Warner Bros/DC/Kobal/Shutterstock Amber Heard in Aquaman (2018)
Amber Heard is responding to a report that she has been dropped from Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom.
On Tuesday, Simply Jared revealed a narrative claiming sources instructed the outlet that Heard is “being minimize out of” the already-shot sequel, which is ready to hit theaters in March 2023.
“The rumor mill continues because it has from day one — inaccurate, insensitive, and barely insane,” a spokesperson for Heard tells PEOPLE in response to the report.
A rep for Warner Bros., the movie’s studio, did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
The story comes two weeks after the decision was learn within the defamation trial between Heard and ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Earlier this month, a seven-person jury reached a verdict within the trial that started April 11 in Fairfax County, Virginia, deciding that Depp, 59, proved Heard defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. (The Edward Scissorhands actor has maintained that he by no means assaulted Heard, and claimed she bodily harmed him.)
The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages however Heard will solely should pay $10.35 million on account of a Virginia legislation limiting punitive damages (the decide lowered the quantity). In her countersuit, Heard gained one of many three defamation counts, and was awarded $2 million in damages.
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getty (2) Johnny Depp; Amber Heard
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Heard was first solid as Mera, the princess of underwater kingdom Xebel, in 2017’s Justice League, and reprised her function within the authentic Aquaman the next 12 months.
Throughout the defamation trial, her expertise agent, WME’s Jessica Kovacevic, just about testified that she was instructed Heard acquired a smaller half within the forthcoming sequel due to her “lack of chemistry” with costar Jason Momoa, who leads the movie.
Kovacevic additionally instructed the court docket there have been no “efficiency points raised” with Heard’s Aquaman function; as a substitute, to her understanding, the actress “examined extraordinarily nicely” for the movie.
Throughout the trial, Heard’s function within the Aquaman films got here up a number of instances. Depp claimed he performed a component in getting her solid after she auditioned, making a telephone name to Warner Bros. executives to seal the deal. She denied that, additionally saying that she “fought actually exhausting” to return for the sequel when “they did not wish to embrace me within the movie.”
“I used to be given a script after which given new variations of the script that had taken away scenes that had motion in it, that depicted my character and one other character — with out giving any spoilers away — two characters preventing with each other, they usually mainly took a bunch out of my function. They only eliminated a bunch out,” Heard testified of the sequel script, including that her function was “very pared down.”
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Whereas she and her expertise agent surmised that the Depp controversies performed a component within the lowered function, DC Movies President Walter Hamada testified on behalf of Depp, saying the studio had “issues” about Heard’s on-screen chemistry with Momoa, 42. They even thought of at one level recasting her function, he stated.
“The character’s involvement within the story was what it was from the start,” Hamada, 54, stated of Mera’s significance within the upcoming “buddy-comedy” sequel, which primarily follows “co-leads” Momoa and Patrick Wilson.
Dolph Lundgren, who performed King Nereus in Aquaman and reprises his function within the sequel, not too long ago recalled Heard being “terrific” on each units.
“I had an excellent expertise along with her. She was very sort, good to the crew, good to everyone. Simply down-to-earth,” stated Lundgren, 64, by way of Instagram Reside.
He additionally recalled Heard bringing daughter Oonagh, whom she welcomed in April 2021, to set along with her: “She has a child now, a new child child, so she had the infant along with her on the set with a nanny, which is kinda cute.”
