Amber Heard was nearly removed from Aquaman 2 before Jason Momoa and director James Wan fought to keep her.
During the high-profile defamation case against Johnny Depp, entertainment consultant Katherine Arnold testified (via The Wrap) that Heard nearly got booted from the Aquaman sequel because of negative publicity surrounding the case.
“In February 2021 there were discussions that Ambers, I’ll get back to you technically, would not exercise her hiring option. So maybe they didn’t reinstate her,” Arnold said. “Her management team fought very hard and they ended up hiring her, but not only because of the performance of her management, but also because of the commitment from star Jason Momoa and director James Wan.”
Heard previously claimed that her role in Aquaman 2 was “cut back” following her split from Johnny Depp.
According to Arnold, Warner Bros. was willing to fire Heard from the upcoming sequel to get rid of any negative publicity related to the ongoing case.
However, Warner Bros. boss Walter Hamada said that wasn’t the case.
“They didn’t have a lot of chemistry together,” Hamada said, as reported by . “The reality is that with films for two leads it’s not uncommon not to have chemistry and it’s kind of film magic and editing – the ability to bring performances with the magic of a great score and how you put the pieces together, you.” can make this chemistry.”
Hamada claims that lack of chemistry prompted Warner Bros. to terminate Heard.
“At the end of the day when you watch the film, it looks like they have great chemistry,” he explained. “But all I know is that it took a lot of effort in post-production to get there. Sometimes you just put characters together on screen and they work. It’s like what makes a movie star a movie star. You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there… This one was more difficult because there was a lack of chemistry between the two.”
When asked directly if Heard’s role had ever been “reduced,” Hamada confirmed that it hadn’t.
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He explained that the upcoming sequel was always conceived as “buddy comedy” between Aquaman and his half-brother, King Orm, played by Patrick Wilson. And that has been the case “since the beginning of development”.
In Aquaman 2, Jason Momoa stars as DC’s underwater superhero alongside Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren and Jani Zhao.
Directed by James Wan from a script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. you can follow him Twitter.