Calls for Amber Heard to be removed from the Aquaman sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, amid her contentious court battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp, continue to grow.
As of Monday, nearly 4.2 million people had signed on to a Change.org petition to have her cut from the DC Extended Universe film, which is set to arrive in theaters on March 17, 2023. That’s up from 2.3 million, the number of signatures that had been collected on April 28, when Yahoo Entertainment first reported on the effort.
A rep for Heard, who plays Mera, has declined to comment. Producer Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to Yahoo’s request for a statement on this story.
But in July, Peter Safran, a producer on the original film and the highly anticipated sequel said filmmakers were unmoved by such campaigns.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” Safran told Deadline’s “Hero Nation” podcast, via The Hollywood Reporter. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s [director] James Wan and [star] Jason Momoa [returning], it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”
Wan said in January that production on the movie had wrapped.
However, on Monday, as Heard and Depp’s much-watched defamation trial resumed following a one-week hiatus, she testified that her role had been reduced.
“I fought really hard to stay in the movie,” she said, adding that she’d filmed “a very pared-down version” of her role.
“I was given a script 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,” Heard testified. “They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”
The actress said she “couldn’t renegotiate” her contract, which stipulated that she receive $2 million and a portion of the movie’s profit for her work. She earned $1 million for the original flick.
Heard also denied on the stand that she had defecated on Depp’s side of the bed they shared.
“I had just been attacked on my 30th birthday by my violent husband with whom I was desperately in love and knew I needed to leave. It was not really a jovial time and I don’t think that’s funny, period,” Heard said. “That’s disgusting.”
Heard, whose other credits include Magic Mike XXL and Pineapple Express, has alleged that Depp, whom she began dating in 2011 and married in 2015 before their May 2016 split, was physically and mentally abusive. He has accused her of abusing him. Both have denied the accusations.
Heard’s other upcoming projects include starring in the supernatural thriller Into the Fire and the romantic thriller Run Away With Me.
