Johnny Depp’s friend has revealed the Pirates of the Caribbean actor has been using an earpiece on a number of film sets since the 90s.
Keenan Wyatt took the stand today (19 April) as part of the defamation trial in which Depp is suing his ex-wife Amber Heard over domestic abuse claims she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post.
Wyatt has worked as a sound engineer on a range of movies with Depp, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
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When asked whether the 58-year-old actor has ever worn an earpiece on any of the sets on which he’s worked with him, Wyatt replied: “Yes, he has.”
He explained that the first time it was used was while filming for The Brave in the mid-90s as Depp was doing a scene with Marlon Brando who was wearing an earpiece for receiving his dialogue.
Wyatt said: “It was a long shooting day and… as the director let Marlon go after we shot Marlon’s section of the film, and then for Johnny’s character to act against something other than just a blank nothing we put Marlon’s performance in an earpiece and into Johnny."
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The sound technician, who has worked on movies with Depp through to 2016, said from that moment Depp used an earpiece ‘all the time’ in order to listen to music while acting.
“We would play all kinds of music depending on the character,” added Wyatt, who said it ranged from classical to rock and blues.
In addition to feeding music, Wyatt said he would sometimes read lines through to Depp as the actor ‘likes to go into make-up in the morning and write his own dialogue and rewrite his dialogue’.
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Wyatt continued: “Sometimes there wasn't always enough time to remember the lines and learn them, so I would remind him in his ear sometimes while music was playing at the same time."
Wyatt later confirmed he’s the person who controls what goes into Depp’s earpiece.
When questioned over Depp’s preparedness on set, Wyatt said he was ‘absolutely prepared’ and that ‘he knows what he wants his character to be’.
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Wyatt is one of numerous witnesses taking the stand on day five of the trial, which started last week in Fairfax, Virginia.
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Depp is seeking $50 million in damages after Heard claimed she was a victim of ‘sexual violence’ in the Washington piece.
Despite the op-ed article not naming Depp, he claims the piece ruined his reputation and career.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Johnny Depp, Crime, TV and Film
