'Aquaman' is an upcoming science-fiction adventure film starring Jason Momoa in the title role. Jeff Nichols, who almost directed the adaptation, admitted his reasons of turning down the project. Momoa's character will also have a limited role in Zack Snyder's upcoming 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'.
According to /Film, Nichols was initially in talks to helm the upcoming live-action standalone film for one of DC's most powerful superheroes but eventually turned it down. The role of director instead went to James Wan, who is best known for his blockbuster horror films such as 'The Conjuring' and 'Saw' as well as action hit 'Furious 7'.
Nichols explained that he opted out of the project since he felt uncomfortable helming a film in the already established DC shared universe. He said, "...With the DC universe, so many parts of it had been activated and so many decisions had already been made that it felt more and more - and Warner Bros. agreed - that it was me trying to jump on a moving train. That's not so much what I'm good at. I'm more of a ground up kinda guy."
His reasoning seemed akin to Ava DuVernay's after she too dropped out of the 'Black Panther' project. The 'Selma' director previously admitted that making the standalone film for T'Challa would not be entirely hers since she had to stick to the rules laid out by the studio. She said she wanted to do a "DuVernay film" and not any other.
Nichols also admitted that he wasn't officially signed on to 'Aquaman', according to Collider. He said, "We talked about it, but I was at Warner Brothers at a period of time when they were activating this entire DC universe and they had already slated all these films that didn't have filmmakers. So it would have been odd to have been a director at Warner Brothers then and not get into some conversation about [those projects]."
Meanwhile, Zack Snyder revealed that Jason Momoa's King of the Seven Seas will be getting a limited role for the upcoming 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' scheduled to be released on March 25, 2016. According to Business 2 Community, the director said, "As far as the other Justice League characters go, they play a very small role. It's really just a whisper they exist. Except for Wonder Woman, we see her really well. But really the movie is about Batman and Superman." Fans could expect more Aquaman in another upcoming DC film, 'The Justice League', due for 2017 before his solo outing in 2018.
'Aquaman' is an upcoming science-fiction adventure film directed by James Wan. It stars Jason Momoa as the titular King of the Seven Seas. It is scheduled to be released on July 27, 2018.
