Heard, 38, and Momoa, 45, starred alongside each other in DC’s Aquaman and its sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
In the latter, the actress’ screen time was considerably shorter than in the original and now, she’s seemingly stepped away from the limelight.
Building up to the release of the second Aquaman movie, there were many rumors and discussions about Heard and Momoa’s relationship.
Shedding further light on the matter, a film executive has revealed all…
In recent years, little has been seen of Heard, and reports claim she’s left Hollywood behind. A People magazine source says the star is ‘focusing on raising her daughter’ Oonagh, born in 2021.
“She spends every day with her girl. They stroll around, visit parks, and enjoy family time. Amber is a great mom,” the source adds.
This comes after Heard’s ex-husband, Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp, won his defamation lawsuit against her in 2022. Depp sued Heard for damages over a 2018 op-ed piece she wrote for The Washington Post about domestic violence.
The Edward Scissorhands star’s attorneys said although he wasn’t mentioned by name, the piece indirectly referred to previous allegations Heard had made against him. In the trial, both parties made shocking allegations.
The actress testified that Warner Bros. significantly cut her role in the Aquaman sequel amid her battle with Depp. Heard claimed she had to fight ‘really hard to stay in the movie’ and that when given ‘newer versions of the script,’ scenes had been ‘taken away,’ per MailOnline.
She said: “They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”
Yet when it came to Depp’s rebuttal argument, another reason was given for Heard’s shorter screen time.
In a video deposition, Aquaman‘s executive producer Walter Hamada claimed Heard’s role was never reduced and her part was always meant to be secondary. He said there were discussions regarding recasting the role of Mera, however, it was due to chemistry issues between Heard and Momoa.
“They didn’t really have a lot of chemistry together,” Hamada said (per The Independent). “The reality is, it’s not uncommon in movies for two leads to not have chemistry.”
He added that it ‘took a lot of effort’ to make it look like the stars had chemistry.
Filmmaker James Wan also weighed in on the matter with Entertainment Weekly, claiming it was always a part of the plan for Heard to take on a smaller role in the sequel.
He said: “I always pitched this to everyone from the get-go. The first Aquaman was Arthur and Mera’s journey.
“The second movie was always going to be Arthur and Orm. So the first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie. We’ll leave it at that.”
Although there were discussions regarding Heard’s role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the actress did appear in the sequel, however, she had minimal screen time.
