Amber Heard has been slapped with a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit over her upcoming film “London Fields,” with the film’s producers claiming she failed to offer agreed-upon acting and publicity services.
According to legal documents obtained by TheWrap, the film’s producers, Nicola Six Limited, are suing Heard for not complying “with commitment to act in scenes requiring nudity, in contravention of her contractual obligations.”
Heard allegedly was aware of the nature of the role of Nicola Six, given that she had read Martin Amis’ novel as well as the picture’s screenplay, which was “salacious, provocative and contained nude scenes.”
The filmmakers claim Heard had the right to view all nude and sex scenes and approve the final cut, accepting payment for all acting services. But because of her alleged refusal to shoot the film’s nude moments, “key scenes in the script had to be removed and/or rewritten to accommodate Heard’s behavior.”
“London Fields” stars Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Sturgess, Cara Delevingne and Johnny Depp, and was directed by Mathew Cullen. The premiere of “London Fields” sparked controversy at Toronto International Film Festival when several of the film’s stars failed to show up. Cullen sued Nicola Six Limited for fraud, claiming producers hijacked the final cut of the movie, with the production house claiming Cullen had failed to deliver the film on budget and on time. Cullen took over directing the film after Shekhar Kapur pulled out “citing Heard’s inexperience as an actor,” according to the suit.
The filing goes on to list contractual obligations ignored by Heard, whom the plaintiffs claim refused to attend the premiere of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, despite clauses in her contract governing publicity.
“Consistent with industry norms, Plaintiff (like TIFF) expected Heard (the film’s star) to attend TIFF and support the Picture, as Heard was contractually required to do — and as she had been paid to do,” read the document. The lawsuit added that “the refusal to do so was especially glaring, and harmful, in view of the fact that she was present at TIFF to promote another film, ‘The Danish Girl,’ in which she had a far smaller role, and to support her then-husband Johnny Depp’s film, ‘Black Mass.’”
Nicola Six also alleges that Heard “actively encouraged TIFF to pull the Picture from the festival at the 11th hour (which TIFF did), thereby creating a maelstrom of poor publicity and word-of-mouth and damaging, perhaps irreparably, the Picture’s reputation and salability.”
Heard is also being charged with conspiring with director Matthew Cullen to impede completion and marketing of “London Fields.”
“Cullen and Heard also interfered with Nicola Six’s efforts to finish and release the Producer’s Cut,” reads the lawsuit. “As of November 2014 but commencing earlier and continuing thereafter, Heard, Cullen and others knowingly conspired together to thwart Nicola Six’s efforts to market and sell the Picture, to deprive Nicola Six of the benefits of its contracts with said actors, director and producer, and to financially and reputationally damage Nicola Six, the Picture, and the Picture’s investors.”
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.