Why director James Wan chose 'Aquaman' over the Flash movie
James Wan was in an enviable position when it came to entering the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The horror hitmaker and Furious 7 filmmaker confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment that he was given the choice of directing one of two standalone projects for Warner Bros.’ comic book arm: Aquaman or the upcoming solo Flash foray starring Ezra Miller.
“DC, at the time when I was talking to them about potentially coming in and playing with them in this world, they didn’t have directors yet at the time for these two particular projects,” Wan said (watch above). “So I kind of tossed those two around and decided Aquaman was more the one that was more suited to my sensibility.” (The Flash movie, which has been called both Flashpoint and The Flash, has since enlisted Spider-Man: Homecoming and Game Night writer-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who replaced Dope director Rick Famuyiwa, though production on the film has recently been delayed.)
As for why Wan went with the hulking sea warrior Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) over his lightning-fast Justice League counterpart?
“There were a few factors that I liked about this particular property,” Wan explained.
“He’s never really been done before, right? At that time, like three years ago, Justice League and [Batman v Superman] hadn’t come out yet, so he’s never been depicted on the big screen or the small screen before. We’d seen the Flash on the small screen twice already I think, so there was something kind of cool about doing a superhero who’d never been done before. So that was very exciting for me.
“And also the idea of taking on this character that has been made fun of a lot in pop culture. And I loved the idea of taking this guy that people like to make fun of and turning that on its head.”
What Wan never considered was doing both.
“I didn’t want to do both,” he said laughing. “It’s tough enough doing just one.”
Aquaman opens Friday. The Flash is slated for release in 2020, though reports suggest it could be later.
Watch Jason Momoa talk about getting to rock the classic Aquaman costume:
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