Johnny Depp claims he called Warner Bros about Amber Heard’s Aquaman role to ‘curb their worries’
Johnny Depp has disputed Amber Heard’s claims that he did not assist in helping her land her Aquaman role.
The actor returned to the witness stand on Wednesday (25 May) to give more testimony in his multi-million dollar defamation trial against ex-wife Heard. The Pirates of the Caribbean star was called back for his own team’s rebuttal.
Asked by his legal team whether he recalls Heard testifying that he “did not assist her in getting her role in Aquaman”, Depp replied: “It’s not exactly true.”
Depp said that he recalls the date Heard auditioned for the DC film because his band, the Hollywood Vampires, were scheduled to perform at the Rock and Rio festival on 24 September 2015.
“Ms Heard had wanted to come with me and Whitney, her sister, had come as well,” said Depp, claiming that while they were in Rio, Heard had informed him that she had to return to Los Angeles for an audition.
“And that audition was at Warner Bros. Whatever film it was,” he said.
Asked what he believed happened after Heard auditioned for Aquaman, Depp alleged that she told him that Warner Bros had informed her the film would be shooting in Australia, claiming that the shooting location “was of concern to her because it was a concern to Warner Bros”.
Depp claimed that Heard had asked him to speak with his contacts at the studio. “For a few years I had had a multi-film deal with Warner Bros so I knew these people, I had been on films with them so she asked me if I would speak to them,” he said.
The actor alleged that he made a phone call to “the three upper echelon Warner executives”: Kevin Tsujihara, Sue Kroll, and Craig Silverstein.
The Independent has contacted a representative of Warner Bros for comment.
Asked what the result of those alleged conversations were, Depp said: “I can only say that ultimately she did get the job in the film so hopefully I suppose I had curbed their worries to some degree.”
Depp’s testimony follows after the actor’s lawyer pushed back on an expert’s assessment of Heard’s career and comparison to actors such as Zendaya, Gal Gadot, and her Aquaman co-star Jason Momoa.
Entertainment consultant Kathryn Arnold said Heard might be enjoying the same career success as Gadot, Momoa and Zendaya if not for team Depp’s alleged “smear campaign” against her.
Depp is suing Heard for $50m (£38.2m). He alleges that Heard implied that he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence.
Heard is countersuing for $100m (£80.9m), accusing Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.
With the court proceedings still ongoing, a number of high-profile to have voiced their support for Heard, with Julia Fox, Rachel Riley and Kathy Griffin among those to speak out.
Others, meanwhile, have publicly thrown their support behind Depp, with celebrities including Winona Ryder, Javier Bardem and Eva Green among those appearing to take his side in the dispute.
