Amber Heard’s attorneys rested their case on Tuesday, paving the way for Johnny Depp’s legal team to call Richard Marks—a long-time entertainment lawyer and Hollywood expert—to the stand. Marks, who testified earlier in the defamation trial, said Depp couldn’t have ruined Heard’s career —because it was doomed anyway.
Depp’s team asked Marks to analyze Monday’s testimony from “entertainment industry consultant” and producer Kathryn Arnold. Arnold testified that before Heard’s legal battle with the Pirates of the Caribbean star, she had very high earning potential, and her career trajectory was “comparable” to that of Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, and Zendaya.
The Hollywood expert, who told the court he has nearly 50 years of experience and has negotiated countless deals, offered a scathing rebuke of that testimony.
“She’s very slick and smooth, but she’s not an expert in dealmaking,” Marks said of Arnold. “Her assessment of damages is built on nothing, and it’s wildly speculative.”
He added that the Aquaman actress has never received top billing for a role.
“They are not comparable. Jason Momoa was Aquaman, Chris Pine was Captain Kirk, Gal Gadot was Wonder Woman. Zendaya has been working on the Disney channel since she was 13, she’s in all the Spider-Man movies; she goes by one name. Ana de Armas, you know, when she was in a movie that they called her a breakout star,” he testified.
Furthermore, the expert told the courtroom that Heard had to audition for the part of Mera in Aquaman, something an established actor would never have to do.
“An established actor usually wouldn’t test; they’d be offered the role,” he explained. “Ms. Heard was in a group of actors that needed to be tested to see if the studio wanted to hire them, and then if they hired them, they’d be locked up for potentially four movies at a very lucrative increase.”
Additional testimony provided by DC Films president Walter Hamada revealed that a lack of chemistry between Heard and Momoa —who played the eponymous role in the film—almost led to the part being recast.
He testified: “I think editorially they were able to make that relationship work in the first movie. But, there was a concern that it took a lot of effort to get there, and we would be better off recasting, finding someone who had more natural chemistry with Jason Momoa and move forward that way.”