Although he has plenty of fans within the comic book community and many a writer and artist have strived to give him compelling stories that involve more than swimming around underwater and talking to fish, Aquaman has, on occasion, had a difficult time being accepted as a character as cool as Batman or as iconic as Superman. While that may have something to do with his penchant for wearing an orange and green costume with scales on it, the character has been given a cinematic makeover thanks to a brief appearance in Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice that will be followed up by a role in the recently wrapped Justice League, and finally, his own solo film to be directed by James Wan.
Pre-production on the Aquaman standalone film has continued unabated for some time now, with Wan taking to social media periodically to tease fans with potential shooting locations around Australia, and Warner Bros. announcing the casting of Patrick Wilson as the villain Ocean Master, as well as offering a glimpse of Amber Heard in costume as Mera. In other words, it has been a fairly transparent pre-production, with the studio clearly wanting to share as much information with their potential audience as possible. But it's not just Warner Bros. or Wan getting in on the act, as an Australian stunt team popped up in a local news segment, mentioning they were preparing to start work on DC's Aquaman movie.
The segment aired on 9News (via Batman News) recently, where the team practiced their trade, simulating a military scenario for another movie whose title could not be revealed. The performers were quite adept at being yanked around in their harnesses, replicating being tossed around by an explosion or flung about by some other violent means. And if their acrobatic flailing around looked familiar to you, there's a good chance you saw them in Mad Max: Fury Road, which also filmed in their neck of the woods.
Speaking on camera, stunt director Keir Beck described the sort of thing his team is being asked to prepare for with the upcoming superhero film. He didn't get into specifics, but he did mention "General stunt skills, fighting, if there [are] water sequences obviously being capable and competent in water." Clearly, by Beck being uncertain as to the extent of the "water sequences" in the film, he's not been told much about the movie (or isn't allowed to say), but his team seems prepared nonetheless. And with the film not scheduled to begin filming for several more months, they will have plenty of time to perfect their stunts, whether they are filmed underwater or on dry land.
While the news isn't a whole lot to go on in terms of what Wan and Momoa plan to bring to the Aquaman solo film, it's still encouraging to see pre-production moving along at such a consistent clip. With any luck, Wan will continue to share little details like this and more once filming finally commences.
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Source: 9News (via Batman News)
