Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa has opened up on how director Zack Snyder cast him to play the King of Atlantis in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The actor stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night to promote the second season of his Netflix series Frontier when he was asked about the struggle he went through to find other work in Hollywood following his role as Khal Drogo in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Momoa explained that many didn’t think he spoke English but it was Snyder’s love of Game of Thrones that got him a call to come in and audition for Batman:
“That whole audition process is pretty crazy. Zack was a huge fan of Game of Thrones. A lot of people are huge fans of Game of Thrones. Zack was the one that… I couldn’t get a job and Zack called me in. He was a huge fan and he wanted to take Aquaman and… It was funny because I had no idea what I was even playing. He just called me in. I had an audition for Batman. Obviously, Ben was cast. I was like, ‘I’m just basically gonna be the bad guy. I’m gonna fight Batman and Superman. I’m gonna play the villain.’ And he’s like, ‘Wait, no. Aquaman!’”
After his introduction in Batman v Superman, Momoa shared the screen with the stars of DC’s current cinematic universe in Justice League and will next be seen later this year in James Wan’s standalone Aquaman film which has been described as a swashbuckling action-adventure.
Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, Amber Heard as Mera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Patrick Wilson as Orm Marius/Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as Nereus, Temuera Morrison as Thomas Curry, Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna, and Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko.
Aquaman is currently slated to hit theaters on December 21, 2018.
