Director James Wan has deliberately been withholding footage from ‘Aquaman’ until the VFX are ready, so as not to have a ‘Venom’ situation where Sony released a trailer for the Tom Hardy ‘Spider-Man’-spinoff in which the titular villain, which will be largely crafted digitally, never even appeared. The fans took notice and the trailer was trashed all over social media. But with ‘Aquaman”s release growing closer every day, it’s time that fans get a glimpse at what’s in store.
Entertainment Weekly is offering two alternate ‘Aquaman’ covers to its newest issue. The first features a closeup of star Jason Momoa, while the other shows Momoa with co-stars Nicole Kidman as his mother Queen Atlanna and Amber Heard as love interest Mera.
The issue itself will dive into the deep in to provide a more in-depth look at the movie than we’ve gotten before, but to tease that, EW has released a few tidbits from the article.
First of all, they don’t shy away from the fact that in many ways, ‘Aquaman’ will be swimming upstream. It’s the first DC Universe movie after ‘Justice League’ (in which Momoa also appeared as Aquaman), the least successful DC film yet, and it stars a character that spent decades being mocked after his milquetoast depiction on the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon series. It seems that Wan is acknowledging that reputation and even takes it on head first. There is a tease that in the film, Momoa will be seen riding a “sea dragon.” Other Atlanteans will be seen riding great white sharks and giant octopi.
Among the other underwater wonders that will be shown in this “fantasy film” are seven underwater kingdoms and the Trench, terrifying underwater cannibals that appeared in the New 52 relaunch of the ‘Aquaman’ comic book– a storyline that was seemingly written to be adapted to a film.
As Wan revealed:
“The water world my movie takes place in is so separate and so far apart from previous DC movies it’s like I’m making my own sci-fi fantasy film. This is a whole new underwater world nobody has seen before in live action.”
Helping ‘Aquaman’ move past his mild past is the casting of hulking Jason Momoa as the title character. Not only does this take on Arthur Curry look more like his grittier ’90s “hook hand” depiction, but personality-wise borrows from John DiMaggio’s boisterous Sea King from ‘Batman: The Brave & The Bold’. (DiMaggio cited Brian Blessed’s Prince Vultan from ‘Flash Gordon’ as an inspiration.)
As executive producer Peter Safran stated:
“Rarely has a superhero character been married to the real-life actor as much as Aquaman and Jason Momoa. He’s authentically from two worlds, he’s this real physical specimen, he’s got this humor which he’s never been allowed to play before — in every regard he is Aquaman.”
Though ‘Justice League’ wasn’t a huge hit at the box office, those that saw it generally reacted favorably to Momoa’s Aquaman. Aquaman hasn’t gotten a lot of love over the years– he is often left out of licensed merchandise, in favor of Green Lantern and The Flash. And the DC movies are floundering a bit. But perhaps this movie, like ‘Wonder Woman’, can differentiate itself and rise above the quagmire of the DC film universe.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to ‘Aquaman’? If so, the film opens on December 21, 2018.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
