Contrary to another witness’ testimony, a Warner Brothers executive made his own court statements saying that Johnny Depp’s claims of Amber Heard fabricating her domestic violence allegations did not affect her casting in Aquaman 2 .
Seeing as Heard’s legal team has recently rested their case without calling Depp to the stand , it seems that a jury’s decision in his $50 million defamation lawsuit and her $100 million countersuit is getting closer by the day.
And while there are many facts about the case that are hotly in dispute, one factor that has become particularly relevant in the latter days of the trial concerns whether Heard ruined Depp’s career or vice versa.
Although Depp maintained that Heard’s abuse allegations resulted in Disney blocking him from reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, an entertainment industry consultant recently claimed that Depp’s attorney jeopardized Heard’s role in Aquaman 2 by framing her allegations as a “hoax.”
But while one Warner Bros. executive agreed that Heard’s ability to reprise her role as Mera wasn’t a certainty, he argued that this was the case for reasons completely unrelated to Depp.
On May 24, DC Films President Walter Hamada testified in a video deposition about Depp’s effect on Heard’s role in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”
As USA Today reported, he said that contrary to Heard and entertainment industry consultant Kathryn Arnold’s claims, her character Mera’s presence in the script was not reduced in the wake of Depp’s defamation allegations and was always as small as it is now.
He further stated that Heard was never intended to be a co-lead of the movie alongside Jason Momoa.
Instead, Hamada claimed that the script was always centered around Momoa’s Arthur getting along with Patrick Wilson’s character Orm.
He went on to say that even the earliest stages of the script’s development had this dynamic in mind and it was “always pitched as a buddy comedy between Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson.”
As for the studio’s hesitancy to recast Heard, Hamada said that had more to do with her chemistry with Momoa than anything.
He said that the chemistry “wasn’t there” and that it was largely because of skilled editing, music, and sound design that their scenes together worked.
As he put it, “Editorially, they were able to make that relationship work in the first movie, but there was a concern that it took a lot of effort to get there.”
So for a time, he said that executives considered finding another actress whose chemistry with Momoa was considered more natural. He also stressed that this decision was not influenced by public backlash as a result of Depp’s or his lawyer’s claims about Heard.
In his words, “It was all concerns about whether she was the right fit of casting for the movie.”
Of course, Heard would end up securing the role once again and Hamada said that the studio didn’t end up auditioning any other actresses for the part.
But while Arnold had previously testified that Heard would have been able to renegotiate a $4 million salary instead of the $2 million she did receive if Depp hadn’t compromised her leverage, Hamada maintained that this wasn’t likely either.
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He said that there were never any plans to increase Heard’s pay as it’s apparently part of the studio’s “philosophy” to hold actors to their original contracts.
Since these testimonies are so widely opposed to each other, only time will tell which side of the story will have more credibility with the jury.
h/t: USA Today
