Amber Heard Says She’s Not Getting Fired From The “Aquaman” Sequel
News broke last week that Johnny Depp had agreed to leave the upcoming third Fantastic Beasts film, a choice that likely wasn’t his choice at all, and was based almost entirely on the not-great outcome of his libel lawsuit against The Sun. Fans of Johnny Depp were no doubt pissed. Some of those fans started screaming about double-standards (via online petitions), arguing that if Johnny’s violent spouse history was too much a deal-breaker for Warner Bros., then surely the same could be said for Amber Heard. Well, Amber has seen some unsubstantiated rumors about getting cut from the upcoming Aquaman film, and she’s here to make to clear that she hasn’t turned in her red mer-wig.
Entertainment Weekly points out that there’s no shortage of online talk about Amber not returning for the sequel to 2018’s Aquaman as Mera, Aquaman’s wife. Like this report from six months ago, which claimed Amber had been fired from Aquaman 2 (projected release date: December 2022). But whatever you read online about Aquaman 2: Bigger & Wetter (needs verification, likely not the title), it’s not true, according to Amber herself. Amber tells EW:
“I’m super excited about the amount of fan love and the amount of fan appreciation that Aquaman has acquired and that it has garnered so much excitement for Aquaman and Mera that it means we’ll be coming back. I’m so excited to film that.”
Filming hasn’t started yet (it was scheduled to begin this year, but then COVID-19 happened). And it’s nice that Amber is getting some love from fans online, because according to Amber, it’s been a lot of shit. In September, Amber counter-sued Johnny, who is suing her for defamation, and in her counter-lawsuit, she claimed that Johnny launched a smear campaign against her in an alleged attempt to get her fired from the Aquaman sequel, by lobbying executives at Warner Bros. to cut ties with her.
She also claimed that Johnny let loose dozes-to-hundreds of bots to slander Amber on social media. For example, there are multiple petitions online begging Warner Bros. to fire Amber from the Aquaman sequel, under the allegation that she is also a domestic abuser. This is mostly based on audio leaked by Johnny’s lawyers, in which Amber can be heard admitting to getting violent with Johnny. One particular petition has nearly 1.2 million signatures. That’s a lot of people who really don’t want to see Amber play a sexy merperson in a movie. But, Amber believes those 1.2 million people might not be as legitimate as they appear. via EW:
“Paid rumors and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality. Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year.”
Amber has claimed in the past that she has lost work and been cut from movies since coming out as a domestic violence survivor. But not her water-based job, apparently.
It’s true that angry fans don’t always dictate casting decisions. If that was true, Baby Yoda would never work in this town again! But then again, sometimes a studio gets a little weird about the personal life drama attached to their stars and decides that it’s better to just swap in a less-problematic actor. Warner Bros. might change their minds once Johnny’s defamation trial against Amber begins. Who knows? But if they do decide to replace Amber, my vote is for Mads Mikkelsen. It won’t be the first time Warner Bros. has called him in as an alternate in a Depp-Heard-related PR nightmare. Plus, who of us wouldn’t want to see that Danish hunk in a sexy green catsuit?
Pic: Wenn.com/FayesVision