‘I promised them selfies’: Getting extra security for Amber Heard’s red carpet return required a simple trade-off

Having exiled herself to Europe following the conclusion of her heavily-publicized trial opposite ex-husband Johnny Depp, Amber Heard finally made her red carpet return at the Taormina Film Festival in support of supernatural thriller In the Fire, which also marks her first big screen credit outside of the DCU in the five years since Aquaman dropped in theaters.

There were genuine concerns that pro-Depp protests could break out, or even that Heard would be subjected to verbal abuse, both of which were entirely valid worries given the backlash and bile she’s been facing ever since the headline-grabbing divorce first became a favored subject of rumor-mongers and gossip merchants everywhere.

In fact, producer Pascal Borno revealed to Variety that he’d gone out of his way to persuade the Italian authorities to provide additional security, for which he leveraged Heard’s celebrity status and worldwide notoriety

“They took it seriously and afterwards I promised them selfies with Amber.”

Meanwhile, co-star Luca Calvani admitted that he wouldn’t have been surprised were she to be on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse, especially with the trial looming overhead during production of In the Fire.

“I was relieved to see how they shouted for her. After all the stuff being yelled online at this beautiful human being. 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.”

It remains to be seen if the end result is even going to be any good – no guarantee when Heard’s last few films have been largely terrible – but all you need to do in order to beef up her detail is promise a quick selfie, which is probably common practice in the industry.