James Wan On The Importance Of Love & Family In ‘Aquaman’

Aquaman Nicole Kidman Queen Atlanna

James Wan’s Aquaman may be a superhero movie, but he promises there’s a lot more going on than just heroes fighting villains. During a recent visit to the editing bay, the director promised his movie is full of adventure, comedy and romance.

Audiences will finally learn a bit more about Aquaman’s past as he embarks on his first solo journey, including who his parents are.

“The most important thing, I’ve said this many times and it’s something I truly believe in, it’s not just a love story between Arthur and Mera, it’s a love story between mom and dad and how even though they have nothing in common so to speak, she’s the Queen of Atlantis and he’s a lighthouse keeper, a surface dweller, but the love that they have for each other is what creates this boy who will grow up to become Aquaman, and I think that’s super important. And I needed that, and yes, I put a lot of inspiration from the New 52, but the mother character was always super integral to the story I wanted to tell.”

In Wan’s opinion, Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna is “super important” to Arthur’s journey throughout the film. Their love story serves as the “emotional backbone for the movie” and it contributes to Arthur’s “bitter outlook on the world of Atlantis” due to an incident that takes place in his childhood.

“Atlanna tells Tom that ‘one day I’ll be back, just wait for me here’ kind of stuff and every day dad, for the next 20 or 30 years of his life, he gets up every morning and goes to the end of the dock just hoping she will come back. And I love that because it really plays into the bitter sweet romantic nature of it, and this movie at the end of the day is very classic, action-adventure, like a romance, it’s a very classic romance adventure story. It’s first and foremost that I think more so than even a superhero story.”

With Atlantis potentially proposing war against the surface under the tyrannical King Orm, Arthur’s half-brother played by Patrick Wilson, the fact that Aquaman is a bi-product of both words will be imptant throughout the movie.

“I think it’s very evident that it’s a forbidden love so to speak. And it’s definitely very relevant to the times we live in. It really is about two different races coming together and through them they create this guy. And that’s why Momoa’s character starts off in the movie not quite feeling like he fits in, he doesn’t feel like he fits in with the surface world or the underwater world. And that’s something that Jason has always felt growing up”

Directed by James Wan from a script written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall, the film stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm/Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as David Kane/Black Manta and Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna.

Aquaman opens in theaters on December 21, 2018.