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President of DC Films at Warner Bros., Walter Hamada, debunked Amber Heard’s testimony that her character in Aquaman 2 was considerably “pared down” in the wake of ex-husband Johnny Depp’s supposed “smear campaign” against her.
Not long ago, Heard gave a testimony that she had to “fight really hard” to remain in her role in Justice League, Aquaman, and the forthcoming film, Aquaman 2, following Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman’s allegations of her scheming an “abuse hoax” against Depp in the press.
On Tuesday, in a pre-recorded testimony, Hamada claimed that Waldman’s accusations did not impact Heard’s role. He refuted that Heard’s role was reduced, saying that the movie was always a “buddy comedy” between Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Patrick Wilson’s Orm. He added that the studio did not plot to place Heard as a co-lead.
When queried whether Heard’s role was ever shrunk for any grounds, Hamada replied, “No. I mean, again, from the early stages of development of the script, the movie was built around the character of Arthur and the character of Orm. Arthur being Jason Momoa and Orm being Patrick Wilson, so they were always the two co-leads of the movie … The movie waws always pitched as a buddy comedy between Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson.”
Heard was compensated for her participation in the two films, and Waldman’s statements did not impact her payment, Hamada testified.
He also said that there were talks about the prospective recasting of Heard because of an “issue of chemistry” with Momoa. However, nothing about the possibility of Heard being released from the Aquaman 2 contract happened.
“It was the concerns that were brought up at the wrap of the first movie production, which is the issue of chemistry,” he testified.
“Did the two have chemistry? The chemistry, you know, 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 and [they] would be better off recasting [and] finding someone who had a bit more natural chemistry with Jason Momoa.”
Hamada further explained, “It’s not uncommon in movies for two leads to not have chemistry. And that is sort of movie magic … the ability to sort of put performances together and with the magic of a great score and how you put the pieces together. You can fabricate that chemistry. I think if you watch the movie, they looked like they had great chemistry, but I just know that during the use of post-production that it took a lot of effort to get there.”
