Elon Musk reportedly threatened to ‘burn down’ studio if they fired Amber Heard from Aquaman 2
Amber Heard reportedly kept her job on Aquaman 2 because then-boyfriend Elon Musk allegedly fired off an aggressive note to Warner Bros.
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Amber Heard reportedly kept her job on Aquaman 2 because her then-boyfriend, Elon Musk, allegedly fired off a scathing letter to Warner Bros. via his legal team.
Variety reports in an exposé published on Tuesday that Johnny Depp’s ex-wife was at risk of being let go from the second instalment of the superhero film following rumoured tensions with star Jason Momoa and director James Wan.
However, Musk reportedly stepped in like a knight in shining armour to secure Heard’s role as aquatic superheroine Mera.
A source with knowledge of the behind-the-scenes battle told the outlet that the tech giant had one of his lawyers send a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down” if his then-girlfriend was fired from the sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The aggressive note allegedly worked because, according to Variety, Warner Bros. “caved” and the movie studio ultimately “moved forward” with Heard.
Reps for Musk, Heard, Warner Bros. and DC Studios, the production company behind the film, did not immediately return Page Six’s requests for comment on the validity of the letter or whether it was the sole reason that the actress was allowed to proceed with the project.
Heard’s issues with her Aquaman colleagues became a topic of discussion during her highly publicised defamation trial with Depp in 2022.
The In the Fire actress alleged during her testimony at the time that execs did not want to “include” her in the sequel due to her drama with her famous ex-husband.
“I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it … and they basically took a bunch out of my role,” she claimed to the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom.
When DC boss Walter Hamada took the stand, though, he disputed Heard’s account, insisting that her role getting diminished had nothing to do with Depp, 60.
The film producer instead blamed Heard’s alleged lack of chemistry with Momoa, 44, stating in part, “There was a concern that it took a lot of effort to get there [in the first film] and that would we be better off finding someone with more natural chemistry with Jason Momoa and move forward that way.”
Regardless of the disputes behind-the-scenes, if Musk really did send a letter to the film studio, this would not be the first time he came to his former lover’s defence.
The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, was believed to be behind a hefty $US1 million ($1.5 million) donation made on behalf of Heard in order to help her complete her pledge following her divorce with Depp.
In August 2016, she claimed she would donate her $US7 million ($10 million) divorce settlement to charity by splitting it evenly between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Musk, 52, and Heard, 37, dated off and on from 2016 to 2018.
They first met on the set of Machete Kills in 2013 and Depp, at one point, thought they had a “three-way” affair with Cara Delevingne during his marriage to the actress.
However, Musk exclusively denied the cheating claims to Page Six, telling us in 2020, “Cara and I are friends, but we’ve never been intimate. She would confirm this.
“Also, I wish to confirm again that Amber and I only started going out about a month after her divorce filing. I don’t think I was ever even in the vicinity of Amber during their marriage!”
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Elon Musk reportedly threatened to ‘burn down’ studio if they fired Amber Heard from Aquaman 2
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