The 69th Taormina Film Festival in Sicily saw the world premiere Saturday of the paranormal psychological thriller “In the Fire,” which marks the return to the big screen of Amber Heard following two highly publicized trials involving her former husband Johnny Depp.
On the turquoise carpet (the color was chosen to match the Mediterranean, which serves as a stupendous backdrop), Heard greeted a crowd of fans — accompanied by paparazzi and tourists — who shouted words of encouragement at the “Aquaman” star.
The producers and festival organizers had worried about possible demonstrations by Depp supporters. Producer Pascal Borno told Variety he had to persuade the Italian police to provide extra security after receiving online threats. “They took it seriously and afterwards I promised them selfies with Amber,” he said.
Despite the initial trepidation, the atmosphere of the crowd was one of the usual celebrity-adjacent excitement. One family visiting from New York remarked to Variety that they thought Heard was “gutsy.”
“I was relieved to see how they shouted for her. After all the stuff being yelled online at this beautiful human being,” said Heard’s co-star, Italian actor Luca Calvani (“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”).
The film’s production had been bracketed by the first trial in London in 2020, which denied Depp’s suit of defamation, and the second in Virginia in 2022, which Heard left the shoot in Guatemala to attend. (The film also shot on location in Ostuni, Italy). “The trial was looming over us. We felt the gravity of this huge media machine building against all of us, and the camaraderie of the shoot felt like a good distraction,” Calvani said.
Heard responded to some questions from Variety in writing, although the subject of Depp was off limits. “I feel honored to be part of this labor of love and to be the lead in [director] Conor Allyn’s vision,” she wrote. “I feel lucky to be surrounded by such an amazing cast. They’re as dedicated and magical as the characters they play.”
Heard described the film as “a meditation on the almost supernatural powers of love told through a strong-willed and independent woman at the turn of the 20th century.”
Heard plays Grace, an outsider from New York who travels to South America to work as a doctor. There, she faces hostility, partly from the volcanic landscape as well as the fact that she is a woman practicing psychiatry at the birth of the science, only a few years after Sigmund Freud published his first books.
She is called to a remote farm in the Colombian countryside to treat a young boy (Lorenzo McGovern), who the locals — led by a charismatic Jesuit priest (Yari Gugliucci) — believe to be possessed by the devil. His father, played by Eduardo Noriega, first treats Grace with contempt before being won over.
Allyn told Variety he met Heard while developing a serial killer TV drama set in Colombia a few years earlier. When that project stalled in 2022, Heard read the script for “In the Fire” and agreed to work on what Allyn describes as a “a gothic Gaucho western” after she had finished her “Aquaman 2” commitment.
“When Amber showed up in Italy to shoot, she was a force to be reckoned with. She was a star who was amazing in front of the camera, but also was a partner in crime behind the camera,” Allyn said. “Once we started shooting, it was from Day One a comfort blanket to have her there. I knew I could point the camera at her, and I would get something good.”
Whether or not the film will move the narrative on from Heard’s legal affairs is yet to be seen, but Allyn hopes for a “mega-comeback.” Calvani agreed enthusiastically: “Amber is back. She’s great; she is radiant; she’s a good actor and she is resilient.”
“In the Fire” was produced by Angel Oak Films, ILBE and Paradox.
Heard will also be appearing in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which is due for release later this year.
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