James Wan Explains Why Shooting AQUAMAN is "Super Complicated" and "Technically Challenging"

In a recent interview with director James Wan, he talks about the production of Aquaman. He talks about why it's a "super complicated" shoot and also talks about how he ended up casting Dolph Lundgren. 

One of the main reasons that I'm excited about this Aquaman film is the fact that Wan is the guy behind the camera. He's one of my favorite filmmakers, and if anyone could make an amazing Aquaman movie, it's him. It doesn't come without its challenges, though! This has been a hard film for Wan to work on because of all the water. He explains:

"It's a very technically challenging shoot to be on. Working with water, and even the dry-for-wet sequences are very complex. … Our equivalent of two people sitting around chatting in the underwater world is super complicated. You have to think about CG with the hair, and how their clothing moves, how are they floating, what kind of rig we put them on and all that stuff."

These challenges are kind of self-inflicting, though. Why? Because Wan is committed to shooting as much as the film as possible with the real actors. He doesn't want the CG to take over the film. 

"That just makes it very difficult and time-sucking and time-challenging to do all of this. So it's not an easy shoot — but hopefully it will pay off in spades down the line."

I can totally appreciate that. The fruits of his and his crew's labor will pay off in the end. I love it when directors opt to shoot films the hard way to give audiences a better movie going experience. 

He then goes on to reveal how Dolph Lundgren ended up being cast as King Nereus in the film saying:

"When I was in the process of writing this character [King Nereus] in the world of Aquaman, a friend of mine, [director] Mike Mendez, was working with him on one of his films, and Mike was just raving about how great Dolph was. And I thought 'Oh my god, Dolph would be great for this role as well!' So it kinda came about from that roundabout way."

He went on to say that Lundgren has a "regal" quality that makes him perfect for the part, and complimented his acting:

"He's a really strong actor. I don't think anyone gives him enough credit for how serious he actually takes his craft. He's taking it very seriously on this film."

Regardless of the difficult shoot, Wan is excited about Aquaman. I think fans are as well, especially after the success of Wonder Woman.

Aquaman is set for release on December 21, 2018.

Source: THR