Last week, Amber Heard stated in her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp, that her role in the Aquaman sequel has been dramatically reduced due to the legal case.
Heard alleged Depp led a PR “smear campaign” against her after she obtained a domestic violence restraining order in 2016.
Addressing the court on May 16th, Heard announced, “They didn’t want to include me in the film…I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it”. Continuing, she added that the script “depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoilers away, two characters fighting with one another. They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch”.
However, according to the powerful President of DC films, Walter Hamada, who testified on behalf of Johnny’s legal team, it was always intended for Heard to have a smaller role in Aquaman 2. “Concerned” about the lack of chemistry between the actor and her co-star Jason Momoa in the first movie, the DC team even considered recasting Heard for the sequel.
According to People, DC Films president, Walter Hamada, said, “Editorially, they were able to make that relationship work in the first movie. They didn’t really have a lot of chemistry together. The reality is it’s not uncommon on movies for two leads to not have chemistry. It’s sort of movie magic and editorial, the ability to sort of put performances together with the magic of, you know, a great score and how you put the pieces together. You can fabricate that sort of chemistry.”
Hamada didn’t stop there.
At the end of the day, I think if you watch the movie, they look like they had great chemistry. I just know that over the course of post-production, it took a lot of effort to get there. … You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there,” he said.
Usually, this type of information is kept in the dark, but clearly, Hamada wanted to make it crystal clear that the trial did not factor into Heard’s reduced role.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters later this year, and many people will hit theaters to see Heard’s Mera in limited action.
