By 
Minamata director Andrew Levitas believes MGM is trying to bury his movie because of Johnny Depp’s ongoing off-screen troubles. The film was originally planned for a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release in February, but that date came and went.
Levitas, in a letter to MGM published by Deadline, claims the distributor is “burying” Minamata. The filmmaker wrote he was told by acquisitions head Sam Wollman, who bought Minamata for MGM’s relaunched American International Pictures, that it would not be promoted and that “MGM had decided to ‘bury the film’.”
The deal was originally made while Depp was enduring a bitter public battle with former wife Amber Heard. Their relationship had become more than just tabloid gossip when Depp had to defend himself against accusations of physical and verbal abuse, which became a libel case in court which the Minamata star ultimately lost.
It prompted Warner Bros to remove Depp from the role of Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts Harry Potter spin-off. It is now more than a year and half since Levitas’ film, which sees Depp star as war photographer, debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Levitas is arguing that MGM should reconsider because the film’s subject matter is more important than Depp’s legal troubles. “Imagine the devastation when they learned this past week, that despite an already successful global roll out, MGM had decided to ‘bury the film’ (acquisitions head Mr. Sam Wollman’s words) because MGM was concerned about the possibility that the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them and that from MGM’s perspective the victims and their families were secondary to this,” Levitas wrote.
Depp plays photojournalist Eugene Smith in Minamata who takes an assignment from Life magazine to expose “decades of gross negligence by the Chisso Corporation.” The film looks at the scandalous neglect that the Corporation displayed in the Japanese coastal city where locals were ravaged by mercury poisoning from chemicals dumped into the waters by a factory. It was exposed in the 1950s where it was discovered the poisoning spread to the local population through the ingestion of fish.
Levitas wrote: “In a stark reminder of The Chisso Corporation’s actions in Minamata and far too many other large corporations’ unethical tactics, MGM stated that it would live up to its ‘legal obligation’ and nothing more,” meaning it would release the film but not provide it with marketing.
“In doing so, MGM is making a conscious decision to hurt these innocents yet again, callously trampling on their lives, their legacy, their dead loved ones, and their bravery,” noted Levitas.
The director accepted that MGM was within its rights to do whatever it wanted with the film but that it should have a “moral obligation to do better than that”.
“At a minimum we implore you to speak directly to Mr. Uemura (the parent of one of the victims) and the other victims and offer them the dignity of understanding first hand why you think an actor’s personal life is more important than their dead children, their siblings, their parents, and all victims of industrial pollution and corporate malfeasance,’ Levitas added.
Minamata will be released in the UK and Ireland on August 13 but there is currently no planned North American release.
Comments