You think you know Momoa from his roles so far?
You might be surprised.
Black Manta looks great.
Credit: Jasin Boland/Warner Bros.
Yahya [Abdul-Mateen II] killed it, so happy.
It does look great.Were you a little bit surprised?
I had confidence because of James.
And I was glad to see a lot of your humor in it.I was too.
The new director has to be able to build a whole new world and set the tone.
And James let me do silly stuff.
I did a lot of stuff that I didnt think he was going to keep.
You cant go anywhere without people knowing who you are.
Is that annoying?Yeah, its fine.
Its part of the job, man.
When people like you and think you did a good job on something, you deal with it.
I embrace it and dont attempt to hide.
Id probably make it worse to wear some silly hat.
As long as they stay away from my children Im a pretty nice guy.
I dont like my kids seeing me that way.
I grew up in theBridges of Madison Countyarea, like one county over.
I graduated with maybe 100 kids, all very much the same.
I didnt kind of do the same stuff.
I was a bit of a skateboarder, and I started rock climbing.
I love Iowa, but I just didnt fit in.
If youre a Hawaiian kid in Iowa, youre kind of a fish out of water.
Then I went back to Hawaii and I got ostracized there too.
I loved both, but just made my own path.
I definitely got bullied, but it was
Bullied?
You?I really did.
I graduated when I was 16.
So I was the youngest boy in my class.
So she worked three jobs and just needed me to get your ass in school.
As you got bigger and went into acting, do you think your size was a benefit?
I was on a show calledStargate Atlantiswith Joe Flanigan.
He was the sweetest guy, I was his Chewbacca to his Han Solo.
He was shorter and he wasnt scared of that.
Hes still one of my best friends.
What is it about you and Atlantis, anyway?I know, right?
As a young actor, what were your goals?
Everyone thought I was crazy, but I wanted to write, direct, and produce movies.
I didnt want to act.
I love telling stories.
I like being a part of being the whole process, not just doing my acting job and leaving.
I like being passionate about it, dreaming it up, seeing it through, selling it.
So thats coming true.
A far as playing roles, I think afterGame of Thronesit was challenging to get some work.
People actually realized I spoke English.
It was one of the best meetings Ive ever had.
I was going to do something with them, which unfortunately didnt work out.
Can you say what character it was?I dont know.
It was going to be a villain, I think.
People always want to hire me to play a villain, you know?
I did an audition forGuardians of the Galaxy, which was super cool.
I got to audition with [Chris Pratt], whos just a legend and a gentleman.
That didnt work out.
And then really the other one after that was my audition for Batman with Zack.
And I almost didnt go because I was like, This is bullst.
Im not a white guy.
I aint playing Batman.
Even if I do, I dont even want to.
Its like an American playing James Bond, you know?
I almost didnt do it.
I thought for sure I was going to be playing [DC Comics villain] Lobo or something.
I just played him as a smart ass, jaded and sarcastic.
And thats when Zack was like, I have an idea…
He asked about you to play Aquaman?Yeah.
And how did that first hit your ear?Oh bro, I was like, What?
Orange and green shirt?
Im like, I dont know man, is this a joke?
He is totally Aquaman.
So I had to stick to that character knowing inAquamanwe can explain why he is the way he is.
I dont even become Aquaman until the last 10 minutes of the movie.
I fingsmile, you know?
When Im speaking, I laugh.
I have a wife.
There are things that I do that people dont even have the slightest clue about.
That became a lot of fans favorite scene.For sure, man.
That was a fun scene.
It was definitely one we came in for.
I laughed my ass off.
I was like [to Joss], Ah, dude, this is gold.
Thats such a good Joss impersonation.Yeah …
I do still get the whole, You talk to fish?
Fans will come over and say, You talk to fish?
Im like, Wow, are we still doing that?
When we did that inJustice League,Im like, Dont put this line in there.
Because thats all people are going to say.
Do you want me to make him cool or not?
You dont seem like a guy who has a lot of self-doubt.
Do you have moments where youre like, Can I pull this off?No.
Not on this movie.
Or for this part in general.No.
Really?Hell no.
I feel like its an honor to represent my people, Hawaiians.
Im a brown half breed, and its pretty awesome.
And this is the first thing my kids get to watch.
I felt very loved.
My kids cant watchGame of Thrones.
And theyre next to Batman and Superman.
I got to have my kids on set.
It was just the coolest thing ever, and everyone was just amazing.
By the time we got toAquaman, its me, its my show.
Ive had two movies to get ready for this.
I love to do comedies.
My favorite thing isSaturday Night Live, I would love to do it.
What was it like working with your costars?
[Amber Heard, who plays Mera] and I are mostly alike.
Were kind of the deviants.
She likes to have her wine, I like to have my beer, and we both kickback.
Patrick is definitely the thespian but hes also a joker.
And Yahya is just the mission man.
We would always work out together.
I didnt pull too many pranks like I normally do.
Just because this movie cost more doesnt mean its more meaningful.
I have Aquaman in me, and hes somewhere I dont have to reach far to access.
I want to make Aquaman fans proud.
A lot of the real Aquaman fans love him, and I love them for it.
And some people dont like him my job was to kind of come in and make this guy cool.
I was worried [at first] that maybe they wouldnt like me.
But theyve responded really well.
And I did what Robert E. Howard did.Conanhad people like, whos this little fking scrawny rat?
WithAquaman, I think people will identify with him.
I know I did.
And James made it likeStar Warsunderwater and its beautiful.
Theres so many, and were also underwater, on these wires.
So youre doing stuff that your bodys not used to.
We had two stunt guys that were constantly getting hurt.
The acting parts I love.
Ill do that for free.
The stunts were challenging because Im a little bit older now.
Did you end up injuring anything?Oh yeah.
Even the littlest thing can hurt.
Do a head whip [snaps his head quickly to the side as if he was just punched].
Now do that 30 times in a row.
Youre not supposed to do that.
Whats the secret to acting like youre underwater when youre not actually filming underwater?Pretend like youre underwater.
Pretend like youre underwater.
Act, motherfer, act.
