Shockwaves were sent through the DCEU yesterday, and it wasn’t just because the franchise’s final installment Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom at long last unleashed its first full-length trailer.
Instead, unsealed court documents alleging that both director James Wan and star Jason Momoa had wanted Amber Heard fired from the underwater epic were made public, along with the alarming revelation that the leading man reportedly came to set dressed like Johnny Depp in the midst of the bitter divorce proceedings and subsequent courtroom battles between the warring ex-spouses.
As concerning as that is in and of itself, what makes it even more curious is that Heard’s claims Wan and Momoa wanted her gone flies directly in the face of sworn testimony made during the aforementioned trial. Per Vanity Fair, entertainment industry expert Kathryn Arnold took to the stand and offered that the actress kept her role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom because the pair were “adamant she was in the film.”
She also claimed Momoa and Wan were both “committed to her,” with Heard and Arnold each offering that her contributions to the sequel were “pared down” and a “strong romantic arc” between Mera and Arthur Curry was ultimately removed.
However, former DC Films boss Walter Hamada also testified and said that it wasn’t true. Not only did he reveal Heard almost lost the gig due to a lack of chemistry with Momoa, but he said The Lost Kingdom was conceived as a “buddy comedy” between the title hero and Patrick Wilson’s Orm, which has since been echoed directly by Wan himself in recent interviews.
It’s a messy situation to say the least, but with official courtroom notations having one party argue that Wan and Momoa were completely on her side as documents emanating from Heard’s own therapist claim almost the complete opposite, the waters are only going to continue getting muddier.