Amber Heard’s role as Mera was greatly downplayed in the recently-released superhero film Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.
According to Business Insider, the 37-year-old performer was only featured on screen for 15 to 20 minutes of the 124-minute movie.
The media outlet also reported that the actress, who recently recovered from a major hip injury, only had a total of eleven lines throughout the entire film.
Many of Mera’s lines were reduced down to relatively simple expressions in the feature, which made its debut on Friday.
The superheroine was mostly featured in the beginning and end of the movie, although she was largely removed from its central plot.
Amber Heard’s role as Mera was greatly downplayed in the recently-released superhero film Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom; seen in 2018
Mera was prominently featured in the first Aquaman movie, which was released in December of 2018.
According to TMZ, former Warner Bros. CEO Walter Hamada stated during a 2022 deposition that Heard’s character was being sidelined in the sequel due to a perceived lack of chemistry between her and Jason Momoa, who portrays Aquaman.
At the time, many suspected that the reasoning behind the decision to reduce Mera’s role in the movie was due to the actress’ then-ongoing trial with her former husband, Johnny Depp.
Although the Justice League actress’ associates considered that possibility, DC Studios executives denied that her legal issues were the reasoning behind the reduction of her part.
The much-publicized lawsuit, which was ultimately settled in the actor’s favor, brought a considerable amount of negative attention to the performer, and she has since moved to Spain in order to remain out of the limelight.
Heard did not participate in any publicity campaigns for Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, which had its world premiere in Los Angeles this past Tuesday.
The James Wan-directed feature, which was made on a budget of just over $200 million, is currently projected to take in about $40 million in its first weekend of release.
The movie has also received mixed to negative reviews from critics and currently holds a score of 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The 37-year-old performer was only featured on screen for 15 to 20 minutes of the 124-minute movie according to Business Insider
Former Warner Bros. CEO Walter Hamada stated during a 2022 deposition that Heard’s character was being sidelined in the sequel due to a perceived lack of chemistry between her and Jason Momoa, who portrays Aquaman, as per TMZ
Director James Wan said that Heard’s character was never intended to be one of the sequel’s lead figures in an interview with Entertainment Weekly
Many suspected that the reasoning behind the decision to reduce Mera’s role in the movie was due to the actress’ then-ongoing trial with her former husband, Johnny Depp; they are seen in 2014
Wan spoke to Entertainment Weekly and told the media outlet that Heard’s character was never intended to be one of the sequel’s lead figures.
‘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 Orm,’ he said.
The filmmaker then stated that, although he was satisfied with Heard’s impact on the first feature, her character was not necessarily planned to have been prioritized in the sequel.
‘The first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie. We’ll leave it at that,’ he said.