Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reportedly underwent lengthy reshoots. However, director James Wan says they only lasted a handful of days.
During an interview with Empire Magazine, the filmmaker claimed Aquaman 2 only had several days of reshoots in total, despite reports that it underwent three separate rounds.
“We probably did seven or eight days [of reshoots], which is nothing for a movie of this size,” said Wan. “It was just spread out because it’s so hard to get your actors back once you’ve finished the initial shoot.”
Earlier reports claimed the Aquaman sequel underwent several rounds of reshoots, with sources claiming they were in response to lukewarm early screenings. “Different visions of executives notwithstanding, it is unclear what the problems were,” said Borys Kit from The Hollywood Reporter. “But one insider said the underlying issue of story clarity has been an ongoing concern.”
However Wan insisted this is par for the course. “I’m not the kind of person that says, ‘this movie has to turn out exactly how I planned it on day one,' ” he said. “Your art will never be organic if you’re locked into that mentality.”
Studio interference has been a large part of stories surrounding Aquaman 2’s reshoots, stories fuelled by significant delays to the film’s release. “Look, I’m a collaborative filmmaker,” he added. “I welcome people’s thoughts and opinions, but ultimately, I feel I have more than proven myself, so, it was like: ‘This is the movie I want to make.’ ”
A bombshell report in Variety from earlier this month detailed apparent attempts by star Jason Momoa to get Amber Heard fired from the DC sequel. According to the report, on the same day the trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom dropped, a number of Redditers paid to obtain documents from the Johnny Depp-Heard defamation trial, and then published them online. Among those notes are descriptions, apparently scribbled on a legal pad by Heard's therapist, of Momoa appearing drunk on set, dressed as Depp, as the actor apparently tried to get Heard fired.
The report goes on to say that Heard was, in fact, almost fired as Mera after the release of 2018’s Aquaman, but not because of the public drama with Depp. According to Variety, it was due to a lack of chemistry with Momoa, which is similar to testimony that Heard’s agent gave during the defamation trial.
Heard was not fired, however, and that’s reportedly because of Elon Musk. The Variety report alleges that Heard’s former boyfriend had one of his lawyers send a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down”, causing WB to relent and bring back Heard for The Lost Kingdom.
IGN reached out to Warner Bros. and Momoa’s reps for comment. A DC spokesperson pushed back against the Momoa allegations in Variety’s report, saying “Jason Momoa conducted himself in a professional manner at all times on the set of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom". Another source, meanwhile, claimed Momoa wasn’t dressing as Depp, but rather that he “has always dressed in that bohemian style".
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom had already been under plenty of scrutiny, with other reports over the summer revealing that it underwent three rounds of reshoots amid confusion over Batman’s place in the film, who at one point was expected to have a small role. While reshoots aren’t uncommon for superhero movies, they can be pricey.
According to Variety report, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom cost $215 million to produce, and there’s certainly hope it can follow the billion-dollar success of its predecessor when it hits theaters on December 20. Following the announcement of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s revamp of the DCEU, holdovers from the previous regime (Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle) have all underperformed, spurring concerns over the brand’s power at the box office.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
