Johnny Depp's $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard alleged her words got him fired from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Now a completely separate lawsuit from Depp against his former lawyer alleges Depp tried to get Heard fired from Aquaman.
Johnny Depp is alleged to have personally asked former Warner Bros. chairman Kevin Tsujihara to remove Amber Heard from her role as Mera in DC's Aquaman, and also block her from getting other WB projects.
What's interesting is that Kevin Tsujihara is the one who was recently ousted, although he did get to resign, after a casting couch sexual misconduct scandal.
Johnny Depp filed this initial lawsuit against former attorney Jake Bloom in 2017, THR reports, claiming Bloom collected more than $30 million in fees without a signed contract. Bloom countersued, and Amber Heard only got her name brought in when Bloom's attorney, Bryan Freedman, brought up how Depp's team had started to accuse Bloom's side of "malpractice in connection with Depp's divorce from Amber Heard."
In part, Johnny Depp's lawsuit claimed that Jake Bloom gave Depp bad advice regarding the actor's split with Amber Heard. But Bloom reportedly isn't the only one who advised Depp to settle with Heard, just the only one being sued right now, which is apparently why so many of Depp's former advisors and lawyers were just asked to testify.
Johnny Depp's current lawyer, Adam Waldman, shared a statement with THR calling it bewildering that the Bloom side claims they've been accused of malpractice related to Amber Heard. They don't understand what evidence Heard's ex-boyfriend Elon Musk or former Warner Bros. boss Kevin Tsujihara could possibly present related to their $30 million legal malpractice suit.
Be that as it may, Elon Musk and Kevin Tsujihara are among the many who've been dragged into this and asked to give testimony.
Kevin Tsujihara will reportedly be asked to testify under oath on whether or not he played a role in trying to blacklist Amber Heard at Warner Bros. As THR noted, there's been no evidence presented yet that he tried to do so, and it would've been tough for even the studio chief to remove Heard from the role of Mera, since she already played it in Justice League. (They could've always recast the role, though, just like they could recast Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts if they wanted to.)
Amber Heard did previously allege that, following her split with Johnny Depp, "I lost a part for a movie in which I had already been cast." And she wrote in her op-ed piece -- the one Depp later sued her over -- that she was worried about being blacklisted.
Johnny Depp was also back in headlines recently when unnamed sources claimed Warner Bros. execs were worried about Depp continuing in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. That was in reaction to his other major lawsuit -- the $50 million defamation suit Depp filed against Amber Heard. He alleged her abuse allegations against him were a hoax.
Amber Heard recently responded to that defamation lawsuit with court documents describing the alleged abuse in graphic detail. The back-and-forth from the lawsuits is reportedly worrying to Warner Bros. execs, who manage both the Fantastic Beasts and DC/Aquaman franchises.
Johnny Depp previously sued his former business managers at The Management Group for more than $25 million, accusing them of fraud and negligence in mishandling his money; TMG then responded with a cross-complaint claiming that Depp's own overspending was the real problem. That lawsuit was reportedly settled in summer 2018.
Meanwhile, Amber Heard seems to be continuing on as Aquaman's (Jason Momoa) lady love Mera wherever Aquaman goes after the billion dollar success of the James Wan movie. She also has a role in the movie Gully, which is expected to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27. Johnny Depp appears to be continuing on as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which is filming Fantastic Beasts 3 in late fall, for a currently unknown release date.
