Jason Momoa on Taking Responsibility for ‘Aquaman’ Character

Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is getting even more of the spotlight in his upcoming solo film, and Momoa isn’t taking that lightly.

Momoa spoke to press at the Aquaman set visit about the responsibility he feels in regards to the character and the fans who have waited so long to see him really fleshed out on the big screen.

“I think it’s your responsibility as an actor on any role, to take it and add your certain flavor to it, you know what I mean? I’m just adding as much as I can,” Momoa said. “I mean, I don’t know what it’s like to be king of my own house, you know what I mean? [laughs] Just sitting in your imagination trying to figure out…you do as much research as you can. I tell you what, that definitely running through Hall H made me feel like a king. I’ve never actually run, I felt like a gladiator or a boxer-I mean, that’s probably why they don’t run to the stage. I had like such an adrenaline dump when I got there, I was like, ‘Ahhhhhh!’. I can’t talk, so I’m just gonna, ‘Ahhhhh, this is amazing!’”

“I’m a big fan too. So, you just geek out,” Momoa said. “I can’t believe I’m running through, y’know, six thousand people with a trident over my head barefoot, I mean- check that off the f*****’ bucket list. [laughs] No one else is ever gonna do that again. I take those moments like that and there’s gonna be a great moment-my character really hasn’t gotten to the point of where he’s the king yet, so it’s really fun to see all of his quirkiness and his screw-ups and his jaded here-and-there and he’s gonna learn so much before he actually does become the king, we haven’t got there yet. It’s gonna be fun to see him as a king and really take that on, y’know. We can hear all certain things in our life, it’s just the moment we’re really ready to hear them. Your parents can tell you all kinds of stuff until you actually go through it. So, I think from his Mom to his Dad to Vulko to his girl, Mera, I think once everyone-he’s heard these things, but it’s the moment that he stands alone and they live within him and he goes from being a man to a king. That’s the beautiful, that’s the one thing I love about this story.”

Momoa also has fun with the convention crowd and doesn’t really worry about sticking to the script too much.

“I kind of feel like they know what they’re gonna get with me and I feel like if they were really worried about something they would definitely warn me ahead of time,” Momoa said. “So, generally when I’m really quiet it’s gonna be boring and I’ve been warned not to say certain things and that’s what the interview will be. But, if you don’t warn me, then I’m just gonna kinda be me. So, I feel like if they did go, ‘shame on you’, I’m like, ‘the fuck did you think was gonna happen?’ People wait days-forever-to get into Hall H and you just want me to sit there and go, ‘I don’t know where [Superman] is. Where could he be?’

While Momoa’s Aquaman is a series guy at times, he’s still someone you would want to kick back and have a beer with, something you can’t do with the other Leaguers.

“Oh, absolutely,” Momoa said. “I think I wanted to make him that way. I think that’s why they kind of hired me to play the role. I mean, he’s serious, but he’s just jaded. He’s just seen so much and he doesn’t really trust anyone. I think it’s all about building the trust and that’s the whole Justice League thing-just being the team. I think, I definitely want him to be…you can’t sit down and have a beer with Superman, you know what I mean? You can’t. There are things you can do with Batman that you can’t do with…I wanted Aquaman definitely to be that guy that, he’s blue collar.”

“I mean the whole thing about him, I wanted himblue collar,” Momoa said. “He’s raised with his dad, worked on bikes, worked on old cars with his father and at a certain age he’s given this gift. He doesn’t know how to deal with it. His dad doesn’t want him in the water, ’cause he doesn’t want him taken away. The only thing he does know is that his mother was killed. He wants nothing to do with these people. F****** hates ’em. And, I wanted to see what kinds of jobs he did when he left his dad’s house, y’know, working on big oil rigs. He can go underneath and he saved people and he hasn’t saved people. And the side he can’t cope with is his human side. That’s what makes him great. That’s what’s gonna make him a great king is his humanity.”

That humanity will be extremely important when dealing with the Atlanteans, whose culture is very different from humans.

“The Atlanteans are very…it’s a totally different race down there and how they treat people,” Momoa said. “And so, I think what’s gonna make him a great king is that he walks those two lines and what makes him powerful and what makes him weak is that he’s human and what makes him powerful and what makes him the greatest king ever is that he’s human with his Atlantean. So, it’s a really cool area to discover, like, which one is a superpower and which different role-to be human and Atlantean and to be Atlantean and surface. And so, him just, like, having his loss, he drinks. He’ll cover up those things. He doesn’t want to talk about it. I mean, Zack [Snyder] was really clear on, like, ‘I want Outlaw Josey Wales, I want the outsider, I want more than Batman the loner.’ But, he was great with people that were just living the tides and in these far off little villages and these people just accepted him. He lived in and was with more on the side of the people, so you find him in these remote spots.”

Aquaman lands in theaters on Friday, December 21st.