Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director James Wan explains why he cut down Amber Heard‘s role as Mera.
Wan spoke to Empire Magazine (via The Direct) about the story direction in the Aquaman sequel which will see Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) form an unlikely alliance with his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson). During the interview, Wan addressed the controversies surrounding Heard and whether or not the real life drama in her personal life resulted in a reduced role in the sequel. Though the director expressed some sympathy for Heard’s frustrations about several Mera scenes being removed, Wan revealed that the buddy movie direction of the sequel was always planned from the beginning.
“It’s fair that [Heard] said that [about the character being pared down], because she wasn’t in my head as I was working on this movie. Actors don’t necessarily know what we [directors] behind the scenes are thinking about. But this was always my plan,” Wan explained. “From the start, I pitched that the first film would be a ‘Romancing The Stone’-type thing — an action-adventure romantic comedy — while the second would be an outright buddy comedy. I wanted to do ‘Tango & Cash!’”
How Warner Bros. nearly fired Amber Heard
In May 2022, Entertainment Weekly reported that Warner Bros. executives wanted Heard dropped from the Aquaman sequel due to the controversies surrounding her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp; however, a recent report from Variety claims that chemistry issues with star Momoa were on the minds of the studio and not the trial. Additionally, the report claims that Heard’s ex Elon Musk intervened in keeping her in the sequel by threatening litigation against Warner Bros.
“[Musk] had one of his litigators send a ‘scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down’ if the actress wasn’t brought back for a sequel, says a source familiar with the behind-the-scenes battle,” the Variety article states. “Warner Bros. caved and moved forward with Heard.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled for release in theaters on December 20, 2023.
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