Amber Heard Receives Support From Major Movie Director

Zack Snyder would work with Amber Heard "in a second," despite the backlash the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom actress gets in the wake of her court battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp. The Rebel Moon director worked with Heard on his 2017 Justice League film, in which she played the Aquaman character Mera, a role she will reprise in the upcoming James Wan-directed comic book movie.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder said he doesn't understand the vitriol Heard has faced following her legal battles with Depp. "I just don't get it. If other people don't like her, I don't know what to say. I would work with her in a second," the director said. 

Back in 2018, Heard revealed to Entertainment Weekly that it was Snyder himself who convinced her to take the role of Mera, a character who "resonated" with her as "somebody who's always been allergic to being the damsel, the two-dimensional archetype of what women are often limited to in this industry – especially in the superhero world." She added at the time, "So when I spoke to [Snyder] he got me at 'warrior queen.' He said, 'You get a sword and a crown,' and I'm like, 'Okay, you know how to play to your audience.'"

Heard testified during her defamation trial with Depp last year that her career "took a hit" following her split with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and had to fight to keep her Aquaman role amid the divorce drama. Heard claimed that her role in the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom film had become "very pared down" amid the drama in her personal life, testifying, "I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn't want to include me in the film."

"I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes," she claimed. "They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch out." Walter Hamada, then-president of DC Films at Warner Bros., testified in court that there were conversations about a "lack of chemistry" between Heard and Momoa that had nothing to do with her defamation trial.

Ultimately at the end of the trial, the jury sided mostly with Depp, with Heard winning one of her three defamation counterclaims as well. The former couple would go on to reach a settlement, with Heard paying Depp $1 million in damages, which he said would be donated to charity.