The Reel Rejects - MOVIE NEWS: Amber Heard CONFIRMS Warner Bros REMOVED Aquaman 2 Scenes Due To Johnny Depp Controversy?!

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

With the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard Trial raging on, we decided to discuss a few of Amber's movie-related comments, namely the idea that this harsh legal battle has resulted in her role in Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom being pared down SIGNIFICANTLY from when she signed on. The Petition To Remove Amber Heard Passes 4 Million Signatures as the defamation trial goes on. Should she be fired or was this an overzealous move on WB's part? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But in terms of the court of a public opinion, it would seem wise just to not put that individual in there. Basically, the same fear that Warner Brothers had with keeping Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beast for the third installment is the same fear and decision-making that ought to be applied for putting Amber Heard in the next Aquaman movie. Guys, there's a flying here and we can't get rid of it, but it's here to stay. Hey, what's going on? John and Greg here today. are going to talk about something that apparently Amber Heard has confirmed in her latest testimony. Just to get this out of the way, we are not up to date on the trial.

So we're not here to talk about any specific allegations or big revelations in the trial itself. We're going to strictly talk about the business standpoint optics all surrounding this Aquaman 2 situation. That's going to be our main focus. And if you see a fly in the frame, enjoy that fly. We call him Henry. Henry. Third reject, Henry. We have an excerpt here from the testimony when she was being questioned.

Here's how it goes. The lawyer asks, have you participated in Aquaman 2? And she replied, I have. I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn't want to include me in the film. Again, it's a big confirmation. According to her, that it's due to the fact of how, you know, she's been called like a liar. There's been a lot of fan backlash towards her.

The lawyer asked, were he ultimately able to film Aquaman 2? Herd replied, a very pared down version of that role, yes. The lawyer said, what if anything, change in the script? Heard replied, I was given a script. then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it that depicted my character and another character without giving spoilers away.

It's very kind of you. Still not, still be spoiler-free. Even in a court of law. That's when Walter Hamato would come raining terror on you. Objection! Spoilers! Everything else is fine, but no. Not Aquaman, not now.

Her character's fighting with one another. They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch. According to what she's been talking about is that big part of her role was removed from there. Now, there's been a petition that's been going around for ages to have her role removed. There's also been other stories that have come up regarding, you know, did Walter Hamada actually want her in the film? Walter Hamada, D.C. president.

There was a three-hour deposition, I believe. Apparently what he was saying, I'm not sure if this is, you know, an actual confirmed thing he said, but what all the reports were communicating is that it had more to do with her chemistry with Jason Mamoa. That's a big part of why he did. didn't want her to come back, supposedly. And it brought back up something before that Amber Heard had talked about publicly, where when she was on set for the first Aquaman movie, you know, she kind of told the story like it was a playful thing.

She would often be hanging 30 feet high in the air because there's a lot of wire effects that go into these movies. And so to keep herself occupied, she liked to read in between takes. There'd be times where Jason Mamo would just rip out a bunch of pages from her book. And she said it was because he wanted to be the center of attention, have the attention kept on him. A lot of people perceived that to be an act of cruelty. But the way how the story was being told also sounded like it was kind of funny.

So I don't know. I don't know what to make of it. My opinion of Amber Heard in Aquaman was I thought she was fine. And I'm not here to insult her and be like, terrible, terrible actress. I thought she was fine in the movie. I didn't think her and Jason Momoa had some type of electric spark or something like that. That's just my genuine feelings on it. Or a bunch of chemistry whatsoever.

Yeah, I thought it was kind of blank. She's saying that she fought really hard to maintain her role there. I'm really curious what she had to do to maintain her role here because I would feel from Warner Brothers perspective, from the optics surrounding it, yes, that whole thing happened with the Sun article. So then Johnny Depp lost Fantastic Beast and it looked like the court was in, you know, her favor. Yeah, okay, we can keep her on. But now with everything that's been swaying and switching around, especially in the court of public opinion, it's like, I don't know how this trial is going to end. Johnny Depp very well could lose this trial. But in terms of the court of a public opinion, which is audience, which is the customer.

the people who are going to pay to go watch your movie, it would seem wise just to not put that individual in there. Basically, the same fear that Warner Brothers had with keeping Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts for the third installment is the same fear and decision-making that ought to be applied for putting Amber Heard in the next Aquaman movie because I don't know if I could just see the character, Mura. I think I would just be distracted,

and there would also be a lot of negativity from, you know, social media especially for your massively budgeted film, your sequel to your billion-dollar hit film. That's the last thing you'd want for press. In the game of acting, when everything really seems to ride so much on your reputation and how the public perceives you, it would seem wise to have just removed her and replaced her. Now I feel like I'm going to be even more aware that when her scenes pop up, knowing that her stuff was cut. That's just going to be distracting now when it's in the movie. And I'm curious if they paired it down in a way where they could reshoot her out of it, depending on how this trial goes.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did that. It is a fascinating thing to look at because, yeah, they have to kind of weigh the lesser of two evils. And I bet, you know, they probably do have the option if they need to to cut her out or replace her or something if this trial goes even further down the rabbit hole of nastiness. Because it seems like from this perspective, they've certainly come out on the side of, well, some people are going to be mad if we. take her out, but way more people are going to be mad if we feature her and build that character up. I'm curious to know what got paired down and how, but you're in a position where, yeah, like, no matter what, her presence or her absence is going to loom over the movie and is going to be a distraction. And so now it's about the damage control of, which is worse, you know,

it's like you said, it's all about public perception. It's all about, you know, the court of public opinion, especially when it comes to these movies. And it's an interesting thing to look at because, you know, they're not making these decisions. due to morality or due to like, oh, we got to be in line with the law or whatever verdict the public, you know, has delivered down to them. For them, it's about how do we minimize the amount of backlash and the amount of, you know, boycotting and protesting this movie. And it seems like the fact of the matter is while there are certainly people who stand with Amber Heard and who are very dedicated to her side of the story, those people are not going to be as numerous and as detrimental to the box office as the Johnny team. It's a strange, unfortunate position.

And yeah, for an actor, it's like, you know, this is the biggest opportunity she's ever had. And it doesn't seem like people were keen on her in that role to begin with. But now it just seems like nothing good can come of any of this. Yeah. I mean, if she's not a big part of the movie, I can look past it to be totally up front with you guys. I can go watch Aquaman too and probably still enjoy the movie for what it is and just be temporarily distracted by that. Amber heard on screen. So I'm not going to be sitting there in like fury, especially since they've already

come this far. However, you know, it is everything about a movie's release often relies on the anticipation factor, the hype factor. Having her there, even if it's a minimal role, still would cause a lot of outrage. Yeah, test the theory. They say, you know, all press is good press, but in this case, I don't think that's necessarily the truth. You know, just a genuine curiosity is how many people would indeed boycott. the film how many people would indeed not go watch this movie simply because she's in it i don't know how much i've upset people but being like yeah i'll still watch it i'm still gonna watch the flash i'm still gonna watch these movies even though i'm like no these people should usually be getting out

they shouldn't be doing any more movies or we shouldn't have their status and their you know life bolstered and elevated by this experience given what we know to be true in the real world i'll still watch the films and i think most will that's my honest opinion i think most will i I think there'll be a very strong vocal minority who is going to be so dead set on not paying to go watch this film, which I get. Well, if you want to do that, you just get an AMC Stubbs A-list pass. You get three movies a week and then just don't buy concessions, you know? Yeah. There are ways to compensate for it.

Get around. Yeah. Yeah, that's just one of many. too i think there are going to be people who on the opposite end of the spectrum are going to go check it out just to see the geek show of it just to see what got included what maybe was cut how is the performance amid all of this stuff you know honest i feel you could have replaced her right they did it in the dark night rises the dark night for like way less you know controversy than than katie holmes yeah i mean that's like a made-up character mirror is like an actual big comic book character that's another reason why i feel like you maybe ought to have just replaced We'll see how the trial goes.

I feel like that's going to be a big determining factor. But what do you guys think? Do you think they should just remove her? Replacer with Ray Fisher. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah, accountability over entertainment. Booyah. Boo-ya, my man.

My woman. Carry my son. You know, put some cyborg parts in there. It'll work out. That's it today. Tune in, I don't know. Well, yep, we're done. Thank you.