What was the first thing James Wan did when he landed in Malaysia? The Sarawak-born filmmaker made a beeline to his favourite local food. “For me, I ordered laksa, Hainanese chicken rice and, of course, I ordered some durians,” the 46-year-old was quoted as saying during the press conference at the upcoming Aurum Theatre in The Exchange TRX.
During his short stint in Kuala Lumpur, James visited Batu Caves. “I have not been there before. I didn’t realise how high it was. Yeah, I was exhausted,” he said. In addition to a sight-seeing tour at Batu Caves, the Hollywood-based director also dropped by KLCC where he pose in-front of the Petronas Twin Towers.
Of course, James Wan was in town to promote the anticipated sequel to his 2018 superhero flick, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”. According to the director, this film picks up where the previous one concluded. “We’ll get to see him finally being the king of Atlantis, and he’s also a dad, a husband, he’s just juggling a lot of responsibilities,” he added. Read on to find out what James Wan had to say:
Taking inspiration from the comics:
“Yeah, for this one – more than the first one – the screenwriter, David (David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick) and myself, we really love the old comic books that Aquaman is based on from the 1960s. The silver age of comic books. We took inspiration, story-wise, from that period. And in that period, Patrick Wilson’s character Orm, sometimes is a villain and other times, he and Arthur are allies.
It just felt like the appropriate story for the second one. Since we have set up Ohm as the bad guy in the first movie, it just felt like character growth in the second movie. So we were inspired by that, from the comic books. Also, we love the Black Manta storyline as well; his thirst for revenge and that he cannot get over his father’s death in the first film. He blames Aquaman for the death of his father and this entire movie is just a good ol’ fashioned revenge story.”
His favourite part about shooting the sequel:
“I would say – obviously the action, the underwater stuff and the visual effects stuff are fun to watch but they’re not fun to make. It’s quite the opposite. It’s very arduous, it’s very taxing and just difficult to plan and put together. So for me, the fun stuff is actually working with the actors. I really like seeing Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson getting together and seeing their chemistry together. And, you know, ad libbing on stage, coming up with something that wasn’t necessarily scripted. And that, to me, is the fun part of filmmaking in general.”
Hydrokinesis (the psychic ability to manipulate or control water) vs talking to fish – which is his favourite superpower?
“I know talking to fish sounds really lame, and that’s what people always make fun of Aquaman, like “oh, his powers is that he talks to fish” – but imagine, if you’re in the ocean and a shark comes your way… how incredible would it be if you could communicate with this dangerous creature? You could befriend it and tell it not to eat you. That would be pretty amazing! So I would say, there’s something really cool about connecting with the rest of the planet that is the ocean.
Hydrokinesis is the ability to make water do things and that’s really cool too – that’s what Mera has. That’s her power. If I have to fight someone, I think hydrokinesis would be better. *laughs* I think it’s also very useful here in Malaysia. Since it rains so much, you have a lot of water to (manipulate). You can create a bridge over the traffic. It would be amazing, (to) just walk over the water.”
Are there any Malaysian easter eggs or influences in his movies?
“I would definitely say that growing up, culturally (as) a young Malaysian Chinese, my heritage is the world that I grew up with great ghost stories and superstitious stories and all that. So they definitely do influence me in my horror films. They definitely influence me in my ghost movies like “Insidious” and “The Conjuring”.
On possibly filming in Malaysia:
“I would love to! I would definitely love to find a project that I can set in Malaysia. And that’s an honest answer, I’m not just saying that because I’m here. It’s just seeing Batu Caves and flying over the country and what I remember growing up, it’s just so beautiful (here). I just want to find the perfect story.”
Advice for local filmmakers:
“I would say, from my own experience of tackling a superhero film is to find what is unique about your character. Don’t try to copy Superman or Batman or whatever else we see out there. Find what it is that inspires you about this character – or characters – and lean into that. Because I think we have a lot of superhero movies but it’s the unique and special ones that really cut through. And all good superhero stories have a message so don’t forget to tell your message.”
