Aquaman director addresses claims that Amber Heard’s role was “pared down” for the sequel
There was always supposed to be less Mera in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, James Wan asserts
Aux News Amber Heard
Director James Wan—whose 2018 superhero film Aquaman is still, five years later, the only bona fide billion-dollar box office winner in Warner Bros.’ entire DCEU stable of films—is pushing back on rumors of trouble with the film’s upcoming sequel. That includes (gently) disputing assertions made by series star Amber Heard, claiming that, counter to what Heard stated in her defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp last year, her part in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom was not “pared down” per studio demand, but was always supposed to be smaller than in the first movie.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly this week, Wan addressed the Heard situation somewhat delicately, sidestepping accusations of studio influence by simply stating that, “I always pitched this to everyone from the get-go. The first Aquaman was Arthur and Mera’s journey. The second movie was always going to be Arthur and [his half-brother] Orm. So, the first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie. We’ll leave it at that.”
During the defamation trial, Heard testified that she was told that a “lack of chemistry” with series star Jason Momoa led to her part being cut back; she also called an expert witness, “entertainment industry consultant” Kathryn Arnold, who testified that Heard was cut from promotional work for the upcoming sequel (including DC’s online FanDome event). Arnold also testified that it was only because Wan and Momoa fought for Heard that she was kept in the movie at all.
Wan, for his part, is doing his best to make it clear to everyone that Aquaman 2 was actually a very nice shoot, thank you very much; he also spends part of the EW profile squashing rumors that the film underwent more than its fair share of reshoots:
We have big actors in this movie, and everyone’s schedule is really hard. So, we had to break up our shooting schedule into sections. We’ll shoot a bit here now, because this actor’s available, and then we’ll do another shoot now, because this guy’s available. People are like, “Oh, they’re doing a whole bunch of different shoots!” No. If we actually combined them all together, it’s actually not that many number of days at all.
Hilariously, the otherwise-diplomatic Wan does get in one absolutely killer hit in at his corporate overlords’ expense: After noting the “tricky” aspect of making the movie without knowing whether it would end up coming out before or after Andy Muschietti’s The Flash, Wan put it as bluntly as a bludgeon to the head: “At the end of the day, the best thing I would say about this movie is that it is not connected in any way to any of those films.”
28 Comments
How wonderfully condescending.
Aquaman
Aquaman
Gets his coloring from a can
Not quite blue
Not quite green
His hue is somewhere in between
Those two
That’s how he appears to youWhen the Dolphins
Beat the Saints
He was covered in body paint
Now he’s made it
His life’s goal
To do it until
They win the Superbowl
And that’s rough:
‘Cause he’s allergic to the stuffFifteen dash
Forty-seven seventeen
Is the Pantone code
(If you know what I mean)Aqua man
Aqua man
Made a terrible decision
Aqua man
His favorite team’s
Not that great
There’s going to be
A really long wait
Until
He can wash all that crap off
And he no longer has to hear folks scoff
“There goes that aqua man!”— sung to the tune of “O Fortuna” by Carl Orff
Honestly thought it was to the tune of Spiderman based on the first verse.
me too
That’s how I’m still reading it, and that’s how I’ll ALWAYS read it, damn it.
If the actors’ strike doesn’t end soon, Wan is going to have to do the entire promotional tour for1) A movie that’s rumored to be very messy2) A movie that stars Amber Heard3) A movie that’s caught in between a reboot and an existing universe4) A movie that comes out in three months and has had zero promotion up until nowall on his own. Good luck to him 🙁
“what Heard stated in her defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp last year”She was the defendant.
The sentence in no way implies otherwise. What are you trying to say?
The first one had one good scene in it (the rooftop chase) but other than that wasn’t worth keeping on.
Wait a minute, when the first Aquaman came out everyone said he was coasting off the success of Thor, doesn’t Thor 2 also downplay the love interest in favour of a buddy comedy with his evil brother?
Wait a minute, when the first Aquaman came out everyone said he was coasting off the success of Thor, doesn’t Thor 2 also downplay the love interest in favour of a buddy comedy with his evil brother?
I legit love the first Aquaman. It’s a bit uneven and the soundtrack sometimes seems to work against the action but it swings big, has some great emotional beats and, most importantly, is completely bonkers. I hope the new one is just as mental.NB I tend to watch it tripping so… take as much salt with the above as you need 🙂
I am with you on Aquaman. I liked the story and I loved the visuals. It gave me the best most colorful and vivid dream of my life. I woke up and told everyone I know about my underwater dream adventure. No drugs were involved I just liked the movie!
Totally. It looks fantastic. When it all errupts for the final fight it’s incredible.
Indeed, the “absolutely bonkers” part is what makes the film. Any film that has an octopus playing drums is AOK in my book.
Momoa is a big dude but Patrick Wilson looks JACKED in that header photo.
Wilson is a big dude. Kind of “quietly built.”
Quietly built by bench-pressing flame-faced demons?
You want to point to a director that pulled off a miracle due to the bad hand that everyone got dealt on that movie, you should point to James Wan for what he did with Fast & Furious 7. Paul Walker dying halfway through the movie’s production and how Wan and team fashioned a terrific movie out of the footage is a big testament to Wan’s skills. To this day when I catch the flick rerunning on TV, the Paul Walker sendoff at the end of the flick still brings tears to my eyes.Well done to the 10th power, James Wan.
i would rather have ‘malignant 2’.malignant was stupid, wild, and bonkers. i wanted more.
one thing i will say is that WB releasing this at all gives me some hope they may squash this strike sooner than later.
Squash it by… playing fairly with the union instead of playing little games and trying to get away with not paying anyone?
How do gaslights work underwater?
The first was good, and I will probably check this one out, I don’t really care if or how much Heard is in this one. But while I generally like Mamoa, hearing about his antics on the set of the first one, AND knowing he is a grown ass man who has said he needs to go poopsies, yeah he’s a man child.
Amber Heard’s wooden acting was the worst part of the first Aquaman, regardless of any real-world drama. I wish they had cast someone who was actually decent. It would have elevated the movie. I’m hopeful we see very little of her in the second one so she can’t drag it down, though I wish they had just recast the role…or killed her off in some sort of terrible drumming octopus accident. Single Dad Aquaman would have been amazing.
On a side note- I wish there were better motivations for Manta. I find the hypocritical “I can kill anyone I want for whatever reason I want and it’s fine until someone kills someone *I* love…then I’m all about revenge!”. Ugh
Is it possible to have the continuous pop up ads take up more of the screen…?? And make them unable to close…?? Or pop right back up after you close it….nevermind it already does that. I know more about Carfax then anything in this article.