11 Movie Casting Choices The Public Couldn't Handle
5. Johnny Depp - Gellert Grindelwald (Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them)
Despite the first Fantastic Beasts movie being largely well-received by fans, there were a lot of raised eyebrows at the last-minute inclusion of Johnny Depp in cameo form as the villainous Gellert Grindelwald.
Warner Bros. made tremendous pains to keep Depp's involvement secret, and despite word leaking shortly before release, most audiences were completely shocked to see Depp revealed as the true face of the series' antagonist.
Between the utter ridiculousness of Depp's sudden appearance and his well-publicised legal issues with Amber Heard at the time, many fans were left either laughing or groaning - if not both - rather than excited to see what Depp could bring to the table.
More to the point, given that Grindelwald was played by Colin Farrell for most of the movie - albeit in disguise as wizard Percival Graves - it felt like a totally pointless rug-pull that only deprived audiences of a recurring Farrell role in future films.
With the Depp-Heard controversy ramping up further before the release of the sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, it perhaps wasn't terribly surprising that Depp's involvement was a huge distraction, and the movie ultimately disappointed both critically and commercially.
In its wake, word spread that Warner Bros. was considering re-casting the part for the third film, and at least if they do, Grindelwald's slippery penchant for changing his appearance would make the switch relatively seamless.