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The film thus lives or dies based on whether it can make the aquatic sequences seem natural and smooth.
This was no easy task, as it turns out.
The underwater world encompasses around two-thirds of this particular film, Wan tells Vulture.
As he readily admits, Aquaman is really my first visual-effects-heavy movie.
We started by looking at humans swimming underwater, he recalls.
We would put wigs and stunt doubles and props underwater just to see what they would look like.
It was a totally laborious process that involved putting these actors through some really uncomfortable situations.
And on top of that, they had to look like they were moving elegantly, you know?
Moving around in the water is this very graceful and elegant thing for these characters.
Its a really uncomfortable thing to do as an actor.
The hair-replication process was agonizing.
Other times, it just wouldnt look right, it had to be redone.
Wed have to go back to the drawing board and re-render every single strand of hair.
Were talking, like,hoursto render one shot that could only maybe be a couple of seconds long.
There was also the matter of not falling into the trap of turning the Atlanteans into Superman.
And, of course, bubbles and stuff.
We think about people swimming, and theres this very slow-motion quality to it, Wan muses.
Atlanteans would not be moving in slow motion, despite being underwater.
The whole movie would have been just way too slow.
Now I know how long these things take, the processes involved, he says.
It can have a kind of snowball effect.
Thats something that Im definitely going to take with me down the line.
