‘Aquaman’ Director On The Trench: ‘You Can’t Take The Horror Out Of The Boy’

Aquaman James Wan The Trench

Aquaman director James Wan sat down with us to discuss how he added his horror elements to the barbaric creatures of The Trench.

James Wan is a horror genius who is stepping into different genres of film and conquering them. Wan’s first big move from horror was Furious 7 and that was a huge success both at the box office and critically. Now, Wan is setting his sights on one of the biggest superheroes of all time, Aquaman, and he’s definitely bringing some of his horror elements with him.

Aquaman is making its way into theaters in about two weeks and the cast and director are doing a press run to promote the film. We got a chance to sit down with Wan to discuss one of the really scary aspects of the film, The Trench, and boy, oh boy, did they have this writer jump out of his seat.

Q: “My favorite scene in the film is the scene with the Trench. I thought that the entire scene with the flare was visually stunning, but the creatures of the Trench made jump out of my seat. So, my question is… with this being an action adventure film mostly marketed towards children, did you always intend on them being as frightening?”

James Wan: “I definitely wanted it to be a four quadrant family movie. It’s a movie that’s good for mom and dad, teenagers, college kids and for young kids as well because I think kids love sharks, kids love the magical world of Atlantis, but of course you know, I joke that you can take the boy out of horror but can’t take the horror out of the boy. So, it’s always that part of me that loves to make a tribute to that world. But, also, it was a part of the comic book as well and it’s part of the hero’s journey that eventually I wanted them to kind of cross into the kingdoms of the Trench because I think they’re such interesting, fascinating sea creatures and it’s one of the really cool creations by Geoff Johns that I wanted to make sure was in this film.”

Wan then went on to describe how they shot the boat scene with the flar that you see in the trailer:

“The boat was basically built on a giant gimble on a soundstage and we just sort of pummeled it with tons of water and huge water cannons and obviously visual effects come in to add in the ocean and stuff like that. It’s a pretty precarious sort of sequence just because of how much the boat rocks and stuff like that and how slippery and wet it gets.”

Are you excited to see The Trench in Aquaman? Sound off in the comments section below!

Directed by James Wan, Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm / Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as Nereus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Ludi Lin as Captain Murk, and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an action-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, “Aquaman,” starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be… a king.

Aquaman will be released in theaters on December 21, 2018.

Nathaniel Brail

Nathaniel Brail

Running things at HH. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @NateBrail