Amber Heard is 100% not here for nonsense. E! reports that Heard is countersuing the production company of her latest film, the as-yet unreleased London Fields, who themselves allege that she breached her contract. The cross lawsuits stem from a dispute over a sex scene.
Heard showed up at the hearing, explaining via her counsel that the sex scene in question was explicit, pornographic, and used a body double - to which Heard did not consent. Heard further alleges that the shoot took place in secret after she had wrapped her performance and exited the set.
Heard's legal team also allege that she has specifically signed a nudity rider, which states that she “shall have the right to view the nude and sex scenes and approve such scenes, which contain straight-on nipple or below-the-waist frontal nudity once the final cut of the picture has been completed and prior to any public viewing of the picture.” In other words, that she has final say over any nude/sex scenes edited into the finished film.
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Body doubles for explicit sex scenes are common in Hollywood. Lars von Trier’s two-part film Nymphomanic even utilised porn actors to film the sexier scenes, and digitally altered to place Shia LaBeouf and Stacy Martin’s faces onto the body doubles to make the scene appear more realistic.
It’s not clear from the lawsuit if this editing technique was used on London Fields, mainly because Heard’s suit may prevent the film from being released at all. As part of the relief she is seeking, Heard wants an injunction placed against any distribution of the film. It safe to assume that, given her previously willingness to go nude on camera in previous movies like The Informer, she really must have felt like her rights were violated to go forward with a lawsuit that may block her work from being shown.
As Heard said in her powerful sexual assault PSA, “violence against women...is also about how to deal with it and talk about it in the media”.