Justice League has been out for less than a week now and it is as polarizing to critics and fans as BvS, but Jason Momoa’s take on Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, has been seen by most as a bright spot. But what does the Game of Thrones star think about naysayers and of Justice League?
“I try to stay the f— away from what people say,” the Aquaman actor says. “Some of my friends said, ‘Justice League isn’t doing well’ and it kind of bummed me out. But I didn’t want to look it up. I don’t want to look up the bad and the negativity. I don’t think that’s useful; it doesn’t help.”
“I’ve seen [Justice League] twice,” Momoa says. “I loved it the second time even more. I’m actually going to watch it again with my kids and my godchild. I’m going to see it with the perfect crowd of people — a regular crowd instead of at a premiere. So I’m excited. You can’t get into the whole ‘why this, why that.’ I went to [Wizard World Austin fan convention] this weekend and got great praise. Now obviously, that’s a positive place, and I’m not only interested in the positive. But if people love what we did with Aquaman, it’s all [director Zack Snyder] — it’s his brainchild. He came in with, ‘I’m going to make Aquaman a badass and I’m going to change stuff, and change the myths about this guy.’ And I busted my ass.”
For a long time, Aquaman was seen as the weak link in the DC Universe, and often the butt of jokes, but Momoa and Snyder managed to make him a badass and likable even with the dude-bro attitude. One thing that was missing though were some scenes involving Aquaman’s backstory that were cut from the film, including a key supporting Atlantean character, Nuidis Vulko (who was played by Willem Dafoe). Momoa had this to say:
“The challenging part is [the Justice League story] is only about a weekend in Author Curry’s life,” he says. “[Fans] might be like, ‘Why is he that grumpy? Why’s he hiding up there?’ We had it all planned out. A lot of things got cut. But it’s not my movie. It’s a huge movie introducing three new characters, and for myself and The Flash and Cyborg, there was a lot that was there we just couldn’t get in. It could have been two movies. We had some stuff with Willem Dafoe. The whole Atlantean part, about me being this reluctant king. There was no need for it because you’re going to see it in Aquaman. It’s not an Aquaman movie, it’s a Justice League movie.”
Momoa will next play the character in the stand alone Aquaman movie where his enthusiasm for the character will truly be given room to shine.
