With work on Aquaman now complete, it appears as if we're finally getting some solid intel about the DC Comics adaptation from director James Wan. As you can see below, it seems as if this standalone adventure for Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry will last for over two hours and twenty minutes, a solid running time which definitely inspires confidence in the movie.
After all, Justice League clocked in at only two hours, while Suicide Squad (another movie with a troubled production) wasn't much longer. Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, on the other hand, were each over two hours and twenty minutes, while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a rather bloated two and a half hours!
With the premiere for Aquaman set to take place later this month, we probably don't have too much longer to wait until we get some official reactions from critics, not to mention reviews (assuming Warner Bros. is confident in what Wan has delivered). As always, stay tuned for additional updates and let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
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some huge Aquaman reveals from Total Film Magazine!
The Challenges Of Bringing *That* Suit To The Big Screen
In what has to be one of the worst kept secrets of all-time, the five-minute sneak peek for Aquaman finally confirmed that Arthur Curry will be donning the classic gold and green costume from the comic books. So, just how challenging was that to bring to the big screen?
"It took a long time designing it," director James Wan explains. "The suit is kind of campy... So I'm like, 'How do I make it cool for today's audience?' The other thing I wanted to get right, too, is his classic weapon, his trident. I wanted to make sure that it's actually a trident."
Jason Momoa concurs, adding that he's confident the studio has brought the suit of life in an effective manner and that fans will be pleased. "It's a hard suit to pull off. He's been literally ridiculed his whole career. I feel like the real die-hard Aquaman fans are going be like, 'Yes!'"
Is Aquaman Really A "Bridge" Movie To The New DCEU?
In the past, Aquaman has been described by studio execs as a "bridge" movie to a new take on the DC Extended Universe which means that the pressure is on this undersea adventure to set the stage for, well, pretty much everything that comes next.
"DC gets bashed on a lot...you know Justice League, what happened there," Jason Momoa notes. "I just feel like, if it is [a bridge], then great. I just think it's a great story. It's definitely colourful. We're underwater. It's a world we've never seen before. If that's what it takes to bridge it? [frick]. Put it on my back. I'll guess I'll help everyone if you need me!"
Don't Expect Any DC Crossovers
Rumour has it that Warner Bros. wanted Superman to make an appearance in Shazam! so were any attempts made to include an A-List member of the Justice League in Aquaman? Well, James Wan has made it clear that this is a standalone adventure which won't make any use of characters like Batman and Wonder Woman for a very good reason.
"It's literally a standalone movie. Not because I wasn't open to the idea of potentially another character from the bigger universe, but it just so happens that the roads that these characters go on are not associated with any of the other superhero characters. I keep saying that it would be weird to see Batman in Atlantis, or even Superman for that matter. Wonder Woman might be the only one that feels like they can belong, that they're siblings of some kind. But no, and that's the best way. This way, I can tell my own story and not be affected by what they're doing over there and they're not affected by what I'm doing over here. But we all live in the same space."
James Wan's Ideas For The Sequel
It's way too soon to say whether or not we'll get an Aquaman sequel, especially as there's no way of knowing whether or not moviegoers will respond positively to the DC Comics adaptation. Despite that, director James Wan is understandably already mulling over some ideas for where things can go next for the King of Atlantis.
"There's definitely stories, even within the world we've created, that you can actually see other storylines [spinning off from] as well," he teases. "There's the Aquaman story, but then there's the stories of the seven different kingdoms as well. I think those would be very fun to explore." Chances are that means we'll only get a glimpse of them in this first chapter.
Jason Momoa Has His Own Ideas About What Comes Next
"I definitely have an opinion," the actor confirmed when asked about Aquaman's future on the big screen. "Even when we were shooting Aquaman, I have the opening of Aquaman 2 ready. I went in and pitched it to Peter Safran, and I pitched it to Toby Emmerich. They loved it. It's awesome... But yeah, I have plans for Aquaman 2."
These ideas presumably line up with what Wan is planning as previous reports have pointed to them getting on well and it's hard to imagine creative differences leading to some sort of split, Deadpool 2 style (which reportedly saw Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds clash over the direction the sequel should be taken in).
Don't Expect To Spend Much Time On Dry Land
Bringing Atlantis to life was surely a difficult (and extremely costly) task but director James Wan has confirmed that the vast majority of the movie is going to take place away from the surface world.
"I didn't want it to take place in our world for very much. When it takes place in our world, I want it to be something you don't go to all the time. There's a big set-piece that takes place in a small fishing village off the coast of Sicily. It's not stuff that we see every day. So even that has a heightened romantic quality to it. I really wanted that magic and wonderment, with just that sense of nautical romance in there."
Black Manta's Motivations
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be taking on the role of Black Manta in Aquaman but the actor was quick to make it known that he doesn't believe moviegoers will necessarily hate the villain; instead, he's hoping that they'll be able to relate to his quest for revenge against Arthur Curry.
"I think if I do my job well, people will understand that there's a method behind his approach, and that's rooted in something real," the actor explains. "He's not a guy who has a devious plot to take over the world. He's a guy who's out to get revenge, and I think a very relatable revenge. People will definitely be able to get behind his cause."
How Patrick Wilson Prepared For Playing Ocean Master
"I just wanted to be as 'opposite' to Jason as I could be," the Watchmen star says when asked what he did to prepare for playing Aquaman's nemesis in this movie. "I wanted to get bigger. I wanted to get in shape and be a formidable opponent to Jason. I can't do much about my height, but I can certainly go to the gym, and eat, and gain whatever it was: 15, 20lb. I wanted to do that."
Amber Heard's Chemistry With Jason Momoa
"Amber just really hit it off with Jason," explains director James Wan. "She understood his sense of humour, his goofiness. He's sort of brash, as well. And she stands up to that. She's not intimidated by that. And that's what I wanted with this. She doesn't need saving. If anything, she's the one who saves him, because doesn't quite understand that world."
Donning Black Manta's Costume
Much to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Aquaman's version of Black Manta is decked out in a comic accurate costume which homages to the source material in a way that most movies wouldn't dare. That's been well-received by fans but what was it like for Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to have to suit up in such a cumbersome looking costume?
"The Black Manta costume: you put it on, and you're immediately indestructible," he says. "I felt like I could run through walls. I felt like I could break stuff. It's so powerful. You can understand how this guy could give a guy like Aquaman a run for his money."
What Drew James Wan To Aquaman
Director James Wan was offered the opportunity to take the helm of either Aquaman or The Flash for Warner Bros. but he chose the former and has now explained what drew him to the project.
"[The] more I thought about it, the biggest thing that struck me at the time was the fact that we've seen incarnations of the Flash on TV and stuff like that, but we've never really seen an Aquaman movie at all. That part got me very excited. I feel like the landscape is quite littered with a lot of superhero movies, and the opportunities to do something that feels different and looks different, that one has really seen before - it felt like the freshest path into the superhero world."
Jason Momoa Sees Himself In Aquaman
"I think Aquaman definitely has a lot of me," the actor explained when asked about what he thinks he brings to a character like Arthur Curry. "I'm not that jaded, but he's definitely ornery and playful and likes beer! He's a bit of a smartass. We obviously have a lot of hair." So, it seems as if this version of the DC Comics superhero was very much written with Momoa in mind in many ways.
What Drew Amber Heard To The Role Of Mera
Amber Heard has said on a number of occasions that she agreed to play Mera because it's a very different sort of female character to what we've seen in the genre before now and adds: "I was interested because I heard it was a warrior queen. To play an action superhero, not a damsel, not a love interest who needs to be saved, but to truly play a superhuman in her own right, was appealing."
The Actors Weren't Allowed To Sweat
"It was so ironic," says director James Wan, "when we had to shoot the scenes where the actors are supposed to be underwater but we're shooting it dry-for-wet against a bluescreen, we have to make sure they cannot sweat. When they start to look glossy, it looks like we shot them on dry land."
How Seeing The Movie Made Jason Momoa Feel
Aquaman star Jason Momoa has seen plenty of footage from the movie he stars in (obviously) but when asked what he thought about how the DC Comics adaptation has turned out, he made a comparison to a technologically groundbreaking - and visually unique - movie in the form of Avatar.
"I hate comparing things to it, but when I watched Avatar - and it's not Avatar, and I don't want to be like that - but when I watched it, I felt like that. Or how I felt when I watched Indiana Jones and Star Wars, and there's little things in it - the essence. But it's also its own new world."
Vulko's Role In The Story
Willem Dafoe returns to the world of superhero movies with Aquaman and when he was asked what we can expect from Vulko, the actor revealed that not only is he caught in the middle between Arthur Curry and Orm but he was blown away by the use of visual effects during the course of production.
"He's an advisor to King Orm, and he's also a mentor to Aquaman. You could look at a monitor that was filming in a greenscreen room, with all these elements covered with green fabric and all these reference points, and then you could go to the monitor and see the completed set, but in a rendering that was laid over the live scene. So that was sometimes very helpful. So when you're on this big object that's moving around on the gimbal that's supposed to be a shark - you could actually go to the monitor and see the size of the shark you're on."
What To Expect From The Villainous Orm
In the comics, Orm is a character who has been portrayed in both heroic and villainous lights, with his darker impulses often leading to him going head to head with Aquaman. In this movie, it sounds like he'll be a full-on bad guy but Patrick Wilson was quick to point out that we should be able to relate to his motivations here.
"[Orm's] got a chip on his shoulder but it's very easy for me to look at a guy defending his world that's been polluted and destroyed, and he can't do anything about it... You definitely want people to understand where he's coming from. It doesn't matter if you like him. I don't care if you like him. But you'll understand."
That Armour Is As Uncomfortable As It Looks
It's become clear that Arthur Curry will be wearing quite a few different costumes in Aquaman with one of them set to be a ceremonial armour of sorts in which he does battle with Orm.
"This was hell...none of it's comfortable, that why it looks amazing," Jason Momoa jokes. "If you look in here, this just rubs everywhere on you. And then if you have [fake] tattoos on, the costume rubs everything off." That's still probably better than shooting underwater, eh?
It's Jason Momoa's Time To Shine
We first caught a glimpse of Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and after appearing in Justice League, Aquaman marks the first solo adventure in which he'll finally receive the spotlight to himself.
Asked how it feels to be suiting up as the DC Comics character in this adventure, Momoa responded: "Just completely stoked. It's been six years since Zack called me into his office... Now I'm finally here and it's all mine, and it's phenomenal."
Oh, and if you're thinking that director James Wan is intimidated by directing the formidable looking actor, guess again!"I've directed The Rock and Vin Diesel, so Jason is a piece of cake. He's easy."
Working With James Wan
Here's where we get into spoiler territory. When asked what it was like to work alongside James Wan, Jason Momoa had nothing but nice things to say but noted that the filmmaker shoots a lot of takes. "Nicole Kidman had to wear some pretty gnarly outfit in some pretty cold conditions, soaked to the bone, and do scenes with me over and over. James definitely likes to do a lot of takes..."
That probably means we'll get a lot of alternate takes but what's really interesting about this is the fact Jason Momoa will end up sharing scenes with Nicole Kidman's Queen Atlanna, a sign that she must still be alive in the present day.