In spite of an ongoing pressure to have Amber Heard removed by fans of her ex-husband Johnny Depp, she will not be fired from the upcoming Aquaman 2 superhero film set.
Heard, 35, has been embroiled in legal drama with Depp for the past few years and the latter’s fans started calling for Heard’s dismissal after he filed a libel lawsuit against the UK tabloid The Sun for branding him a “wifebeater.”
The film’s producer, Peter Safran, however shut down speculation that Heard would be cut in an interview with Deadline.
“I don’t think that we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You gotta do what you feel is best for the movie,” Safran said. “We felt that if it’s James Wan and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”
Depp stepped away from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts 3 after he lost his “wifebeater” lawsuit, with the court ruling in favour of The Sun.
Safran said that the producers were 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 you feel is right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.”
Heard addressed the campaigns to get her removed from the film in November, stating they had, “no basis in reality.”
“Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality. Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year,” she said.
Aquaman 2 started production late June in London, with Warner Bros. setting a December 16, 2022 release date.
