For fans of comics, Aquaman has always been a well-respected mainstay in the DC lore. For many who are unfamiliar with the hero, however, he is often seen as laughable upon first glance, with his name and ability to communicate with sea life often being mocked by those without prior knowledge of the character's stories or history. This subject was recently explored in the New 52 comics reboot of the character, in which writer Geoff Johns made a deliberate effort to reinvigorate the character with the readers who may have considered th character a walking joke. Director James Wan hopes to bring this same sensibility when he brings the character to the big screen in 2018.
In an interview with CBR News, Wan cited Johns' work as an inspiration, and seemed very excited to be a part of subverting Aquaman's status as a punchline while doing something that's never really been seen before in the superhero movie sector. "I'm a big fan of what Geoff Johns did with his new take on 'Aquaman,' with the New 52. I think for the first time, we get to see Aquaman as a superhero that definitely isn't the butt of superhero jokes, right? I think that there's something very exciting about that. I actually do think there's something kind of fun, as well, to take a character where people don't quite know what to expect from him, or rather the expectation of him is quite low. I always say, it's very difficult when you're tackling something like 'Spider-Man' or 'Batman' that has been done so many times before. Whereas, it's actually really refreshing to take on something like 'Aquaman,' that no one has really seen before in this context, and make it your own."
Of course, much of Aquaman is expected to be set deep in the ocean, which presents a major challenege when filming. When asked how prepared he was for the task of shooting on or under water, Wan was humourously dour. "I will answer that with this little anecdote from The Conjuring 2. We have a sequence in the movie where the set is flooded, it's waterlogged, and there's a lot of rain in this movie. Every time I'm out in the rain, and I'm in this sunken, flooded set, the only thing that's going through my brain is, 'F*ck, I have to put up with this for an entire movie. This is going to suck.' I'll leave it at that -- how's that?"
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