Though as I said back then, if Variety did get that wrong, it can be traced back to whoever it was in the film's own publicity department who provided Variety with the info because when it comes to casting news and descriptions of characters, that's what the source is. In those instances, Variety simply reports what it's told.
In the case of the right's deal closing, the same type of situation would be similar in that Variety would also be reporting what they were told - though the source in that instance would most probably be a different one because chances are it would have been someone on Depp's own staff and/or connected to the production companies involved. Though, of course, they could have been equally inept if it turns out to be true that Victoria was never a waitress in the film and the rights deal hadn't just closed back in July of 2007. And actually even multiple times more inept because they would have also supplied multiple reporting entities beyond Variety with the same erroneous info.
(However, when it comes to seeing the film shortly, we may not actually find out if the waitress description holds because any reference to that part of Victoria's character could very well not be included in the finished film. And if it's not in the film, the only way we could really be sure it wasn't true would be to either read the script and/or the official character breakdowns.
All that being said, though, from what we've seen and learned about the film since Variety's report, it would certainly seem as if the waitress angle was wrong. But who knows?)
