Dolph Lundgren disappointed his, Amber Heard's 'Aquaman' roles reduced in reshoots

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Dolph Lundgren confirmed Thursday that his and Amber Heard's roles in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom were reduced after reshoots. The film opened Dec. 22 after several postponements.

"My opinion is that I thought the original script was great," Lundgren told UPI in a Zoom interview for his new movie, Wanted Man. "I was a bigger part of it and Amber Heard was a bigger part of it."

The Hollywood Reporter reported that the Aquaman sequel originally was to include a cameo by Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Keaton appeared in The Flash, but after the studio canceled Batgirl, which also featured Keaton's Bruce Wayne, Ben Affleck reportedly filmed the cameo.

Jason Momoa, who portrayed Aquaman, posted a picture of him and Affleck together in the production offices on Instagram. "Busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2," Momoa wrote, but ultimately no Batman actor appears in the final cut.

Lundgren said other story points were added in reshoots.

"The studio decided, I guess, to just reshoot a bunch of footage to try to rebuild a slightly different storyline," Lundgren said. "That's tricky because you can't reshoot the whole movie."

Lundgren plays underwater King Nereus. His daughter, Mera (Heard), is Aquaman's wife.

In the finished film, Mera is injured early and recovers for much of the movie. She and Nereus join Aquaman, Orm (Patrick Wilson) and Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) in a journey to stop Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) in the finale.

"When you start inserting different story elements into something [with which[ there was a unity that worked, then you can get in trouble," Lungren said. "It was a little frustrating for me. I felt a little disappointed, but life goes on."

UPI reviewed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom favorably, citing the film's irreverent humor making the convoluted plot fun to watch.