Amber Heard Makes Unexpected Return in Female-Focused Defamation Suit Doc, ‘Silenced’

A new documentary feature called Silenced played at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, according to Variety. The movie is about men who use expensive defamation lawsuits to silence women who speak out about abuse. It profiles women like Brittany Higgins, who brought a rape allegation against a superior in Australian parliament; and Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, who was sued by director Ciro Guerra after publishing allegations of misconduct against him in the magazine Volcánica, which she edits. Actress Amber Heard also sits for an interview.

Amber Heard was in the headlines a lot a few years ago when she was locked in a series of legal battles with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post where she talked about her experience with domestic abuse, without mentioning Depp. Silenced focuses on Depp’s 2018 libel case against the British newspaper The Sun, which ran an article that brought up Depp’s alleged abusive behavior and criticized his casting in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise.

Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, one of the people behind Silenced, assisted Heard throughout her participation in that trial. The movie shows how Heard was scorned and shamed, including by Johnny Depp fans — several of whom dressed up as his Pirates of the Caribbean character Jack Sparrow — who hurled insults and trash at her as she entered and exited the court. “The outcome of that trial depended on my participation, and I depended on the outcome of that trial,” Heard said. “When I first met [Robinson], I immediately got the sense that she got the bigger picture. What has happened to me is an amplified version of what a lot of women live through.”

The court ended up siding with The Sun in that case. Later, in 2022, Depp filed a defamation suit against Heard in Virginia, and she counterclaimed. A jury found both parties liable for defaming each other, but sided more with Depp. Depp and Heard later settled the case. Heard was on the receiving end of a lot of abuse online during this time, and was largely cut out of the 2023 movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, although there are notable people in the industry who still support her. Silenced is the first film she’s appeared in since then.

Amber Heard Is Encouraged to See “Other People Take on the Fight”

Amber Heard as Mera in Aquaman (2018).

Warner Bros. Pictures

Heard laid out how she viewed her participation in the documentary. “This is not about me. I have lost my ability to speak. I am not here to tell my story. I don’t want to tell my story. In fact, I don’t want to use my voice anymore. That’s the problem,” she said. “I remember at the close of the trial, the idea that I could say something to the press came up. [Robinson] asked if I was sure about that. [I thought], ‘If they throw things at me, it will make this point more obvious.’ I didn’t understand it could get so much worse for me as a woman, using my voice.”

Robinson also outlined what she was trying to accomplish with the movie, saying that she has advised clients that “he can sue you, you just then have to prove it in court. But it’s very expensive to do so, and it bankrupts most women. The question I ask in this film is, ‘What does free speech mean if you can’t afford to defend it?’”

For Heard’s part, she remains optimistic that things can improve. “It gives me strength seeing other people take on the fight. Women brave enough to address the imbalance of power. Looking at my daughter’s face as she grows up and slowly starts to walk into this world… I believe it can be better,” she said.

Silenced is directed by Selina Miles. The producers are currently looking for a distributor.