Johnny Depp Movie Halted Amid On-Set Assault Scandal

Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie City of Lies has been pulled from its September release date amid an on-set scandal.

According to Deadline, the film was set to open on September 7 but the distributor, Global Road, has inexplicably removed it from their release list.

While there is technically no official confirmation from the producers or studio, the film appears to have a delayed release due to the news that the film’s location manager, Gregg “Rocky” Brooks, recently filed a lawsuit against Depp for assault and battery.

The incident reportedly took place on the set of City of Lies in April 2017. Brooks alleges that Depp repeatedly hit him after finding out that a night shoot would run longer than planned. “Who the f— are you? You have no right to tell me what to do,” Books claims Depp said to him during the encounter.

He is said to be seeking damages related to a hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation from Depp, as well as director Brad Furman and Infinitum Nihil — Depp’s production company.

Furman previously called the allegations “exaggerated,” adding that Depp is “a consummate professional, great collaborator and a supporter of other artists.”

Depp’s attorney also responded to the lawsuit by saying that “all of the claims made by the location manager are absurd. We will prove that as we fight this case.”

City of Lies is a drama-thriller based on the real-life investigation into the murder of Notorious B.I.G., with Depp playing LAPD detective Russell Poole. The film also stars Forest Whitaker, Rockmond Dunbar, Neil Brown Jr., and Xander Berkeley.

While Depp has not spoken publicly himself about the incident, he did recently give an interview to Rolling Stone where he spoke candidly about many personal matters, including how his highly-publicized money troubles affected his state of mind.

“I was as low as I believe I could have gotten. The next step was, ‘You’re going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you’re going to leave there with your eyes closed.’ I couldn’t take the pain every day,” the actor admitted.

He eventually decided to go on tour with his band — the Hollywood Vampires — to take his mind off of things, as well as began working on a new memoir.

“I poured myself a vodka in the morning and started writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see the page anymore,” Depp said. “I kept trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve this. I’d tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone. The truth is most important to me. And all this still happened.”

At this time, no new release date for City of Lies has been announced.