Peter Jackson Turned Down the Chance to Direct Aquaman Twice

James Wan gave DC a worldwide blockbuster success with Aquaman, but it almost wasn’t him behind the camera. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson revealed in a new interview with Empire that he was offered the chance to direct Aquaman, but turned it down on two separate occasions.

“He [Warner Bros. Pictures CEO Kevin Tsujihara] said, ‘Are you a fan of Aquaman?’ I said, ‘No,'” Jackson told the site. “Six months later: ‘Peter, are you a fan of Aquaman?’ I said, ‘No, Kevin, I already told you this’.”

He added, “I’m not a superhero guy. I read Tintin … Look, films are hard. I only want to make something that I have a deep passion for.”

Jackson also told the site that he’s more interested in doing his documentary work, saying, “I don’t really anticipate making another theatrical film for a year or two.”

Jackson’s last film was the acclaimed World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which released earlier this year. He is next set to make a documentary on the Beatles, using fifty-five hours of previously-unseen footage and 140 hours of audio that was taken in January 1969 during the making of the album Let It Be. Meanwhile, Aquaman did just fine, with $1.148 billion worldwide and a both a sequel and spinoff in the works.