A petition to get Amber Heard removed from the upcoming Aquaman 2 flick has reached over 2.4 million signatures as the actress battles it out in court against her ex-husband Johnny Depp. The latter filed a $50 million lawsuit against his former flame, claiming that the abuse allegations she made against him were vehemently not true — an argument which Amber has countersued.
Since the trial commenced just under two weeks ago, fans have been able to watch the case in its entirety. But by the look of things, many people seem to think that the showdown in court has shown Amber is a rather negative light with employees and other witnesses all having taken to the stand saying they didn’t witness Johnny ever being violent towards his then-wife.
The father-of-two told the jury in court earlier this week that he had lost out on several movie roles due to the abuse claims, such as playing Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean and being ousted from portraying Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts, a role which Warner Bros. later recast. Fans have now started a petition to call for Amber to receive the same treatment as her ex, by having her removed from Aquaman 2, where she plays the protagonist’s love interest, Mera.
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So far, over 2.4 million signatures have been recorded, with the petition’s next goal to reach 3 million in May. DC Comics and Warner Bros will undoubtedly be pressured to respond to the reaction from fans wanting Amber ousted from her role, but the film already finished filming back in January, with a release date set for March 2023.
Furthermore, it’s unclear whether Warner Bros would want to reshoot the entire movie with a new actress playing Amber’s role. After all, producing the follow-up motion picture would have cost the Hollywood studios tens of millions of dollars. A reshoot could skyrocket those numbers to go well over the intended budgeting costs.
The petition’s lengthy statement read, “As Amber Heard is a known and proven domestic abuser, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment should remove Heard from their Aquaman 2 film project. They must not ignore the suffering of Heard’s victims and must not glamorize a domestic abuser.”
“Men are victims of domestic abuse, just like women. This must be recognized, and action must be taken to prevent a known abuser from being celebrated within the entertainment industry.
Amber is expected to take to the stand on Monday, when she gets to share her testimony in the ongoing trial against Johnny, which is expected to conclude on May 9. Depending on how things continue to play out in court, it’s somewhat likely that DC Comics and Warner Bros will have to address the petition to some extent and decide whether Amber stays in Aquaman 2 or whether the film is reshot.