That's the thing about Aquaman that's cool is he's not an alien, right? He's from our planet, and he's from a society that we're not privy to in the context of the story.
~ James Wan
Isn't it crazy to think that we've explored space more than we have explored the depths of our ocean? That just fires up my imagination about potential sea monsters and cool creatures, that kind of stuff.
'Fast and Furious' is the only franchise that I've directed that I did not create from scratch. So it definitely was an eye-opening experience for me coming to that world. I had to be respectful of the roles that had been established by the filmmakers before me, and I was cool with that.
My low-budget films, more than anything, taught me that you've got to create cool, likable characters and great stories because, if you don't, it doesn't matter how cool it might look - no one is going to care about it.
I always say, what is cool for me with 'The Conjuring', is it's not just another scary set piece or another scary case; it's more about what I can do with the characters of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
There's something very cool about that indie spirit that I try to hang on to even now with the bigger films that I'm working on.
I grew up loving X-Men, Spider-Man and Batman. Those are obviously the key big ones, but there's always something kind of cool about Aquaman still, the idea of creating a huge world that is on our planet.
It's pretty scary to know how quickly time flies.
I remembered a long time ago when 'A League of Their Own' came out, and they had the opening sequence with an older Geena Davis. We all just thought it was amazing, but you find out it actually wasn't Geena Davis; it wasn't makeup. It was basically finding an actress that looked like her, and then Geena just dubbed her voice.
The thing that ultimately pushed me more towards 'Aquaman' is I love the possibility of creating a whole new world. I've always wanted to do a world creation story and visually create this amazing, incredible, magical kingdom.
I've always wanted to do a world creation story and visually create this amazing, incredible, magical kingdom.
I use myself as the barometer to gauge what is scary. I like to think if something scares me, then there's a very good chance an audience will feel the same way.
I like to think if something scares me, then there's a very good chance an audience will feel the same way. The key is creating scenarios that people can relate to.
I'm terrified of the supernatural things, which is why I'm very grateful that I don't see things like that. Because if I did see things of the paranormal persuasion, I don't think I'd be able to continue making scary movies.
For me, the sound design and the musical score is a big part of what makes scary movies work.
As a filmmaker, you aspire to want to make movies that can hopefully stand the test of time, but you never know when that will happen or if that will happen.
We think craft is important, and the irony has always been that horror may be disregarded by critics, but often they are the best-made movies you're going to find in terms of craft. You can't scare people if they see the seams.
All my movies are about people with some ideology, but guess what? It never works out.
I believe in spirits. I believe in faith. I believe in spirituality. I believe in aliens as well.
You know what's funny is, when I made 'Saw,' I got accused of being a fascist; when I made 'Insidious,' I got accused of being godless, and now I made the 'Conjuring' films, and I'm accused of being too much God.
I always felt that what is scary is actually hearing someone tell you what they think they see. That sense of invisibility makes things a lot scarier, since your imagination tends to fill in the gaps.
We live in a world that relies on technology.
Language-wise, my mom and dad's dialect, they're pretty obscure. It's Chinese, but not your traditional Chinese, like Cantonese or Mandarin. It wasn't something that I got to use very much growing up. We eventually just spoke English around the house.
If you come down to it, there's only a handful of worlds that action films live in. You have your car chases, your gun fights, and your fights.
I think, ultimately, if you create characters that people like and can relate to, your characters are grounded on a human level even if your cars are not.
I'm a big movie fan, and I want to make movies in every genre. I want to make my romantic comedy one day.
People are so used to seeing John Goodman as a lovable dad or the quirky characters he played in the Coen Brothers films.
People are so used to seeing John Goodman as a loveable dad or the quirky characters he played in the Coen Brothers films.
