Why James Wan Chose To Direct AQUAMAN Over THE FLASH

Read Time:2 Minute, 3 Second

With his latest film Aquaman just days away from theatrical release in the United States, James Wan has been doing a lot of promotional work lately. Recently he gave filmmaking advice to a pair of aspiring young directors and also revealed that he hasn’t signed on yet to do any sequels past this first film. On top of that, the film is now predicted to stand as top dog at the box office over Christmas weekend against competing blockbusters Mary Poppins Returns and Bumblebee. As is often the case in film history, it turns out things could have played out very differently.

Wan revealed in a new interview with the New York Times that he had originally been offered a choice between helming Aquaman or another DCU film. He explained, “Having made “The Conjuring,” I was part of the Warner Bros. family, and I knew they were doing their DC thing. I spoke with Kevin Tsujihara [the Warner Bros. chairman and chief executive] at a premiere and I said, “I’m interested in the properties that you have at DC.” A few months later, I was in a general meeting with DC and they floated two properties that didn’t have filmmakers on board: the Flash and Aquaman.”

“I felt the Flash had been done before. It had been on TV twice at that point,” Wan continued. “The one that had not been done was Aquaman. I realized, wow, his character resides in this crazy, big world, and I could do something very interesting with it. I look up to people like Spielberg, Cameron, Lucas, John Carpenter. I’m a fan of genre filmmaking, naturally. So I thought I could make Aquaman a genre film, meaning a horror monster movie. DC basically said, yes, you can make Aquaman versus sea monsters if that’s what you want.”

So in another timeline, we might have gotten a James Wan-helmed Flash film! Personally I think Wan made the right choice, but it would have definitely been interesting to see his take on the Fastest Man Alive. And if you really want to dig in to What If? scenarios, our own MFR recently mentioned on twitter that Wan had initially wanted to get his hands on a Batman movie- A possibility he couldn’t really pursue because Ben Affleck was already lined up to direct that.

What do you think? Join the conversation with us in the comments section below!

SOURCE: New York Times