Elon Musk reportedly stepped in to prevent his ex-girlfriend Amber Heard from being fired off of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. A slew of new behind-the-scenes gossip about the upcoming superhero movie emerged this week, including new court documents from Heard’s legal battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Sources close to the production told Variety that Musk used legal threats against Warner Bros. to prevent the studio from firing Heard.
Heard plays the Atlantean Mera in the DCEU films, love interest of Aquaman (Jason Momoa). However, in the last few years Heard has been in the headlines mostly for her legal battle with Depp, who sued her for defamation after she accused him of domestic violence. Depp filed his lawsuit in February of 2019 and the case ramped up until the spring of 2022 when it became a televised trial and a social media sensation. Depp’s die-hard fans have launched campaigns to try and get Heard fired from the DC franchise, but insiders told Variety that the studio tried to fire her before the legal battle even began.
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The sources said that director James Wan decided to recast Mera after the release of Aquaman in 2018, believing that Heard and Momoa did not have the right on-screen chemistry. Former DC Films executive Walter Hamada testified in the Depp v. Heard trial that this “issue of chemistry” was raised and resolved before Depp filed his lawsuit against Heard, and had nothing to do with that legal process. However, another source pointed out that Heard had passed extensive “chemistry tests” with Momoa in the initial casting process back in 2016.
Either way, an insider said it was Musk who prevented Heard from being fired. They said that Musk asked one of his litigators to send a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down” if Heard was fired. Musk did not comment on Variety’s report, and Warner Bros. did noo comment on this version of events either.
These reports from behind the scenes made it back into the headlines this week because of Depp fans who are still taking shots at Heard. Fans reportedly paid court fees for the release of documents from the lawsuit, including hand-written session notes from Heard’s therapist. The notes were subpoenaed by Depp’s lawyers against Heard’s protests but were not ultimately used in the trial. They reflect Heard’s anxiety that she was unwanted on the set by Momoa, Wan and others, but insiders told Variety that that was not really the case.
The coverage does not seem to be good news for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which hits theaters on Dec. 20, 2023. It will be one of the last movies rooted in the DCEU continuity before the “soft reboot” of the DCU takes over in the coming years. There’s no telling if Mera or Heard will play a part.
