Do fan petitions or Twitter campaigns have a huge impact on how producers and studios decide who is hired and fired? Well, in the case of the calls by hardcore Johnny Depp fans to have Amber Heard removed from the “Aquaman” sequel, the answer is apparently a big no.
During a chat with Deadline to promote “The Suicide Squad,” “Aquaman” and “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom,” producer Peter Safran has detailed why they haven’t really humored the gaggle of Johnny Depp fans that are demanding Warner Bros. remove Heard from the franchise after Depp resigned from “Fantastic Beasts 3,” and was replaced with Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.
The removal was fallout from a public lawsuit won by The Sun being allowed by a judge to refer to Depp as a “wife-beater” in their reports. Warner Bros. seemingly saw that as one step too far despite giving Depp a large role in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” when domestic abuse claims were publicly known. They’re also dealing with continued transphobic comments from Potterverse creator and screenwriter J.K. Rowling.
READ MORE: Amber Heard Says She’s Returning To ‘Aquaman 2’ Despite Rumors & Online Protests
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was,” the producer told Deadline.
Safran continued, “One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.”
It should be noted that “Aquaman 2” started filming a month ago in Watford, England. It never seemed like Amber Heard was really in danger of being fired by the studio, despite the anger of the vocal minority on social media.