Dafoe Compares Aquaman & Spider-Man Directors

Screen Rant

How Aquaman Director James Wan Reminds Willem Dafoe of Sam Raimi

By Corey Hoffmeyer

Published Aug 30, 2017

During a recent interview, Aquaman star Willem Dafoe compares his director James Wan to original Spider-Man director Sam Raimi.

Willem Dafoe recently compared working with director James Wan on Aquaman to his experience with Sam Raimi on the original Spider-Man film, and he believes the two filmmakers have a lot in common. Dafoe has had a long and diverse career working both in low-budget art films as well as big-budget spectacles (including his villainous portrayal of the Green Goblin in Raimi’s Spider-Man). This is a trend Dafoe has continued to utilize even today, with the actor recently co-starring in Netflix’s high profile manga adaptation Death Note as well as nabbing a supporting role in Wan’s much anticipated Aquaman film as Nuidis Vulko.

Dafoe has certainly worked with his share of directors throughout his career, each with their own unique vision and style in how they approach filmmaking. According to him, however, when it comes to the level of enthusiasm shown from a director while making a film, Wan and Raimi are very much alike in this regard.

During an interview with Collider, Dafoe opened up about his experience working with Wan on Aquaman and how it paralleled his experience with Raimi on Spider-Man, saying:

“[James Wan’s] enthusiasm is fantastic. In fact, his enthusiasm reminds me, very much, of Sam Raimi’s enthusiasm, to make a connection there. When I made Spider-Man with Sam Raimi, one of the most impressive things was that it didn’t feel like an industry film. It felt like a personal film. It felt like Sam Raimi was getting to fulfill a fantasy of his. He was so connected to that Spider-Man mythology that he really infused it with great love and great playfulness, and I love that. James Wan is very similar.”

This will certainly be encouraging news for Aquaman fans who are still undecided on Wan’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the character, but it’s definitely not that surprising. Wan himself has repeatedly admitted his own excitement over making the Jason Momoa-led film a cinematic experience to remember for fans, even going so far as to say that Momoa himself will erase any stigma toward the character that may exist. For a seasoned actor like Dafoe to heap such praise at Wan, however, certainly helps build the hype even more.

Either way, Aquaman is still filming currently (with a rumored budget of around $160 million), though Momoa’s character will appear in the upcoming Justice League team-up film as part of DC’s Extended Universe. This will definitely help any fans that are still on the fence over Momoa’s interpretation decide one way or another if his first solo effort Aquaman is worth the price of admission.