Patrick Wilson has been waxing lyrical about Aquaman director James Wan, revealing exactly what the Malaysian/Australian filmmaker will bring to the DCEU.
Over the weekend I sat down with Wilson to discuss his work on “The Commuter,” which is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and stars Liam Neeson.
Towards the end of our conversation I spoke with Wilson about his turn as Orm Marius/Ocean Master in Wan’s “Aquaman,” which marks his fifth collaboration with the director after “Insidious,” “Insidious 2,” “The Conjuring,” and “The Conjuring 2.”
Specifically, I asked Wilson what James Wan has brought to “Aquaman,” but at first he spoke glowingly about Warner Bros and the DCEU.
“The thing that Warner Bros has done so well, and I can only speak on behalf of being in one, well two technically, and being a fan of the others, they have incredible confidence in their directors. Look at Patty [Jenkins, ‘Wonder Woman’s’ director] and James [Wan]. James got to do his movie.”
This then provoked Patrick Wilson to compare Wan’s approach to Jaume Collet-Serra.
“James has a great feel for a character. Not unlike Jaume in that regard. It would be very easy to say the words, do your thing, shoot the movie. But both are heavily involved in getting the script right, getting the tone right.”
“That’s something that James really works on, and that Jaume did with ‘The Commuter.’ That makes it very attractive to a lot of actors that usually don’t live in this genre. The pair are, the easy term is actor friendly.”
Wilson then finished by pointing out exactly what Wan has brought to the table on “Aquaman,” and why he is so excited for audiences to see the nautical blockbuster.
“So when you have a desire to tell a great story but to really rely on characters and relationships within the film, too. That’s when you know you’re in gold, and that’s what James will bring to ‘Aquaman’.”
After the tepid response to “Justice League” back in November “gold” is exactly what the DCEU needs, too. We’ll get to see if audiences chime with James Wan’s vision for “Aquaman” when it is finally released on December 21, 2018.
Meanwhile, make sure you check out Patrick Wilson’s turn in “The Commuter,” which is released on January 12.
