Despite a report that Amber Heard was fired from her role as Mera in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” a source tells Variety that she has not been cut from the movie.
A spokesperson for Heard said in a statement to Variety, “The rumor mill continues as it has from day one — inaccurate, insensitive and slightly insane.”
Heard previously played the key role of Mera in the first “Aquaman,” as well as appearing in “Justice League” and the reconfigured “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.”
Heard’s star power has been muddied in recent months due to a very public defamation trial, in which her ex-husband Johnny Depp sued her for a 2018 Washington Post column which he said implied that he was physically abusive to her. The verdict left Heard ordered to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages, given that the jury decided his reputation and career had been damaged as a result of the publication.
During the trial, social media heavily favored Depp over Heard, painting him as a folk hero and her as a liar, which led to countless memes and TikToks mocking her testimony. She brought up the social media blowback this week during her first public interview about the trial.
“Even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation,” she said. “You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
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Johnny Depp claimed he played a part in helping Amber Heard land the role of Mera opposite Jason Momoa in Aquaman by calming Warner Bros.
As the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial continues, more about Heard's role in DC's Aquaman franchise continues to be discussed. This time around the topic of discussion is how Heard scored the role as Mera in the first place.
Throughout the duration of the trial, Heard has been adamant in discussing how Depp's claims have allegedly thrown a major wrench in her acting career. She has even gone as far as to allege that her role in the upcoming Aquaman sequel was substantially reduced due to the claims and that the studio didn’t want her to be featured in Aquaman 2 in the film at all.
The studio has since denied these claims, stating that Heard's ongoing legal battle was not the reason for her screen time being less in the upcoming Aquaman sequel. DC Films chief Walter Hamada claimed that it was due to worries about Heard and the lead lacking natural on-screen chemistry, adding that the sequel film was going in a completely different direction than its predecessor and that having a love interest wasn’t going to be a primary focus. As Depp took the stand again in the courtroom, he was asked to reflect on Heard's audition process for the first Aquaman film. Depp told the court how Warner Bros. told Heard that the film would be shooting in Australia, which could've been an issue for the actress.
Depp then went on to share that Heard asked him to speak to the studio since he had a long relationship with Warner Bros. since he had starred in many projects with the studio, like Black Mass, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,and The Fantastic Beasts sequel. He agreed to do so, making a few phone calls to higher-ups in the company. Depp couldn't give a confirmation that he was the reason why Heard was cast as Mera in Aquaman, but he did admit he believed he “curbed their worries” about working with the actress.
It's unclear if Depp is the sole reason that Heard was awarded the role of Mera, but it does seem that Depp played a role in her scoring the part in the DCEU's highest-grossing film to date. Hamada testified that Heard had little to no chemistry with co-star Jason Momoa and that it certainly took a lot of editing post-production to make it look like they did in the first Aquaman movie. That being said, the chance of Depp being the reason Head was cast isn’t too far-fetched, considering the studio allegedly had their doubts about using the actress from the start of it all.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on March 17, 2023.
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Source: Law & Crime Network
Amber Heard's agent says she was told the star's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom role was reduced due to chemistry issues — but the agent believes that behind the scenes, negative press around Heard's accusations against Johnny Depp affected her career.
WME's Jessica Kovacevic, the talent agent for the 36-year-old actress, virtually testified in Depp's defamation lawsuit against Heard on Friday, stating that she was told Heard received a smaller part in the forthcoming sequel because of her "lack of chemistry" with costar Jason Momoa, 42, who leads the film.
Depp, 58, filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit in March 2019 against Heard claiming that her December 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence hurt his career prospects, even though he wasn't mentioned by name in the article.
Heard was first cast in 2017's Justice League and starred as Mera in the original Aquaman the following year. Kovacevic said while testifying that Heard was also set to make $2 million in the sequel. The actress has already filmed the movie, and it is set to hit theaters in March 2023.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP via Getty; Lawrence Busacca/GettyHer agent testified that she was told Warner Bros.' reason for allegedly reducing Heard's role in Aquaman 2 was because of "the lack of chemistry between her and Jason."
The agent said WME learned Heard's role as Mera was allegedly reduced when Heard received the script. Speaking about Heard's success after Aquaman, Kovacevic said that she believed the actress's career did not take off as much as Momoa's.
Amber Heard; Johnny Depp. JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty (2)When asked how Heard's career was harmed, Kovacevic said, "In my experience ... Your career takes a turn after something like that. She was very well received in the movie at the time, everyone was happy with her at the time, there were no issues. Then to have a complete downturn after that, and then have that coincide with constant tweets and negativity put out about her, I don't have a physical piece of paper of evidence, but it's the only logical conclusion I draw."
She added that, amid the bad press, Heard lost a role in an Amazon movie that was in the works.
When asked about statements made by Depp's attorney Adam Waldman, including that he said Heard's allegations against Depp were a "hoax," Kovacevic said that "added fuel to the fire."
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Kovacevic also said there were no "performance issues raised" with Heard's Aquaman role; instead, to her understanding, the actress "tested extremely well" for the film.
Heard — who is countersuing Depp for $100 million for defamation — previously testified that her role in the Aquaman sequel, the female lead opposite Momoa's title character, was drastically reduced because of bad press aimed at her.
Prior to Depp's attorneys publicly calling her abuse claims a "hoax," Heard had been able to "get my life back on track" after filing for divorce and a domestic violence restraining order in May 2016.
The first Aquaman debuted in December 2018 and went on to make more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
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Heard explained that she had a three-picture deal to play Mera, starting with 2017's Justice League, with her pay increasing with each subsequent DC film. Per the contracts brought forth in court, she was paid $1 million upfront for Aquaman and $2 million for the sequel, both with potential bonuses for box office performance.
However, after the "hoax" comments made headlines, "the communication stopped" between the studio Warner Bros. and Heard about scheduling and planning for Aquaman 2. Her role eventually became "very pared down" in the sequel, according to Heard.
"I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn't want to include me in the film," Heard testified.
"I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character — without giving any spoilers away — two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch out," she added.