
“Ultimately, Depp v. Heard interrogates the role social media played in the trial, raising provocative, uncomfortable questions about how the conversations happening outside the courtroom may have influenced the outcome,” Netflix added.
In 2020, Depp lost his libel case against the tabloid ‘The Sun’ after a judge ruled claims that he was a “wife-beater” to be “substantially true.” Two years prior, Heard had penned an op-ed in which she said she’d become a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Depp took Heard to court over the article, and after a trial spanning seven weeks of grueling testimony and day-by-day commentary from everyone online, jurors unanimously ruled in favor of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star.
A seven-person jury consisting of five men and two women reached a verdict in the Virginia trial on June 1, 2022, siding mostly with Depp.
He was awarded $10.35 million in damages. Heard won one of her three defamation counterclaims and was awarded $2 million in damages.
During that period, the case was on social media, TV, magazines, newspapers and fuelled small-talk conversations all across the globe. Soon, people will relive the trial a new docuseries on Netflix.
‘Depp v Heard’ will drop on Netflix on August 16.
