Actor Amber Heard, confirming suspicions, said that she will appear in ‘a very pared-down version’ of her role as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Heard appeared as the female lead in the first film, which went on to make over $1 billion at the box office. She said during her defamation trial against former husband Johnny Depp that the negative publicity led to her role in the superhero sequel being reduced.
“I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn’t want to include me in the film,” she said, according to multiple reports. She added, “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. They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch out.”
Rumours of Heard’s role being reduced have been doing the rounds for years. Depp, meanwhile, was asked to leave the Fantastic Beasts franchise and has testified in court that Heard’s comments against him have affected his career. Heard has accused Depp of domestic violence and sexual assault. He has denied the accusations, and has said that it was Heard who hit him. He sued her for $50 million, and Heard countersued for $100 million.
She said that she was paid $1 million for the first Aquaman movie, and $2 million for the second. In the aftermath of her legal troubles, she said, she has appeared in only one independent film, for which she was paid $65,000.
During the court proceedings, she also spoke about her first meeting with Elon Musk, with whom she was accused of having an affair. She said that they met at the Met Gala, where she was ‘effectively stood up’ by Depp on the red carpet. “I didn’t recognize him until we started talking. He’d reminded me we’d met once before. We spoke on the red carpet in the waiting line. He seemed like a real gentleman,” she said about Musk.
The first Aquaman movie was released in 2018. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled for a March 2023 release. Both films star Jason Momoa in the lead role, and are directed by James Wan.
