It's been nearly four years since fans learned there would be an epic Aquaman origin story starring none other than Game of Thrones’ Jason Momoa. And for four years, audiences have been (understandably) chomping at the bit for any details they can get. While Arthur Curry and his butt-kicking partner Mera (Amber Heard) were merely introduced in 2017’s Justice League, fans have no idea about the wild, underwater journey in store for them. Luckily, this may help.
Fandango was able to visit the Aquaman set in Queensland, Australia last July, where we learned about DC Comics’ most reluctant king from Momoa, Heard, director James Wan, and more of the filmmakers.
From its totally accessible “blue-collar” protagonist to the introduction of a completely new underwater universe, Aquaman is about to serve up a totally new kind of superhero film when it premieres December 21. While Arthur sets out on a journey to discover himself and prevent the underwater and surface-land people from destroying each other, his story is unlike any other in almost every step of the way.
Check out why, below:
Introducing: Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Romancing the Stone.
These comparisons came up a ton during the set visit, when asking the filmmakers and cast about the feel and tone of the movie. In fact, it was an aspect Momoa was psyched about from the beginning. “I love Romancing the Stone. I grew up with my mother,” he said. “It’s a timeless story that’s just fun.” There are also tons of elements from the iconic Raiders and Momoa’s flattered by the comparisons. “I’ll never be anything remotely as good as Indiana Jones, but I'll sure as f-ck try,” he says. “I’ll never, ever, ever, ever be him, I love him. If we’re modeling after that, then great. I’ll do my best. It’s something good to try for.” Momoa also adds that like Star Wars, Aquaman introduces an entire new universe fans have yet to explore.
It’s purposefully different from other DC films.
Producer Peter Safran sheds some light on how James Wan and the team set out to create a totally new space for Aquaman. “When Warner Brothers and DC gave James Aquaman, he was only interested in doing it if it could be a departure from what had become the DC brand of superhero. Whether you like it or don’t, it just wasn’t how he saw Aquaman being done,” Safran reveals. He again reinforces the Romancing and Raiders analogy, saying, “Both movies have such great elements of comedy, real jeopardy, great characters, that’s what [Wan] brings to the table here.” If the comedy were comparable to any other DC film, Safran says it’d probably be Wonder Woman.
The superhero doesn’t save the girl.
Aquaman and Mera are far too busy saving the world for a romance, or what Amber Heard calls the “classic superhero formula.” But if we are getting technical, it’s really Mera who saves him, according to the actress. “They have a job to do and the driving plot isn’t their romance,” she says. “It does not rely on this whole damsel in distress formulaic thing we see all the time, that we’ve seen a million times. In fact, I save him…Mera’s her own woman. She’s her own superhero. She’s not Aquawoman. She’s Mera,” Heard says.
The actress insists that they are equal partners. Moreover, it’s Mera’s drive that motivates Arthur. “They have a job to do, they have a mission to fulfill and are equal partners in the success or failure of that mission…she has a strong sense of duty and responsibility that’s tied to Atlantis.” One simply couldn’t succeed without the other. “Where one excels in one world, the other is a fish out of water. Pun intended,” she says.
It says goodbye to the old Aquaman.
For years, Aquaman is the superhero fans have poked fun of, namely because of his ability to talk to fish (seriously, of all the superpowers?) and his goofy costume. However, this film is aware of what’s been said about Aquaman in the past and is going to prove viewers wrong. “He seems to be one of those superheroes that people do make fun of. But James [Wan] loved the idea of turning peoples’ perceptions of Aquaman on their head,” said producer Peter Safran. “He’s like, ‘Give me all the things you made fun of and I’m gonna turn it on its ear and scare the sh-t out of you with it.’”
Plus, can you really make a mockery of Jason Momoa? Absolutely not. “It’s Jason Mamoa. You can not make fun of this guy…[but] we certainly make a nod to those elements,” Safran says. “A lot of people make fun of the fact that you’ve seen images of Aquaman on a seahorse, just look at the sea dragon we’ve created.”
It has elements of a horror movie.
Although James Wan, the king of horror films, says he didn't set out to make a horror movie, it’s certainly infused with his signature elements. When discussing the camera work and aesthetic, Wan explains, “All that stuff I’m passionate about in my filmmaking, that you guys probably see in my horror films like Conjuring and Saw, I’m bringing that flavor to this as well.” And when exploring the ocean, the possibilities of Wan’s imagination are endless. “It just so happens that you’re dealing in a world that is beautiful, magical, but at the same time, scary as well,” Wan says. “People are terrified of the ocean because they don’t know what’s down there. All these creatures that are dangerous to humans. That’s one of the things I want to capture… they meet all sorts of fun creatures of the deep.”
Peter Safran points out a specifically eerie part of the movie: the trench. “That’s [Wan’s] homage to Creatures from the Black Lagoon-type scary movies,” he says. “That whole sequence is classic James Wan — from the way creatures are revealed to the action.” In fact, Safran believes Wans’ amazing repertoire has led to this moment. “What he learned from making his $1 million Saws or his $20 million Conjurings or his several hundred million dollar Fast and the Furious movies, all come to bear in this,” he says. “This has got elements of everything you’ve seen him do in the past.”
Arthur is the most anti-superhero superhero ever.
Well, at first. Momoa explains, “It’s really fun to see all of his quirkiness and his screw-ups and he’s jaded here and there - he learns so much before he actually becomes the king.” But before this “reluctant king” actually embraces his duty and potential as an heir, he’s really not into it. “He doesn’t believe in himself and nor does he give a sh-t,” Momoa says. “That’s what’s great about him - he doesn't want the responsibility."
Wan immediately saw the opportunity to make Aquaman a little more relatable than most superheroes. “He’s a guy that’s trapped between two worlds… it gives him more color than just a clean-cut superhero,” the director says. “And he’s not just out there to defeat bad guys.”
In fact, he’s “blue-collar.”
Don’t be fooled by his super intimidating stature. Arthur, in many ways, is a totally average guy, which is what Momoa loves about him. “You can’t sit down and have a beer with Superman. You know what I mean? I wanted Aquaman definitely to be that guy, he’s blue-collar,” he says. Unlike most superheroes, Aquaman doesn’t feel totally untouchable. “I wanted him blue-collar, raised with his dad, worked on bikes, worked on old cars with his father,” Momoa adds.
Once Arthur learns he’s been given a gift, it takes time for him to understand and deal with his identity, especially having parents from two different worlds. “The side of him that he can’t cope with is his human side… the Atlanteans, it’s a total different race down there,” he says. “I think what’s gonna make him a great king is that he walks those few lines and what makes him powerful and what makes him weak is that he’s human! It’s a really cool area to discover - which one is his superpower in which different world? To be human in Atlantis and to be Atlantean on the surface.”
It features our first Hawaiian superhero.
Momoa, a Hawaii native, will be the first Hawaiian superhero on the big screen, and he isn’t taking the title lightly. “That was the biggest honor when Zack [Snyder] told me,” he says. “There are so many brown-skinned kids that are gonna grow up and go, ‘Yeah, we love our god and underwater god.’ It is an absolute honor.” Beyond kicking butt on screen, he’s really making movie history. “People accept that he’s not white… it’s an honor for me to be that person. Dream job.”
More than half of the movie takes place…wait for it…underwater.
According to production designer Bill Brzeski, one of the original people signed to the project, 2/3 of the film takes place in the ocean. “It’s difficult,” he admits. “Supposedly underwater. People swimming and floating around.” And there’s a lot going on down there. If fans have noticed the “Unite the Seven” slogans on movie posters, it’s referring to Aquaman’s half-brother and King of Atlantis, Orm (Patrick Wilson), who wants to take control of the seven kingdoms under the ocean. (And by the way, they hate each other. See point below.)
There are a few different storylines going on.
There’s much more happening in Aquaman than the usual superhero-saves-the-world bit. Production designer Bill Brzeski says, surprisingly, the most prominent storyline is Aquaman and his half-brother Orm’s conflict over their mom. “Like, ‘Mom loved you best - no, she loved me best.’ All that kind of stuff,” Brzeski explains. “The brothers hate each other.” The second most significant storyline, according to Brzeski, is Aquaman’s conflict with arch nemesis Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Black Manta is out for serious revenge when Aquaman becomes the cause of his father’s death (and according to Adbul-Mateen, he’ll seriously stop at nothing). Brzeski says Manta “travels along parallel to the story.” Additionally, there’s Aquaman’s backstory, his journey to find himself and step into his role as king, as well as the war between Atlantis and the surface world. Can you keep up?
It’s reminiscent of ancient times.
Get a load of this: not only is Atlantis completely under water, it has an ancient, Game of Thrones feel. Production designer Bill Brzeski reveals what to expect in some epic battle. “There’s a full-on gladiator fight with thousands of people in a coliseum that goes back to ancient Atlantis… It’s a patriarchal society with kings and queens, kind of like Game of Thrones, which is intentional,” he says. In fact, there’s some history rooted in the film. “The Atlantean aesthetic is a Greek/Roman aesthetic,” Brzeski says. “Plato is the one who told us the story of Atlantis, it came from the Greeks… we do a little history studying in this thing. Gladiator, swords, fighting.” Brzeski is certain that Atlantis Halloween costumes will be all the rage.
The fighting seems… minimal?
The conflict and action scenes in Aquaman may be unlike what most superhero film fans are used to. “We don’t involve destroying whole countries and cities and there’s no buildings falling down,” production designer Bill Brzeski says. “We never actually get our war to New York or London or anything like that. It gets done out in the ocean, and that’s the story. There’s not tens of thousands of people being killed.” Those tridents, though, they mean business.
A costume evolution that’s crucial to the story.
Aquaman has more than one costume, which pretty much rocks. Costume Designer Kym Barrett (The Matrix) describes many of the culturally-rich, underwater looks as “James Bond under the ocean.” This certainly applies to Arthur, who gets multiple costumes throughout the movie, which coincide with his status. “In Aquaman’s final costume, it looks very similar in silhouette in color, but as you get closer, the texture is quite different,” the costume designer says. “The concept is that it becomes more like a suit of armor the closer you get rather than a skin-tight fishy suit… His costume has a transformation from the first time we see him as the King of Atlantis, through the whole evolution until he becomes Ocean Master.” The costume evolution mirrors Arthur’s epic real-life transformation into the Aquaman, with potential for even more change. “It leaves room for the next movie to evolve or change a little bit.”
Different kind of superpowers.
Director James Wan says he was adamant about making Aquaman a different kind of hero from the get go. “Something I’ve been very cautious about doing is making sure that he isn’t Superman,” Wan says. In many ways, Aquaman’s body is his superpower. “From a story standpoint, there’s a reason why Aquaman ultimately is powerful and strong is because most Atlanteans, their bodies are built to withstand… when they come up to the surface world, really strong pressure,” Wan explains. But his body can also be a weakness. “While bullets can bounce off the Man of Steel, bullets can graze these guys and maybe break their skin or flesh, but it doesn’t necessarily penetrate because of muscle mass… He can get beaten up.” Aquaman’s female counterpart Mera (Amber Heard), an Atlantean, has the ability to move water. (And yes, she’ll most definitely use it.)
Lastly, the real superhero.
Between takes, Jason Momoa, also a real-life teddybear, would casually play acoustic guitar to himself or sing the Three’s Company theme song under his breath. Could that sort of silliness be said of other real-life superheroes? Perhaps. Your move, Ben Affleck.
