Amber Heard says her role in 'Aquaman 2' was reduced due to Johnny Depp trial

Amber Heard has given a nod to reports of her role in Aquaman 2 being reduced in the wake of her ongoing trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp. The actor testified during her defamation trial Monday that she “fought really hard to stay in the movie” but “they [filmmakers] didn’t want to include me” and shot only a “pared down version” of her part as Mera, as per the Hollywood Reporter.

“I was given a script, then given new versions of the script with cut down scenes that had action in them, which depicted my character and another character — without giving any spoilers away — two characters fighting with one another,” Heard alleged. “They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”

The actor claimed she “couldn’t renegotiate” her contract and received $2 million for the role, double her payout from the first film. She also informed that the film would mark the last Aquaman movie under her contract. While her character, Mera, was the female lead and major component of the first Aquaman film in 2018.

The development comes after a petition to remove Heard from the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom altogether crossed 4 million signatures on Change.org. And Heard’s statements stand in contrast to what the film’s producer Peter Safran said last July. 

When asked about the possibility of Heard’s role being removed, Safran had told Deadline, “I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You’ve got to do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s [director] James Wan and [star] 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. You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on.”

Safran’s comments came after principal photography had reportedly initiated, however. The film shot through January 2022, leaving plenty of time for changes to have been made earlier.

Depp has sued Heard for defamation over an op-ed published in The Washington Post that didn’t name him but described their time together. Heard called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in the column. Depp sued for $50 million over the piece, while Heard countersued him for $100 million.