An “Aquaman 2” Producer Says Amber Heard Was Never At Risk Of Losing Her Job
For the past couple of years, there has been talk on the internet that Amber Heard’s time playing Aquaman’s love Mera in the DC Extended Universe is nearing its expiration date like a three-day-old tuna salad sandwich. And a whole lot of talk has been coming from some fans of her ex-husband Johnny Depp, who believe she was the lone abuser in the marriage. But Amber Heard didn’t actually have to worry about becoming a former fish-based superhero, at least not according to a recent Deadline interview with Aquaman producer Peter Safran.
Amber first played Mera in 2018’s Aquaman, opposite Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, as well as showing up as Mera in 2017’s Justice League. She’ll be seen next in 2022’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and you will see her, and not whoever was able to slip into a red wig and green fish scales the fastest and replace her on set. Two years ago, we learned that Johnny Depp had maybe been trying to get Amber fired from the Aquaman Cinematic Universe, by way of allegedly lobbying former Warner Bros. chairman Kevin Tsujihara to kick Amber out of the sequel and have her blacklisted from other projects.
Then Amber counter-sued Johnny for $100 million (he is suing her for defamation, for heavily implying he’s an alleged wife-beater). Amber claimed in her lawsuit that not only did Johnny try to get her blacklisted, but that he launched a smear campaign against her online, as well as allegedly employing bot accounts on social media to target Amber with negative comments. Amber alleges that Johnny decided to target her with bot accounts, because had he just stuck to trying to blacklist her the old-fashioned way, by messaging studio heads, people would have gotten suspicious about why Amber was suddenly out of the Aquaman sequel. She alleges that by using the bots, it would make it look like the campaign against her was fan-driven, and therefore the result of the people having spoken. And they did speak. Any time Amber’s name would start trending for any reason, Twitter’s #JusticeForJohnnyDepp brigade was sure to follow.
But, it didn’t work. Back in November, Amber assured everyone that when Aquaman 2 begins filming, she’ll be super excited to return and returned she has. Producer Peter Safran talked to Deadline about the fan response to Mera. And maybe fans could get DC to release The Snyder Cut, but they weren’t going to get Amber released from her contract. via Deadline:
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You gotta do what’s best for the movie,” continued Safran, “We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”
“One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes,” said Safran, “You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.”
There you have it! They saw the tweets, and they didn’t care. Amber Heard is Mera, and anyone who doesn’t like it is invited to protest against it on Twitter. Which they are, in an easily searchable way, thanks to the #JusticeForJohnnyDepp hashtag. The general consensus is that a whole lot of people will be protesting Amber Heard’s continued involvement with the Aquaman sequel, by refusing to go see it. But maybe instead, they can take the $15 they were planning on spending on a ticket to Aquaman 2, and go see a Johnny Depp film? They’ll just have to start tweeting at MGM to please please please consider releasing that Johnny Depp film!
Pic: Wenn.com/FayesVision