'Aquaman' Actor Calls Superhero Movies "Clown Work"

There’s been plenty of debate in recent years as to the ‘validity’ of superhero cinema. Most notably, Martin Scorsese declared that Marvel movies “aren’t cinema” with directors Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg having launched similar swipes at superhero blockbusters. Well now, one Aquaman actor has likened starring in a superhero movie to “clown work.”

Check out the trailer for Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever below.

Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portrayed Manta in 2018’s Aquaman and is set to reprise the role in the upcoming sequel. He recently sat down with Vulture to explain how his approach to working on a DC film is very different to the way he worked on films like The Trial of the Chicago 7 with a director like Aaron Sorkin.

Abdul-Mateen said, “Everything should be about getting to the truth. But sometimes you got to know which movie or genre you’re in. Something like Aquaman, that’s clown work. Aquaman is not The Trial of the Chicago 7. You have got to get over yourself.”

He added, “In order to survive and to do it well, you have to play that game and then be crafty about when you want to surprise the audience, the director, or yourself with a little bit of ‘Wow, I didn’t expect to see a Chekhovian thing or August Wilson and Aquaman, but I did.'” Sure, I imagine working on a DC film does require a slightly different approach yet “clown work” is strong phrasing. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes down amongst DC and Marvel actors.