Willem Dafoe Explains Aquaman’s Horror Influences

Australia’s famous Gold Coast has been playing host to Aquaman for the past few months, and during that time, budding DC fans have largely been kept in the loop thanks to a steady stream of set photos, not to mention those leaked videos showcasing Jason Momoa’s King of the Seven (and his co-stars!) in action.

Behind the lens for this one is James Wan, the esteemed filmmaker and all-around horror maestro who first made a name for himself through micro-budget scarefests in the vein of The Conjuring and Insidious. It didn’t take long before Hollywood executives took notice of Wan’s immense talent, though – Universal appointed him at the helm of Furious 7, which became the first entry in the petrolhead saga to cruise past $1 billion at the global box office.

The director has a great deal of experience in the blockbuster genre, then, and for Aquaman, he’s ready to up the ante. On board to help him achieve that vision – a vision that will purportedly portray Arthur Curry’s origin story as a family saga – are among others, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko. No stranger to comic book movies, the actor recently spoke with Collider and had the following to say about how Wan’s horror background has influenced the film.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a horror movie aficionado, but I appreciate them. Those directors in particular, James Wan, when you see his horror movies, you know there is a director there and that was very appealing and evident on Aquaman.”

Continuing on, he said:

“You see a kind of discipline, a kind of precision in viewing his films and being on set; he’s very precise and aware of storytelling tricks. He knows film language, [Sam] Raimi knew film language. They came from modest, low-budget movie that you could tell these stories differently. Horror is a really good platform to mold these guys with good film language; it’s a good genre to strut their stuff. And superhero films is a good place to strut those horror influences, I think.”

Filming on Warner Bros. and James Wan’s Aquaman is expected to continue through until the end of the month, at which point DC fans will be within touching distance of Justice League. It’ll bring about our first true look at the rightful Atlantean King in action across both land and sea, and with Wan promising to keep CGI to a minimum for Arthur Curry’s solo outing, December 21st, 2018 can’t come soon enough.