Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Director James Wan Denies Rumors of Behind-the-Scenes Chaos

The filmmaker says he would still do a third Aquaman movie if asked.

By Russ Burlingame

James Wan, director of both Aquaman films, is pushing back against reports that the production on the sequel was a disaster. The filmmaker told Empire magazine (in its upcoming episode, which features Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on the cover) that he believes news organizations are going for drama and traffic, but that the reports don't reflect his experience on the movie. Among other things, Wan says he had a good deal of creative control, suggesting that there were no serious issues with the film's reshoots, which he said took place over a long period of time, but really only amounted to a couple of work weeks all told.

Recent reports suggested that the movie has struggled with test audiences, that they have had to do numerous rounds of reshoots, and that conflicts between stars Jason Momoa and Amber Heard made for a pretty toxic working environment. Wan rejects all of that, saying that he struggles not to publicly correct bad reporting.

"I've had to learn to be more Zen in dealing with all the noise around me, for sure," James Wan told Empire magazine. "I'm a pretty private person. I don't get on social media and have fights, but it's difficult because this narrative has emerged that is not the reality. The noise is fun to write about, and it gets clicks, but people don't know the truth."

During the course of making Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, DC has been in a state of seemingly-constant chaos. Halfway through, James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the studio, and started charting out a new direction for the brand as a whole. According to Wan, though, none of that really impacted Aquaman in the way some have claimed. 

"We probably did seven or eight days [of reshoots," Wan said, "which is nothing for a movie of this size. It was just spread out because it's so hard to get your actors back once you've finished the initial shoot." 

Given that the franchise has changed Batmen a couple of times since Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom went into production, it seems likely that at least one of those reshoot days was to accommodate a new status quo. Still, Wan hasn't ruled out the possibility of making a third Aquaman if this one makes money and the new management are interested in it.

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"I haven't directed a third movie [in a series] before, so I'd be open to doing another [Aquaman] if I got the same freedom I've had on these first two," Wan said. "I'm not sure what direction [Gunn and Safran] are going in, though, so who knows? I've learned to never say never."

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be in theaters on December 20.

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