Action movie star Dolph Lundgren explains how James Wan’sAquamancasting process worked and how grueling theDCEUmovie’s underwater filming was.Dolph Lundgren played Mera’s father King NereusinAquamanandAquaman and the Lost Kingdom. King Nereus supported Orm’s plan to launch a preemptive attack on the surface world in order to protect Atlantis before changing sides and supporting Arthur Curry’s pacifistic philosophy. Despite opposing Ocean Master and defending Arthur and Mera against a possessed Black Manta, King Nereus made it toAquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s endingunscathed.
Speaking toScreen RantatFAN EXPO San Francisco2024, whichScreen Rantis the media partner for, DCEU star Dolph Lundgren reveals how he was cast as King Nereus forAquaman. Lundgren recalls auditioning with"a scene fromExcalibur"with an over-the-top performance, which earned him the role.According to Lundgren,Aquaman’s underwater scenes required dozens of takes for a single shot, to the point that Vulko actor Willem Dafoe"forgot half his dialogue"after around the fortieth take. This strict filming process wasn’t only due to James Wan’s perfectionism, but mostly because the visual effects required it. Read Lundgren’s full comments below:
Dolph Lundgren: Yeah, that was a big break for me. It was my second audition. This was 2017, I think. There was this big movie, Warner Brothers, Aquaman, and they wanted me for a role. Well, James Wan wanted me, but the studio wanted me to do a screen test. They hadn’t given the script to anybody, so they gave me a scene from Excalibur, which was a movie from the ‘80s about Knights in England.
I had the scene where were King Arthur is very full of himself. He pulls up the sword, he fights his Knight, and he breaks Excalibur. He has this monologue where King Arthur breaks down, and at the end I say, “I’m nothing!” He’s crying or something at the end. So, I worked on it and I decided to go way over. I did two takes, and I did one way over where I was screaming, crying, whatever. And the next day they called, and I got the part.
Then I show up in Australia, and there’s all scenes where you’re floating; hanging on wires and pretending to be floating because all the underwater scenes are shot in the studio. The only water I saw was the Evian water in the barn that we were drinking for three months. For the first scene, I just had to float off my sea dragon or wherever I’m sitting on and just float over to over here 10 feet. I remember doing 10 takes, 20 takes – I needed 28 takes. I didn’t have one line of dialogue, and I’m like, “G–damnit, am I losing it? Am I this bad?”
And then I remember the next scene was with Willem Defoe, and we did like 40 takes. He forgot half his dialogue, I had to have cotton in my ears just to be able to listen because after a while you’ve tried everything. It turned out James Wan wanted different performances, but it was also because of the visual effects; if it wasn’t just perfect, we had to reshoot. It was very tedious, but also exciting for me to be in a big movie like that.
What Dolph Lundgren’s Aquaman Comments Mean
The DCEU’s Underwater Scenes Evolved Across Several Movies
There’s a clear evolution in the DCEU’s underwater scenes from Aquaman’s debut inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceto the humongous Atlantis battles inAquamanandAquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Zack Snyder shot Aquaman’s cameo inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceon a water tank, which is why Arthur Curry’s brief scene looks so realistic. However, this approach wouldn’t work for dialog and action scenes, let alone a full-length movie.Justice Leagueavoided underwater dialog with a now-infamous air bubble created by Mera, but James Wan’sAquamanfixed this issue.
Why Willem Dafoe’s Vulko Wasn’t In Aquaman 2
Despite his prominent role in the first Aquaman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Willem Dafoe’s Vulko was noticeably absent from Aquaman 2.
ForAquaman, James Wan used a variety of rigs, green screens, blue screens, and water tanks to film underwater scenes. Most importantly,the actor rigs and motion-capture technology used for each character’s hair and certain garments were key to capturing the “underwater” feeling ofAquaman’s Atlantis scenes. With the right physical and digital motion, actors could perform their scenes naturally while maintaining a lightweight sense of movement. However, it seems like this process came with the downside of requiring dozens of takes for a single scene.
Our Take On Dolph Lundgren’s Aquaman Comments
Superhero Movies Like Aquaman Come With Their Own Set Of Challenges
DCEU movies likeAquamanmay not be the most demanding for actors in terms of performance, but they certainly bring unique challenges.Performing against green screens, shooting the same scene countless times in order to achieve a visual effect, acting while hanging from a rig, and performing complex fight choreographies are only a few of the trials that superhero movie actors like Dolph Lundgren and Willem Dafoe have to face when filming blockbusters as big as James Wan’sAquamanandAquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Why Filming Aquaman Was So Challenging
Filming A Water-Themed Action Movie Like Aquaman Is Especially Difficult For The Cast And Crew
The unique techniques needed to bringAquaman’s underwater scenes to life were particularly uncomfortable for the actors. DiscussingAquaman’s behind-the-scenes during the movie’s press tour (viaCBR), theAquamancast described the shoot’s challenges. According to Mera actor Amber Heard, she could have up to"four or five doubles"for her character.Ocean Master actor Patrick Wilson recalled how stunt actors would be shocked to see"four different types of harnesses in one day",and Aquaman star Jason Momoa expressed his discomfort with the harnesses, recalling how he asked to"just do a closeup"instead at the end of the shoot.
Where Is The Justice League In Aquaman 2? Why Every Member Isn’t Helping Out
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom doesn’t seem to feature any Justice League hero in a supporting role despite being the DCEU’s final chapter.
Aquaman’s above-water scenes also had their own set of difficulties, as the actors and the sets needed to be continually soaked and dried for every new take. During the same junket forAquaman, director James Wan admitted,“It’s uncomfortable, and it really just slows the filmmaking process.“InWarner Bros.' “Making an Underwater World Behind The Scenes"Aquamandocumentary, Amber Head explains howAquaman’s Trench scene required the actors to be soaked with"the equivalent of a firehose"in order to achieve the effect of rain in front of a blue screen.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s budget was around $215 million— towering aboveAquaman’s estimated $160 million budget.
Aquaman’s challenges didn’t stop at the end of the filming stage. InAquaman’s behind-the-scenes documentary, VFX supervisor Kelvin McIlwain reveals,“ILM actually reworked their software"in order to achieve the right hair movement in"over five hundred shots”. Each character’s hair movement needed to suit the movement of their rigged bodies as they floated and swam, and the rest of the environment had to be designed with the swimming choreography in mind. Hence, James Wan had to keep every post-production detail in mind while shootingAquamanand its sequel.
