You’d have to have been living under a rock not to hear about the anger at Amber Heard returning as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Very angry, very loud Johnny Depp fans attempted a tireless campaign to stop this, including multiple petitions asking Warner Bros to fire her, spreading false rumors that Heard failed her physical, that she broke her contract, that she’s uninsurable, that her role was being drastically reduced, and so on and so forth.
All that amounted to nothing, so now they’ve resorted to calling for a boycott. Warner Bros doesn’t seem too concerned, with producer Peter Safran discussing the controversy in a recent appearance on the Hero Nation podcast. When directly asked if the Depp supporter’s campaign had had any impact, he said:
“You know, I don’t think that we’re ever gonna react to just pure fan pressure. You gotta do what you feel best for the movie, and we felt that if it’s James Wan and Jason Momoa, then it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was. One is not unaware of what’s going on in the Twitterverse, but that doesn’t mean that you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what you feel is right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it, truthfully.”
It’s rare to hear someone involved in the production speak this candidly about the situation, especially as the plan so far seems to have been to ignore it. I’m betting this casual dismissal is going to seriously rile up the Depp fans, who’re already extremely defensive after the losses their hero has suffered. But Safran is right that they have to do what they feel is right for the film and I’m sure they think that if they give any ground they’ll soon have to concede more.
Even so, it’ll be interesting to see whether the boycott has any effect whatsoever. My suspicion is that those campaigning against the movie are louder than they are numerous and that what’s being yelled about on social media isn’t reflective of reality. After all, Aquaman was notable as an international hit and I doubt whether those markets will really pay attention to what’s going on on Twitter.
I guess we’ll find out next year. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is currently shooting in the UK and will hit theaters on December 16, 2022.