Jason Momoa reportedly came to the set of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom dressed up as Johnny Depp in the midst of his co-star Amber Heard’s trial against him.
Notes obtained from Heard’s therapist via a court order have revealed that Heard believed Momoa was dressing up as her ex-husband, and that he wanted to get her fired from the sequel.
Heard was confirmed to be returning to the Aquaman franchise earlier this year, with the sequel’s release date set for December.
It comes after fans were speculating about a possible replacement for the current cast for Mera, with one petition to replace Heard reaching 4.4 million signatures.
Her place in the franchise was very much up for contention after her highly publicised 6-week long defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp last year. The thirty-seven-year-old lost against the Pirates of the Caribbean star, who sued her as a result of her op-ed in the Washington Post, in which she alluded to Depp being her abuser.
The pair originally married back in 2015, but were divorced by 2017. The actress claimed that she “endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse” from Depp, which “included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults”.
The case resulted in a loss for Heard, who was ordered to pay $5 million in punitive damages, although this was reduced to $350,000 later on.
During this whole debacle, Heard’s position as Mera was very much up for contention. It was rumoured that the star had been dropped by Warner Bros, however those remained unconfirmed, and are now evidently untrue.
Reports from September suggested that the actress was still set to star in the sequel, but after a long wait, her return to the franchise has finally been confirmed.
The sequel is slated for release at the end of 2023 after numerous delays due to COVID. James Wan, whose credits include Insidious and The Conjuring, returns to direct the second movie, as does writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who is known for Orphan and Red Riding Hood.
Heard played the role in the franchise’s first film back in 2018. She received lukewarm reviews in the role, but then so did Aquaman as a whole.
However, The New York Times wrote: “Poor Amber Heard has to perform her scenes in a scarlet wig and emerald green costume and do superpower acting with her mouth agape. She looks like she ate forty Katy Perry songs and is belching them up.”
Despite these reviews, Heard is set to return to the franchise.
Insider confirmed the news after a screening of the sequel’s first trailer at CinemaCon, which featured 2 shots of the thirty-seven-year-old, as well as one of her in a battle scene.
However, as the release date for the new movie gets closer, reports have revealed that things on set apparently weren’t quite as smooth-running as they may seem.
Variety reports that on the same day that the trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom dropped, a group of Redditors paid court fees in order to obtain documents from the Depp-Heard defamation trial, and published them on the internet.
One of the papers reveals notes reported to be from Heard’s therapist, which claim that Momoa appeared intoxicated while on set and dressed up like Depp, while pushing to have Heard axed from the movie.
“Jason said he wanted me fired. Jason drunk — late on set. Dressing like Johnny. Has all the rings too,” one of the documents read.
Documents also purport that the sequel’s director James Wan gave her the cold shoulder as a result of the defamation trial.
“He raised his voice @ me — ‘I can’t even post about Aquaman’ — made it like it was my fault – I said ‘I’m sorry.’ Nobody could take selfies with me on set given blackout,” the notes read.
The report further claims that Heard was very nearly fired from the sequel way back in 2018, before the defamation trial, for a lack of chemistry with the Game of Thrones star. This report lines up with the claims of Heard’s agent from during the trial.
However, it appears Heard had a saviour in her ex-boyfriend – the billionaire and world’s richest man Elon Musk.
The Variety report claims that he wrote a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down,” if Heard was not brought back for the Aquaman sequel. This was allegedly the reason Warner Bros then agreed to bring her back.
Sources pushed back against the reports when Variety approached them for comment.
“Jason Momoa conducted himself in a professional manner at all times on the set of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” one told the outlet, with a second adding that Momoa wasn’t dressing as Depp but that he “has always dressed in that bohemian style.”
A DC spokesperson also defended Wan: “James is known for treating members of his cast and crew with the utmost respect and for fostering a positive, collaborative environment on set — the Aquaman films were no exception.”
