Director James Wan talks about Aquaman; fun tone and Zack Snyder’s involvement

A whole lot has been said about Batman v Superman in the last week or so (a whole lot!), but scattered in that veritable mountain of words describing Zack Snyder’s divisive film, I doubt you’ll find too many occurrences of “fun”. The same could probably be said Snyder’s Man of Steel as well. But just because the two movies that are kick-starting Warner Bros’ DC Comics Universe were embracing Darkseid’s Anti-Life Anti-Fun Equation doesn’t mean the rest of that universe will follow suit.

Case in point: Aquaman certainly also knows all about fun. But unfortunately for the aquatic superhero, traditionally it’s been more a case of people making fun of him. Of course the comic book iteration of the King of Atlantis hasn’t been anything like the corny fish-talking/fish-riding cheeseball that started this bad rep for quite some time now, and based on how utterly badass Jason Momoa looks as the cinematic equivalent, it’s clear that we’re definitely getting something a whole lot cooler in the upcoming Aquaman solo movie and Justice League.

And more fun, as director James Wan – who has transitioned very successfully from small-scale horrors like Saw and Insidious to big budget popcorn blockbusters like Fast and Furious 7 – told IGN:

The kind of filmmaker that I am…even my darker horror films generally are still very fun and I think that’s important for me and the kind of films I make. Aquaman is a character that a lot of people have made fun of over the years and I just think it’s fun to actually show a really different, cool, badass side to this character, but at the same time, let’s not forget to have fun with it.

A lot of people were fearing that Wan would indeed be forgetting “to have fun with it”, after it was recently revealed that Snyder – who is playing the role of architect for the DCCU – would be involved in the film somehow. But speaking to CinemaBlend, Wan wants to assure fans that while Snyder may have setup the character with a cameo in BvS, Wan won’t just be acting as Snyder’s proxy on Aquaman.

Well, I think the story that I would like to tell is still at the end of the day my story. And that’s what’s cool with Zack, is that he’s actually very respectful of that. He’s actually helping me out in some ways with certain things that he’s doing with his [films] so that I can have better groundwork with the standalone Aquaman story.

Despite some of my misgivings about BvS, I’m incredibly stoked for the solo movies that are spinning out of it, and Aquaman is definitely near the top of my hype list. Especially if Wan can manage to maintain that same blend of crazy action and unexpected heart that he brought to Furious 7. Now if I only knew how they were going to tackle all the underwater scenes, because I really don’t want two hours of Jason Momoa holding his breath in murky shadows.

Aquaman was previously reported to “focus on Aquaman as a reluctant ruler of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis who is caught between land dwellers that are always polluting the globe and his own people who are ready to invade the surface,”and will also star Amber Heard as Aquaman’s queen Mera. It is scheduled for release on 27 July 2018. Aquaman will next be showing up in 2017’s Justice League- Part 1.

This article originally appeared on TheMovies.co.za 

Last Updated: March 30, 2016