Though he’s ventured outside the horror genre here and there, it’s fair to say that when one hears the name of James Wan, movies such as Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring spring to mind. But now that he’s ready to unleash Aquaman on the masses, odds are he’s going to earn some serious cred with the superhero-loving community.
Funny enough, he very nearly built a bridge between the two worlds.
As you may have heard, Wan had been interested in helming a Batman horror movie, which definitely would’ve put a different spin on the timeless icon – at least in the live action realm. Really, there are various ways you could approach that: a filmmaker could either portray the Dark Knight as a fearsome force of nature, or adapt something like Red Rain, an Elseworlds comic book which saw him become a vampire.
Recently, Wan appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he admitted to being very serious about such a project for a hot minute:
“It was kind of real for like two seconds. It wasn’t something I was necessarily going to ultimately pursue. I didn’t pursue just because I felt like, you know, there’s been a lot of Batman stories. Which is great, I’m a big fan of the Batman world and the Batman character and I think there are great filmmakers that are going to come in and do great things with this character. I just ultimately decided that it probably wasn’t for me.”
On the one hand, it would’ve been cool to see what Wan could’ve added to Batman’s legacy. But on the other, a movie focused on the exploits of Arthur Curry is long overdue. In the end, I’m glad with the decision he made.
If early word of mouth is any indicator, Wan’s first contribution to DC’s onscreen pantheon is proving to be a hit overseas, not to mention winning over some critics closer to home. As a longtime fan of the character, this is the kind of stuff I’d like to hear.
Aquaman opens in theaters on December 21st. For more, be sure to check out our review.