James Wan Talks About Character Development, Technology Advancements, and Adding Horror Elements for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom releasing in Malaysian cinemas soon, we got to catch up with director James Wan in a press conference regarding the movie.

Differences in the Movies

For fans of the first Aquaman movie, they might be wondering what’s the main difference that sets that apart from the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom movie.

“The biggest difference I would say is the growth of Aquaman himself.”

James mentions that in the first movie, Aquaman was alone and he was trying to fit in and find his place in the world and ultimately becoming the King of Atlantis. However, that was all there was to it.

In the upcoming second chapter, James continues by saying that the really fun part is that fans get to see what happens next after Aquaman finally becomes the King of Atlantis, as well as his new responsibilities of being a dad and a husband.

Character Development

Since Aquaman is taking center stage once again in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, we were curious to see what other changes and character development that we can expect in the movie.

To which James replied by saying that the biggest thing for Aquaman in the movie is that he’s still continuing the journey and him being reluctant of taking the role of a King, and he only does it because it prevents Atlantis from attacking the surface world.

“He feels like he has a responsibility and duties to both worlds. But it’s not really a job that he really wants to do.” said James.

A lot of times in the movie, Aquaman tells the audiences that sometimes you have to do the things that you don’t particularly want to do, and have to get up and do it again the next day even if it’s not what you like to do. That’s what it means to be a King and a Hero, where you have to make those tough choices.

James continues by saying that Aquaman will be going on his journey with his brother Orm Marius, played by Patrick Wilson, and together they will learn about each other and how to be better people.

Technological Advancements

Considering the first Aquaman movie was released 5 years ago back in 2018, we were curious to know if there were any technology advancements that helped James create this sequel.

“Oh yes, definitely. To create the actors swimming underwater in the first movie, the actors were all harnessed in really awkward and uncomfortable rigs. But you know, it’s been 3-5 years later, so technology has grown dramatically, and now I don’t have to put my actors through so much torturous pain.”

James mentions he would put actors into a booth where there’s like hundreds of cameras filming them, and he would capture their performances and overlay them back onto a 3D version of themselves.

“That’s how we can recreate that swimming and moving all that and it’s really cool and great. It’s like working with the actors but also mixing in virtual filmmaking at the same time.”

Adding Horror Elements

As someone who is responsible for many people’s sleepless nights from his movies, we wondered if there were any horror elements that James had injected into Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

“I would say that I find myself naturally inclined to leaning towards the scary stuff, and even when I’m not making my scary movies, I do find myself leaning towards that.” replied James.

With Aquaman, considering the movie deals with the ocean, there are two things for James. While on one hand, it can be very magical and wondrous, but on the other hand it can be very scary and since there are lots of people who are terrified of the ocean, James tried to play to both sides.

Choosing a Superpower

As a fun change of pace from asking specific questions regarding Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, we wanted to know which superpower James would pick between: Hydrokinesis or Talking to fishes.

“That’s a very good question, I know talking to fish sounds pretty lame, but that’s what people always make fun of Aquaman ‘Oh his power is talk to fish.’. But imaging if you are in the Ocean, and a shark comes your way. How incredible would it be if you could communicate with this dangerous creature? Right? Like, you can kind of, like, befriend it to tell it not to eat you. That’ll be pretty amazing.”

James continued saying that there’s something really cool about connecting with the rest of the planet and the creatures living in the ocean. However, James did mention that when it comes to a fight, Hydrokinesis is the better option.

James had also joked about saying that Hyrdokinesis would be very useful in Malaysia considering it rains so much, and there’s so much water that you can create a bridge over traffic jams.

Local Superhero Movies

There’s been recent a growth of superhero movies in the Malaysian Film Industry, like with Keluang Man which is Malaysia’s superhero character spin on Batman. To end off the session, James gave a few words of advice to local filmmakers on how to make a successful superhero movie.

“I would say from my own experience of tackling a superhero film, find what is unique about your character. Don’t try to copy Superman or Batman or whatever else that we see out there. Find what it is that inspired you about this character or characters and lean into that.” said James.

He continued saying that there’s a lot of superhero movies out there, but it’s the unique and special ones that cut through the rest.

” All good superhero stories have a message and so just don’t forget to tell your message.”

We would like to thank James Wan for taking the time to answer our questions, and we would also like to extend our thanks to Warner Bros Malaysia for setting up the press conference.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will air in Malaysian cinemas on 20th December 2023.

Join Us!