Director James Wan lights up when talking about his Aquaman star Jason Momoa.
Readall that and morein our chat with franchise-making blockbuster director and producer, James Wan.
Was there ever a moment where you were not going to return?
Jason Momoa stars in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.Image: Warner Bros.
Wan: I mean, obviously the tricky thing about sequels is how do you get around sequelitis?
And so it was about finding what his journey is.
He hates his job as the king of Atlantis.
Wan directing his villain, Black Manta.Image: Warner Bros.
No one listens to him because people still dont quite see him as one of them.
And so hes dealing with prejudice from that world.
That for us was the fun part.
Wilson and Momoa.Image: Warner Bros.
And the thing that we knew we wanted to crack was just the relationship between Arthur and Orm.
io9: Its not every day that the lead of a movie gets a story by credit.
So can you talk a little about Jasons contributions to the story to earn him that?
Our first look at Momoa as Aquaman in 2015.Image:Zack Snyder/X
Jason, hes such a such a big filmmaking fan.
And what Jason ultimately brings to it is he knows how he wants to play his character.
He knows how he wants his character to grow as well.
Wan and Momoa.Image: Warner Bros.
He came in with a bunch of different ideas that we felt were really cool ideas.
And luckily we were able to make it work pretty seamlessly.
But in this one, it would be fun to kind of see him as a father.
Hes a first-time dad.
Hes dealing with the politics and the pressure of running an entire kingdom, right?
Hes the king of Atlantis.
Meanwhile, we intercut with him changing diapers at home.
Doing the more domestic stuff.
And thats the kind of stuff that was really fun that he brought to the table.
And were like, Thats great.
We totally get it.
And we definitely want to go in that direction.
io9: Oh, thats awesome.
Another thing I think he brings to the table is hes got this incredible enthusiasm.
Wan: [Laughs] He pretty much does.
You put Jason in whatever situation and hell give you a lot of great stuff.
He loves to improvise.
[Still laughing]
io9: Thats awesome.
The characters obviously from my world… they play to different kinds of rules.
Its more fantasy if you will.
Were not afraid to go there.
And definitely, that sets us apart from Avatar, right?
Were not trying to make the same throw in, aesthetically the same throw in, of films.
This before is Justice League, even before Batman v Superman.
But now it seems like this movie is answering that with the reveal of the Seventh Kingdom.
And we sort of touch upon that in the first movie.
And then we find out in this movie that they were lost for a specific reason.
They were kind of scrubbed from Atlantean history for a specific reason.
Part of the fun is discovering what that is.
you might imagine anything and it fits in this world.
Wan: Its a little bit of everything.
And I just wanted to keep with that spirit.
A lot of movies that I pull inspiration from are not from today.
We really lean into the Silver Age of the comic book.
Wan: Im not sure.
But we also understand that you kind of need to give them away to get people excited about that.
So I dont necessarily think that theres anything in these trailers that people need to read deeper into.
But I do think that it sets up what the movie is about.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens December 22.
Want more io9 news?
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Colin Farrell May Go FromThe PenguintoSgt.
