Article content continued

I guess there was a part of me that thought, ‘I don’t know when they’ll give me a chance to make a movie like this again, so I’m going to just go for it.’ (laughs) I feel like Aquaman, in the comic book world, he’s such a larger-than-life character. Jason Momoa is such a larger-than-life actor himself. So I wanted to do this whole world justice. I pulled a lot of inspiration from the comic book and that world is so colourful and vibrant and it’s full of all these weird and wonderful characters and creatures. But I wanted a simple story so I could hang all these interesting set pieces and characters on there.

This stands on its own. Did you have to worry about setting up things that might happen later on in the DC film universe?

No, I pretty much built this movie from scratch. I worked closely with Geoff Johns on the story. I took a lot of inspiration from Johns’ run on The New 52 and how he rebuilt the world of Aquaman and Mera and how he made these characters strong and powerful and a force to be reckoned with. So I loved that new approach. But I also pulled inspiration from the Silver Age as well. I wasn’t afraid to say, ‘This should be a fun movie. This should be a vibrant, colourful movie.’ The world wants it to be that. I went for that and the studio had the same feeling and confidence in what I was going for.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

You started off in indie film. I remember there was a lineup around the block at the TIFF screening for Saw. Now you’re here making one of the biggest movies of the year. What’s the biggest challenge going from a small film to a big Hollywood blockbuster?

To me, the process is the same. People ask me, ‘Is it hard to go from indie movies to these bigger films?’ And it isn’t. The art of storytelling is still the same. It’s all about creating characters people will care about and creating stories and drama that is engaging and will make the audience connect emotionally with that world. All that stuff is the same. The only thing is, now I have bigger toys to play with.

Twitter: @markhdaniell

mdaniell@postmedia.com