Big Little Lies star Nicole Kidman is hardly starved for work these days, making her a pretty impressive catch for the new Aquaman movie (all the more if they’ve got her locked in for the film’s probable sequels). And as it turns out, Kidman’s decision to say yes to the project was based less on the DC property’s appeal and more on the man they got to helm the pic.
In an interview with Variety, Kidman admitted to being a longtime fan of James Wan, having kept track of her fellow Australian’s work since his early horror days:
“I knew James Wan was going to do something really interesting and really fun and I’ve wanted to work with him since he started out in Australia in low-budget horror, and I’ve followed his career. I do this with directors, I follow certain directors. So I’ve been following James. And then he showed me some of the drawings [he was] doing, and he said, ‘See this is why you have to be in the movie, because I’ve drawn her to look like you.’”
Kidman is far from the only cast member who wasn’t all that plugged-in to the adventures of Arthur Curry and his underwater peers prior to signing on for the film. At the movie’s Los Angeles premiere, for instance, Amber Heard confessed to being more or less oblivious to this entire section of pop culture before she joined the DCEU:
“I knew nothing about this. I knew nothing about comic books in general. I didn’t know anything about this world. What a way to be introduced, huh?”
Even Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, admitted to Variety that he “wasn’t a fan” until comic book writer Geoff Johns “kind of created this role for me.” The actor’s onscreen brother Patrick Wilson, however, at least recalled having an Arthur Curry action figure as a child, claiming, “I had many baths with Aquaman.”
All in all, the cast seems pretty new to the world of Atlantis, and the same can probably be said of much of the filmgoing public, with the latest DC solo hero lacking the name recognition of some of his fellow Justice Leaguers. Nonetheless, international audiences and critics alike have largely responded well to the character, and if the domestic box office projections are anything to go by, then North American viewers seem just as happy to give this hero a chance.
We’ll find out if Arthur and his fellow Atlanteans can leave audiences wanting more when Aquaman hits theaters on December 21st.
Published: Dec 15, 2018 11:09 am