UPDATE (7/3/19, 6:04 a.m. ET): In response to the surveillance footage that showed two people who looked like Amber Heard and James Franco, together in an apartment elevator in May 2016, Heard’s lawyer Eric George told The Blast, “Amber Heard and James Franco once lived in the same apartment complex and were simply taking an elevator at the same time. Period.”
ORIGINAL STORY: Enter a plot twist in Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s ongoing legal feud. An elevator surveillance video from their former apartment in downtown Los Angeles emerged on July 2, and it appears to show a woman who looks like Heard, 33, and actor James Franco, 41. In the video, filmed on May 22, 2016 [SEEN HERE], the woman is seen alone as she rides the elevator that transports residents to the parking area, according to The Blast, who obtained the footage. A man — whom the outlet reports to be Franco — eventually enters, and he and the woman huddle close and even rest their heads against one another. Their faces are averted away from the camera, so it can’t be confirmed if this is indeed Heard and Franco at the moment. HollywoodLife has reached out to the reps of Franco, Depp and Heard for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Apparently Depp, 56, has watched this clip and will request Franco to appear in court by way of a subpoena, The Blast reported. The Pirates of the Caribbean star reportedly wants Franco to relay what he saw on Heard’s face, seeing that the elevator footage was filmed just one day after that alleged marriage-ending fight between Depp and Heard. The Aquaman star accused Depp of leaving bruises on her face, which he has claimed were “painted on” in his declaration for a $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex, filed in March 2019.
“We are interested in James Franco and Elon Musk as fact witnesses because we have evidence they are men who saw Amber Heard’s face in the days and nights between when she claimed Mr. Depp smashed her in the face on May 21 and when she went to court with painted on ‘bruises’ to obtain a Temporary Restraining Order on May 27,'” Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman, told The Blast.
Heard and Depp married in 2015, separated in May 2016 and finalized the divorce in Jan. 2017. They have both blasted one another with allegations of abuse in court documents.