In In the Fire – Amber Heard‘s first film since losing her legal war against ex-husband Johnny Depp – she plays a ‘fearless truth-teller whose convictions get her dragged through the public square, whipped, and beaten.’
‘And that is what I see in Amber,’ director Conor Allyn told Rolling Stone last Friday.
‘I see a fearless truth-teller whose convictions have gotten her the 2022-2023 version of that, which is getting dragged through social media on a global, epic scale.’
The 37-year-old actress portrays Dr. Grace Burnham, a woman who ignites a war of science versus religion for treating a ‘demonic’ boy murderer at a remote plantation during the 1890s, in the R-rated thriller.
In one key scene, Grace is asked ‘what her lie is’ while hypnotized and she replies: ‘That I’m a fraud. That I repeat the teachings of great men, but I’m not one of them. That I’ll travel to the edge of the world to prove myself, only to fail.’
Art imitating life? In In the Fire – Amber Heard’s first film since losing her legal war against ex-husband Johnny Depp – she plays a ‘fearless truth-teller whose convictions get her dragged through the public square, whipped, and beaten’
Director Conor Allyn (R, pictured June 24) told Rolling Stone last Friday: ‘And that is what I see in Amber. I see a fearless truth-teller whose convictions have gotten her the 2022-2023 version of that, which is getting dragged through social media on a global, epic scale’
The 33-year-old filmmaker nearly cut the scene entirely because he realized it sounded too much ‘like a meme’ that flooded social media during Amber’s 2022 livestreamed six-week defamation trial.
The 87-minute movie has only earned $21,014 at the global box office since opening in limited US theaters last Friday.
In the Fire currently has a dismal 11% critic approval rating (out of nine reviews) and 29% audience score (out of 100+ ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The first thing out of her mouth was, “I’m so sorry that this has happened and that my personal baggage might hurt the movie,”‘ Conor recalled.
‘She was calling me to apologize and that tells me all I need to know about her character.’
Allyn added: ‘And it just seemed so surreal to have this person who’d just gone through everything that she’d gone through apologizing to me for a movie. Look, I love what I do, but this is her life being ruined, and she’s still sticking up for me and taking the blame.’
Last year, one of the seven jurors that unanimously ruled in favor of Depp over Heard said she just ‘didn’t come across as believable’ and stressed that ‘social media did not impact us.’
‘Some people said we were bribed. That’s not true. Social media did not impact us. We followed the evidence,’ he told Good Morning America.
Action! The 37-year-old actress portrays Dr. Grace Burnham, a woman who ignites a war of science versus religion for treating a ‘demonic’ boy murderer at a remote plantation during the 1890s, in the R-rated thriller
The 33-year-old filmmaker recalled of the 2022 livestreamed six-week defamation trial: ‘The first thing out of her mouth was, “I’m so sorry that this has happened and that my personal baggage might hurt the movie.” She was calling me to apologize’
Connor continued: ‘And it just seemed so surreal to have this person who’d just gone through everything that she’d gone through apologizing to me for a movie. Look, I love what I do, but this is her life being ruined, and she’s still sticking up for me and taking the blame’
Yikes! The 87-minute movie currently has a dismal 11% critic approval rating (out of nine reviews) and 29% audience score (out of 100+ ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes
‘We didn’t take into account anything outside [the courtroom]. We only looked at the evidence. They were very serious accusations and a lot of money involved. So we weren’t taking it lightly.’
The turning point for many on the jury was when the Spain-based Texan claimed she only ‘pledged’ to donate her entire $7M divorce settlement to charity despite previously claiming to have ‘donated’ it on Dutch TV in 2018 and in her 2020 UK libel case.
‘The fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all,’ the juror said. ‘It was disingenuous.’
The juror was also baffled as to why a domestic violence victim would buy her allegedly abusive 60-year-old husband a large knife inscribed with the phrase ‘Until death.’
‘If you have a battered wife or spouse situation, why would you buy the other person, the “aggressor,” a knife?’ he asked.
‘If you really wanted to help Johnny Depp get off drugs, why are you taking drugs around him?’
Another key moment in the trial was when Amber accidentally called her make-up palette to cover up the alleged abuse her ‘bruise kit.’
‘Not a bruise kit, it’s a theatre make-up kit, a color correction kit. But I called it my bruise kit,’ Heard scrambled to explain.
‘We followed the evidence’: Last year, one of the seven jurors that unanimously ruled in favor of Depp over Heard said she just ‘didn’t come across as believable’ and stressed that ‘social media did not impact us’
‘Synonymous’? The turning point for many on the jury was when the Spain-based Texan claimed she only ‘pledged’ to donate her entire $7M divorce settlement to charity despite previously claiming to have ‘donated’ it on Dutch TV in 2018 (pictured) and in her 2020 UK libel case
The juror said: ‘The fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all. It was disingenuous’
‘Why would you buy the “aggressor” a knife?’ The juror was also baffled as to why a domestic violence victim would buy her allegedly abusive 60-year-old husband a large knife inscribed with the phrase ‘Until death’
‘I called it my bruise kit’: Another key moment in the trial was when Amber accidentally called her make-up palette to cover up the alleged abuse her ‘bruise kit’