According to The Hollywood Reporter, she said in court that: “I was given a script, then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it … They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”
Hamada, who spoke at the court session virtually, maintained that DC Films reducing her role in Aquaman 2 was neither a knee-jerk decision nor had anything to do with the lawsuit between the former couple.
According to Hamada, the sequel was set to be something of a “buddy comedy” from the get-go between Momoa’s Aquaman and his half-brother, Ocean Master, played by Patrick Wilson. Outside of that, the studio’s reason for wanting to recast Mera and reducing the role was a lack of chemistry between her and Momoa.
Hamada said: “The reality is it’s not uncommon on movies for two leads to not have chemistry and it’s sort of movie magic and editorial … you can fabricate that chemistry. At the end of the day when you watch the movie, it looks like they have great chemistry. But I just know that through the course of postproduction, it took a lot of effort to get there.
“Sometimes you just put characters together on the screen and they work. It’s like what makes a movie star a movie star. You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there.”
Despite pointing out these concerns, Hamada went on to add that the original Aquaman film released in 2018 “still worked”, and the filming process with Heard was a smooth one.
The sequel, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, is set to release in Singapore on Mar 16 next year.
