Here’s a little catch up on Amber Heard’s upcoming projects:

• According to Fangoria, And Soon the Darkness will see a theatrical release in February 2011, with a DVD to follow; Studio Canal, which co-produced and co-financed the film, is handling foreign distribution.

• Film School Rejects is reporting that, according to Aaron Eckhart, The Rum Diary has also been pushed back to 2011. Eckhart sounded pretty unsure about the release date, and he had this to say:

“I don’t know. I heard next year that’s [when] it’s going to come out. Johnny is making Pirates of the Caribbean and I think that he’s too busy to promote something right now. He’s working in Hawaii. I think they’re going to wait to put it out next year.”

• Check out the official Ward website at TheWardMovie.com – but you might want to stay away from the synopsis, which is pretty spoilery.

• Lastly, The Joneses will be released on DVD in the UK on August 16. I have pre-ordered my copy and will be making DVD screencaps of Amber’s role as soon as I receive it.

The first two images from The Rum Diary, which stars Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Giovanni Ribisi and Aaron Eckhart, have debuted. Unfortunately, we do not get to see Amber herself in the images but I find them extremely exciting either way! I really can’t wait to see Amber in character too, of course.

Check out the first production stills here!

Amber’s publicist has informed us that a retraction was printed as well as an apology from the Daily Mail which states that Amber in fact did not say anything negative about Scarlett Johansson in regards to the role of Chenault in The Rum Diary in the Live supplement. After reviewing the transcript, editors at Sunday Mail were surprised to learn that the writer had completely fabricated the story, especially in regards to Ms. Johansson.

From DailyMail.co.uk:

An earlier version of this article quoted Miss Heard saying she was far more deserving of the part in The Rum Diary than Scarlett Johansson. In fact those were not her exact words. She was saying, as above, that she had worked hard to win the role.

She believed the part called for someone to play “Chenault, the character” and was delighted to be given that opportunity. She has huge respect for Miss Johansson. We are happy to make that clear.

From Box Office Mojo:

The Rum Diary, based off a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, received an R rating for “language, brief drug use and sexuality.”

Also, the line-up for Cannes Film Festival has been released and The Rum Diary is unfortunately not included. So the film will likely premiere at one of the big fall film festivals, like Venice or Toronto.

People is reporting The Rum Diary to be among the high profile films to premiere at the 63rd edition of Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 12-23. Amber and Johnny Depp are listed as possible attendees. This would mark Amber’s first film to premiere at Cannes so here’s to hoping the rumors turn out to be true! The Rum Diary is aiming for a September 24, 2010 release in North America. Coincidetally, The Ward is slated to open on the very same date!

Note: This article suggests that The Rum Diary will be released next month but that is not the case. According to this site, the film will be released September 24.

In next month’s Hunter S. Thompson biopic, The Rum Diary, Amber Heard plays Johnny Depp’s love interest, continuing her streak of roles that require very little clothing. But the actress, best known for playing the girlfriend of Seth Rogen’s character in Pineapple Express, isn’t afraid of getting typecast as “the naked girl.”

“Some of my films have required more nudity than others,” she explained yesterday at Fashion Week’s Diesel Black Gold presentation. “But I’m not in a conservative industry and I don’t want to cater to the conservative thought that if I do a nude scene then I’ll be forever damned into a certain category.”

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Opening tomorrow is the horror/thriller The Stepfather. The film is about Penn Badgley’s (Gossip Girl) character returning home from military school and finding his mother living with a new boyfriend. As the two men get to know one another, Badgley’s character grows suspicious. As you might imagine, action ensues. Anyway, I got to speak with Amber Heard earlier today as she plays the Penn Badgley’s girlfriend in the movie. While readers of Collider know I prefer doing video interviews, Amber was only available for phoners, so that’s how this was done.

During our short conversation, Heard talked about making The Stepfather, doing a cameo in Zombieland (she played the hot neighbor in the beginning of the film), and she also talked about playing Johnny Depp’s girlfriend in next year’s The Rum Dairy. Our conversation after the jump:

Have you heard about Amber Heard? With one of TIFF’s most buzzed-about films, and another on the way, you will.

Amber Heard went about landing the lead role in the movie based on Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary, opposite Johnny Depp and Aaron Eckhart, the old-fashioned way. She applied in writing for it.

It seems a fitting way to go about it, considering that, like Depp, the 23-year-old Texas-born actress is a true-blue gonzo groupie.

“I’m a huge fan of Hunter S. Thompson,” the fast-rising star explained as she sat in a shady corner of a Yorkville hotel patio this week. “He was one of a kind and he has affected me throughout my whole life, since I could read.

“As soon as I heard about the movie, I wrote letters to the director (Bruce Robinson) and producers involved.”

In the notes, Heard explained that she, a lifelong passionate fan of the renegade reporter, was born to play Chenault in the story Thompson penned while in his 20s and based on his booze-soaked time as a reporter in Puerto Rico. And in doing so, she beat out one of Hollywood’s top leading ladies for the part, Scarlett Johannsen.