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Amber Heard will be in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Despite a longstanding rumor that Amber, 37, would be scrubbed from the movie after losing the high-profile defamation trial with her ex, Johnny Depp, Amber appeared in the film’s trailer shown at CinemaCon. Multiple outlets confirmed Amber made a brief appearance in the preview, with Insider reporting that there are two brief shots of Amber’s character, Mera, doing battle underwater.
James Wan, the director behind the 2018 Aquaman sequel, describes this new film as an “action-adventure story with a really fun bromance between Arthur (Jason Momoa) and Orm (Patrick Wilson). “Orm was a villain the first time around, but this time Arthur needs him.” The film features Aquaman’s longtime archnemesis, Black Manta (Yayah Abdul-Mateen), as the main antagonist.
Amber’s appearance in a trailer contradicts reports that she would be recast in the sequel. “The rumor mill continues as it has from day one — inaccurate, insensitive, and slightly insane,” Amber’s rep told Insider following the claims that Warner Bros. had decided to recast her after a screen test of the sequel.
(Shutterstock)
While on the stand in her defamation trial, Amber claimed that her role was heavily reduced due to her allegations against Johnny Depp, 59. “They released me from my contract,” she said, per Insider. “I fought to stay in it, and they kept me in it. I just don’t know how much I’m in, actually, of the final cut. As I said, I don’t know if I will even be in the final cut or how much I will be. It was difficult to stay in the movie. 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.”
Walter Hamada, the then-head of DC Films, was called in to testify during the court. He claimed that “the size of the role in the film that she has was determined in the early development of the script,” per The Independent.
Amber and Johnny (Shutterstock)
Amber’s involvement in the film has been a subject of controversy for comic fans and Depp stans. Those who sided with Depp during his battle with his ex-wife founded a Change.org petition to remove Heard from the Aquaman sequel. As of April 2023, it has 4.6 million signatures.
Though Depp lost his 2020 libel case against The Sun after the British publication called him a “wife-beater,” a jury ruled in his favor in 2022 after he sued Amber over a 2018 op-ed that she wrote for The Washington Post. Though Amber never referred to her ex-husband by name in the op-ed, she claimed she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse,” which was seemingly enough for Depp to successfully sue for defamation. Amber first appealed the $10 million decision but decided to settle in December 2022.
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<a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/celeb/johnny-depp/">Johnny Depp</a> and <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/celeb/amber-heard/">Amber Heard</a> weren't always at odds. The exes' very public defamation is now over, with TK emerging victorious. But years before this, the couple were head-over-heels for one another. They first met on the set of 'Rum Diary' in 2009. Although they played one another's romantic interests, their romance off-screen only happened after Johnny and his partner of 14 years, Vanessa Paradis, announced their split in June 2012. Johnny went on <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/johnny-depp-amber-heard-relationship-timeline-divorce-split-2117499/">to marry Amber</a> in February of 2015, but their union was short-lived. They separated in May of 2016 and Amber filed for divorce in that same month, which was shortly followed by the 'Aquaman' star's visit to court where she requested and obtained a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband at the time. She was seen leaving court with <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2022/05/04/amber-heard-testimony-johnny-depp-trial/">red marks</a> on her face, which Johnny claimed were 'painted' in a declaration that he wrote three years later. The legal drama didn't end with the temporary restraining order, as Depp and Heard have gone back-and-forth with their own <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2022/05/02/johnny-depp-security-amber-heard-punch/">abuse allegations</a>. Although they finalized the divorce in Jan. 2017, Amber penned an op-ed for 'The Washington Post' in which she wrote about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ive-seen-how-institutions-protect-men-accused-of-abuse-heres-what-we-can-do/2018/12/18/71fd876a-02ed-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html">her alleged experiences</a> of domestic abuse (but did not give any specific names). Johnny responded with a $50 million defamation lawsuit in March 2019, and denied all the allegations again in a declaration written in his own words in May 2019. In Nov. 2021 he lost a judgment on a similar case in a UK court. There, a judge ruled that the allegations against Depp, made in an April 2018 article, were "substantially true." The dispute played out in a <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2022/05/02/drew-barrymore-apologizes-johnny-depp-amber-heard-trial/">highly-publicized</a> trial in Fairfax, Virginia. Tons of unsavory details came to light as the case featured extensive testimony from Johnny, Amber, and other celebrities like <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2022/06/01/kate-moss-johnny-depp-concert-testimony-photos/">Kate Moss</a> and actress Ellen Barkin. There is a lot of history between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. From photos of the couple's court battle, and the duo during better times, take a look through our gallery here.
Actress Amber Heard departs departs the Fairfax County Courthouse in Fairfax, Va. A jury heard closing arguments in Johnny Depp's high-profile libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. Lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard made their closing arguments to a Virginia jury in Depp's civil suit against his ex-wife Depp-Heard Trial, Fairfax, United States – 27 May 2022
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
