Amber Heard has been praised by her new co-star and latest film director following the release of her newest movie, In the Fire.
The 37-year-old actress' latest release is her first movie since last year's highly publicized defamation trial against her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.
The six-week courtroom spectacle concluded with the Virginia jury largely siding with the 59-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star and him being awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, while Heard was granted $2 million in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.
The Aquaman star initially filed an appeal last December, but the former couple eventually came to an agreement that Heard would pay $1 million in order to settle the case.
After a tumultuous few years in the public eye, on June 24, Heard walked the blue carpet at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Italy for the world premiere of her new flick.
In the indie thriller, the Pineapple Express star plays an American psychiatrist in the late 1800s who travels to a remote plantation in Colombia to treat a troubled child. It is up to her to decide if this is a mental health problem or if something supernatural is happening with the boy.
Take a look at the first official clip of Amber Heard's latest movie, In The Fire:The actress, director Conor Allyn and co-star Luca Calvani all spoke to the press and festival-goers about the project, which completed filming in March 2022, months before her Virginia defamation trial began.
"I’m so happy that Amber went through something so awful and it didn’t change her as a person," Allyn told Deadline. "She’s still the shining light that we explained earlier and to go through something that terrible and be able to come out the other side and be whole, well I can’t imagine it."
Calvani had nothing but kind words to say about his experience working with Heard, stating the actress was "generous and encouraging" on set. He further described her as a star who "has that light," adding: "She glows and she pulls you in and she shares it with everybody. The last person on set will feel it and feel a connection with her.”
"Anyone that suffers that sort of ordeal and is able to overcome it with grace, no matter what side you’re on, no matter what you believe or which social media [outlet] you plug into or whatever your hashtags are, you have to give credit for the incredible journey this woman has been through and she can teach us all a couple of things as far as resilience and courage," the Italian actor also said.
The Rum Diary actress donned a long black dress that featured a belt across her waist for the premiere. She also had her hair styled in curls that fell around her shoulders and sported bold red lipstick.
Heard raved about the film in an interview with PEOPLE, saying: "It’s a beautiful movie about the almost supernatural effect and force of love. It is about the boundaries that love can cross and its creation, and really about the overwhelming power that love has," adding, "I don’t want to sound cheesy about it, but it’s a movie about love."
Fans can expect her to be back on the big screen later this year with the wide release of the sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - which is set to hit theaters on December 20, 2023.
