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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Dominique Hines

‘It’s blooming awful!’: Johnny Depp Amber Heard trial movie trailer slammed by fans

The new trailer for the Depp vs Heard movie has been released to unfavourable reviews

(Picture: ES Composite)

The trailer for the bombshell Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial has been released to scathing reviews.

The teaser for Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial, which has been released this week by streaming service Tubi, stars little-known actors Mark Hapka and Megan Davis as embittered exes Depp, 59, and Heard, 36.

The one-minute trailer sees Davis and Hapka in their roles as the warring Hollywood stars arriving in the courtroom for the first day of the trial, with Depp greeting fans and Heard on the witness stand.

Flashback scenes of the couple were also re-enacted.

Hapka rocks Depp’s signature look with a goatee, sunglasses and ponytail, while Davis, dressed in similar style to that of Heard in court, barely resembles the Aquaman actress.

Apart from pointing out that the pair don't quite look the part, fans and critics have slammed the film's "cheap-looking sets" and "awful dialogue". According to US entertainment site JOE the trailer simply "looks tacky and feels like a sensationalist cash grab."

While the Guardian asked: "A cheaply made and poorly acted new dramatisation of the two stars on the stand has been rushed out but for whom exactly?"

Soap actor Mark Hapka stars as Depp in the film (Getty Images)

Under the trailer's comments on YouTube, one fan wrote: "This is blooming awful. I could do better with my iPhone," while another stated: "The movie nobody thought they needed and... they'd be right."

A third quipped: "The only hot take here is the fact I'd rather re-watch six weeks of free, raw court footage than any money-milking, dramatised college project."

While another joked: "It's like they were trying to find the actors who look nothing like him and her."

Hot Take promises to show scenes of their toxic marriage and the two-month defamation trial that concluded June 1.

Megan Davis has been criticised for not resmbling Heard (Getty Images)

A jury found that Aquaman star Heard had defamed the Pirates Of The Caribbean star by alluding to domestic violence allegations against him in her December 2018 opinion piece for Washington Post.

The jury awarded the actor $10 million in compensatory damages, plus $5 million in punitive damages — which the judge reduced to $350,000 in accordance with the state’s statutory cap.

However, the jury also held Depp liable for a defamatory statement made about Heard by his lawyer and awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages for her counterclaim.

Heard, who was consoled by her former attorney in court after losing the case, is set to appeal (AP)

Heard has filed an official appeal against the outcome of the multimillion-dollar case.

Depp posted a message on TikTok to his fans after his court victory: “To all of my most treasured, loyal and unwavering supporters.

We’ve been everywhere together, we have seen everything together.

“We have walked the same road together. We did the right thing together, all because you cared.

Depp and Heard’s case was the most highly publicised celebrity court battle since OJ Simpson’s murder trial in the 90’S (PA Wire)

“And now, we will all move forward together.”

Responding to Depp’s TikTok, a spokesman for Heard issued a statement saying: “As Johnny Depp says he’s ‘moving forward’, women’s rights are moving backward.

“The verdict’s message to victims of domestic violence is ... be afraid to stand up and speak out.”

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