AQUAMAN Director James Wan Talks Underwater Communication, Jason Momoa and More

Following Aquaman’s formal debut in Justice League, the character will go on to star in his own movie on July 27th, 2018. Jason Momoa, Amber Heard and Willem Dafoe will star. And in a new interview with IGN, director James Wan talks again about his approach to the DC film.

Wan comments on the challenges of depicting underwater communication between characters, saying, “…here’s the thing I always say, if you have water in your lungs, like these characters do, there’s no air bubble. So I don’t know…I just think in my movie, I want to kind of create…I love the idea of underwater speaking but with a real sort of sonic, aquatic quality to it. So there’s this sort of aquatic, almost sonar/whale thing. Even though it’s in a human language, there’s this slight sort of underlay to it, this ping to it, which I think would be interesting for us to design from a sound design perspective.”

The filmmaker then confirms that Zack Snyder will incorporate “some ideas” of his own in Justice League. Wan calls the superhero ensemble an “experiment” on what may or may not work, and based on this knowledge, there will be some slight tweaking for the next film. “Here’s the great thing, with all these superhero movies, you watch from one movie to another, and they always sort of slightly change things along the way. You kind of have to do that to make what’s best for your film.”

Wan refuses to confirm or deny reports of Black Manta being the villain in Aquaman, but he cites Geoff Johns’ work as an influence. “I really think he took this character that had become the joke of the superhero world and made him frickin’ cool again. And I really admire it and that is my leaping off point.” Johns’ run on Aquaman is arguably one of the best in the New 52 era. The comic book writer – and co-chief of DC Films – even wrote a “detailed” story treatment for the movie alongside Wan. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that Johns has served as an influence.

Finally, Wan praises Snyder for his “brilliant move” in casting Momoa as Aquaman, saying that it allows audiences to take the character seriously. He then reveals how Aquaman fits in to Justice League and the greater DC Extended Universe, comparing him to X-Men character Wolverine. “He’s the outsider who gets pulled into this world and he kind of doesn’t want to belong and he was doing his own thing. And he prided freedom above everything else. That kind of plays nicely into who his character is. He’s like a reluctant superhero, right? He’s the reluctant king, basically, or would-be king.”

For Wan’s comments on collaborating with Snyder and making the best movie possible within a cinematic universe, click HERE to read the full interview. Stay tuned for more news as we have it.