‘Aquaman’ Director James Wan Brings “Horror Element” Into Superhero Adaptation; ‘Gangster Squad’ Writer Back on Board, “Dual-Tracking” Method Abandoned

‘Aquaman’ director James Wan is set to bring a “horror element” into his upcoming superhero live-action adaptation. Will Beall of ‘Gangster Squad’ fame is reportedly back on the project as the film’s sole screenwriter following Warner Bros.’ scrapping of the “dual tracking” screenwriting method.

According to Games Radar, Wan made an appearance at Hall H of the San Diego Comic Convention to reveal that he is adding his famed horror-style filmmaking to the upcoming adaptation of DC’s Aquaman starring Jason Momoa in the titular role.

He said, "F*cking Aquaman! What can I say? Aquaman’s such an amazing character. I love the fact that he’s never really been portrayed in the feature movie world before... and the opportunity to explore this universe, you know, bring a bit of my horror element into this. The deep sea is a scary world. And then also explore the wondrous world of Atlantis. That’s all I have to say."

The 39-year old Malaysian-Australian filmmaker is best known for his work on several horror films such as 2004’s ‘Saw’, 2007’s ‘Dead Silence’, 2011’s ‘Insidious’, and 2013’s ‘The Conjuring’. He also directed 2015’s highly successful ‘Fast 7’, the seventh installment in the popular ‘The Fast and the Furious’ franchise.

Meanwhile, the planned standalone film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is slowly taking shape with ‘Gangster Squad’ screen writer Will Beall back on the project. According to Comingsoon.net, Beall was one of the writers hired by Warner Bros. back in 2014 to prepare a script for the project in collaboration with Kurt Johnstad of ‘300’ fame. However, when Wan signed on in 2015 he brought with him writer David Leslie Johnson who he collaborated with on ‘The Conjuring 2’.

Warner Bros. previously employed the new screenwriting method of “dual tracking” but it seems that they are pulling back by focusing on just one screenwriter. Dual tracking is the method of having multiple scripts written but taking only the best parts and integrating them into one screenplay.

It seems that the studios’ new strategy is to scrap all previous script efforts in favor of the story prepared by Wan and DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns to be implemented by Beall.

‘Aquaman’ is an upcoming action-adventure and science-fiction film based on DC’s iconic superhero of the same name. It is directed by James Wan and produced by Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder with Rob Cowan executive producing.

The film is intended as the seventh installment in the DCEU scheduled to be released on July 27, 2018. It follows the upcoming films ‘Suicide Squad’, ‘Wonder Woman’, and ‘Justice League’.