We confirmed that Jason Momoa would be playing Aquaman for you back in June of this year, and it's something that's been in the works for a lot longer than that. Until last week, though, Warner Bros. hadn't officially connected him to the role, and Momoa was still silent on the subject. Now that Warner Bros. has finally revealed their DC Universe game plan, with Momoa right there in the midst of it, the actor is able to discuss how excited he is about the role and his approach to it.
According to a report from this weekend's Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta, Momoa talked about the months of denials he's had to give to reporters asking him about the role. “Listen, I was asked to play it. You know, you audition and stuff like that, but the fact is you've just got to keep it quiet. You know what I mean? I was just trying to respect Warner Bros. and everyone's wishes. I'm really, really happy that I don't have to be quiet anymore, because that's really hard for me.”
In general, it sounds like Momoa was born to play this part and spent his life preparing for it without knowing it was even an option. He studied Marine Biology in college, and his heritage is going to play a part in how he approaches the role. “The greatest thing for me is that Polynesians, our gods, Kahoali, Maui, all these water gods, so it's really cool and an honor to be playing a water character. There's not too many brown superheroes, so I'm really looking forward to representing the Polynesians, the natives.”
He went on to say, “My family are some of the greatest water men on Earth. I'm not, but I'm going to go train with them. But it's really an honor just being a Polynesian. And water is the most important thing in this world and we all know it. It's cool to be a part of DC's universe. I'm really excited to be with Warner Bros, and hopefully everyone likes it. And Zack Snyder's a genius, so I'm really excited to be hanging out with him.”
We'll see the character first in “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice”, and then presumably we'll see him in both of the “Justice League” films and a solo movie as well. That's a whole lot of Aquaman that we'll be seeing between now and 2020, and at least on paper, it seems like they've found the exact right guy for the gig.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” is in theaters March 16, 2016.