Jason Momoa told Variety at Sundance that he co-wrote the first story treatment for “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” the upcoming Warner Bros. and DC tentpole that is the sequel to 2018’s billion dollar-grossing “Aquaman.”
“The beautiful thing [about ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’] is me and my partner wrote the first treatment for it and it was about a 50-page treatment, and a lot of it has to deal with me talking to the U.N. about what’s happening with the melting ice caps,” Momoa said at the time. “There’s no far off galaxy coming to destroy us or aliens from another place. It’s us ruining our planet. We need to get it together and save our home.”
In a new interview with Mens Health, Momoa disclosed that his story treatment for the second “Aquaman” film ended up being shelved during production. As the publication writes: “[Momoa] says Warner Bros. bought but did not follow [the treatment] completely. That bugs him and spins him into an impassioned, salty riff.”
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“That’s the reason why I love directing and creating,” Momoa said. “I don’t wanna just go like, ‘I’m acting. I’ll be in my trailer.’ I love being able to burn for what I believe in. I’ve seen some of the most shocking acting performances firsthand and watched them edited, and they were amazing. I wish I could tell you who it was. I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ I watched this guy who had to be fucking propped up. They read the lines to him. But this motherfucker killed it when the edit came in and was applauded for it. At that point, I was like, ‘Wow, this shit is made in the edit.’”
Momoa said the success of the first “Aquaman” took him by surprise.
“Well, to be perfectly honest, I was absolutely baffled that ‘Aquaman’ was received so well,” he said. “I’ve done things that are amazing that no one sees and no one gives a shit about. You just don’t know in this business. I don’t go do things and think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get $1 billion on this one.’ I go in and do my best job.”
“It’s not that I don’t care about Aquaman; it’s a wonderful character,” Momoa continued. “Aquaman is probably the hardest character in comic-book history. He’s made fun of and ridiculed, but I tried to give it heart and soul, and I’m proud of it in certain ways. Do I feel pressure for [the sequel] to do well? No. All I can do is give it my all. But it’s in a lot of other people’s hands.”
Momoa told Total Film magazine last month he believes Aquaman “definitely” will be included in the new DC Universe that is being spearheaded by DC Studios bosses Peter Safran and James Gunn. Although projects starring his former DC co-stars Henry Cavill (Superman) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) have been scrapped amid the DC Universe reboot, Momoa said to Men’s Health that he’s “extremely, extremely excited” about his DC future, which includes “a lot of badass shit coming up.”
Safran, who serves as a producer on Momoa’s “Aquaman” movies, added, “I look forward to working with Jason for many years to come. I would be happy for it to be in Arthur Curry’s world, but if/when another opportunity came up, I’d find another great character for him to create.”
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is set to open in theaters Dec. 25 from Warner Bros.
