This is what Amber Heard has actually said about Aquaman 2 as ‘firing’ rumours swirl
Amber Heard as Mera in Aquaman. (DC)
Reports Amber Heard has been fired from Aquaman 2 “are inaccurate”, a top film journalist has said.
Rumours swirled over the weekend that Heard had been fired from the upcoming DC film. Many reports cited Australian website Sausage Roll, which claimed that Heard was “fired” from Aquaman 2 because she did not “pass her physical examination”
However, Ryan Parker, a senior staff writer for The Hollywood Reporter, tweeted to say he spoke to a “reliable source” about the film, and that “reports of Amber Heard being fired off Aquaman 2 are inaccurate”.
The actor has been the victim of a targeted campaign seeking to have her fired from the superhero sequel since last year. Heard played Mera, the wife of the DC Comics superhero, in the first Aquaman film.
An online petition calling for her dismissal currently has over 1.8 million signatures, claiming that the ongoing legal battle between Amber Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp had “exposed” her as a “domestic abuser”.
In November 2020, the UK High Court ruled that Depp could be described as a “wife-beater” in a high-profile libel case. A judge said the Sun newspaper was able to prove that its reporting on Depp being violent towards Heard was substantially true.
A judge also accepted Heard’s evidence that speaking out against Depp had “a negative effect on her career as an actor and activist”.
He also noted that Heard had donated $7 million of her divorce settled to the ACLU, rejected Depp’s characterisation of her as a “gold digger”.
Depp intends to appeal, and the couple are also engaged in separate lawsuits in the US – including one claiming Depp organised a smear campaign to have Heard fired from Aquaman 2. He denies the claim, made in counter to his own defamation suit against Heard.
Amber Heard said Aquaman 2 rumours ‘have no basis in reality’
After the ruling, Johnny Depp was asked to resign from Harry Potter prequel franchise Fantastic Beasts, prompting his fans to launch the retaliatory campaign seeking for Amber Heard to be fired from Aquaman 2.
Told by a reliable source that reports of Amber Heard being fired off 'Aquaman 2' are inaccurate.
— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) February 28, 2021
There has been speculation that Heard cold be replaced by Emilia Clarke, who played Aquaman lead Jason Momoa’s on-screen wife in Game of Thrones.
However in November 2020, Heard dismissed rumours she was departing the franchise in an Entertainment Weekly interview.
“Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality,” she said, adding that she was “super excited about the amount of fan love and the amount of fan appreciation”.
Neither Amber Heard nor Aquaman 2 maker Warner Bros have commented on the latest rumours. Representatives for both have been contacted for comment.
Aquaman 2 is due to be released in December 2022.
