Amber Heard Say Her ‘Aquaman 2’ Role Was Cut Down Due to Depp Allegations
Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard lumbers on, and continues to expose all kinds of fascinating details about the inner workings of the film industry. We previously learned what Depp would have earned (or at least what his agent claims he would have earned) if a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean sequel had gotten made and today Heard herself testified on the stand that the controversy surrounding her marriage to Depp had affected the size of her role in the upcoming DC movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
In the film series, Heard plays Mera, a princess of Atlantis and Aquaman’s ally and sometime love interest. Although Heard appeared as Mera in Justice League and the first Aquaman, and even though her salary was supposedly increased for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (according to Heard), she testified under oath that what she wound up filming represents “a very pared-down version” of what was originally on the page before this ongoing kerfuffle with Depp.
Here’s more of Heard’s testimony, via Variety:
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 spoiler aways, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role ... They just removed a bunch out.
Heard also claimed that Warner Bros. “didn’t want to include” her in the movie once Depp accused her of lying in her Washington Post op-ed that alleged Depp committed domestic abuse and sparked the ongoing trial. She also said that after Depp went public with his claims communication from Warner Bros. “stopped at that point.”
It remains to be seen just how much Heard is in the film. And even if her part was reduced during production, that doesn’t necessarily mean it couldn’t be increased again during reshoots or post-production; characters’ roles in these massive blockbusters grow and shrink all the time as these films get worked into shape. We’ll get a better sense of what happened when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens in theaters on March 17, 2023.