Film

Aquaman’s James Wan Is The Most Successful Aussie Director You’ve Never Heard Of

Mention his name in Australia and you will generally hear crickets.

by Erin Chew  8 January 2019
James Wan Aquaman

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Mention his name in Hollywood or New York, and the response will be praise about James Wan’s work as an “American” director.

His name is celebrated within Asian Americans in entertainment movement who have claimed him as Asian-American– a token of pride in the US among Asians. However, mention his name in Australia and you will generally hear crickets. No one there has even thought about claiming James Wan as an Australian.

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He’s the guy behind blockbuster film franchises like Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious — all “horror household” names, and is considered as one of the creators of the new wave of horror cult films.

But Wan is not just THAT horror film director — he has also branched out to direct films outside of his known genre.

DC Universe blockbuster film Aquaman is one of these films, and he has made it officially the top grossing film in the DC Universe, bringing the franchise $887 million US dollars globally. Factor in all the money his other major film franchises have grossed: Saw ($103 million US dollars), The Conjuring ($640 million US dollars) and Insidious ($417 million US dollars), then you pretty much get one of — if not the — most successful Australian exports to Hollywood.

Granted, his name is becoming more recognisable in Australia with the success of Aquaman, but there is a lack of acknowledgement that his passion for horror films and filmmaking actually originated from his childhood growing up in Perth, Western Australia and later in Melbourne, Victoria.

In addition, it was this Asian-Australian childhood, and the horror stories he heard and read growing up, which has inspired the work we see from him today.

So, the question remains: why has Australia slept for so long on James Wan?

Home Grown Hero

When I interviewed him in early December 2018, prior to the release of DC Universe blockbuster, Aquaman, James Wan spoke a lot about his memories of growing up in Australia and how his upbringing has shaped his work as a director:

“Growing up as an Australia of Malaysian Chinese descent, I grew up hearing many Malaysian and Chinese horror stories, as well as some ‘local’ Australian horror legends. When I made my movies like Saw, The Conjuring and Insidious I added the flavours from the stories I grew up with. They got into my head at a young age and they find ways to inspire my work, whether consciously or unconsciously. My culture, my upbringing and my Australian identity are important in making me who I am today, and who I am as an artist.

When it came time to shoot Aquaman, I was able to bring the film to Australia and considering this was the first feature film I have shot in Australia, it felt so great to be home, and all my fond memories growing up all flooded back. I haven’t been home for a long time and it was great to be home, see family and have them visit me on set.”

For Wan, the change of genres from producing and directing major horror cult film franchises to a superhero blockbuster was a conscious decision.

Even though he loves and enjoys working on horror film projects, he did want to get out of the shadows of just being known as a horror cult-film director, and diversify the types of films he works on.

As Wan describes it being tied to horror and more specifically to Saw ( his first major film franchise), the feeling is bittersweet:

“Saw blew me up in such a great way and the success of that film and the subsequent Saws I produced tied me strongly as being known as ‘James Wan – Saw director’. Now, this is not a bad thing but I felt I was always living under the shadow of Saw. When the Saw franchise finished, I started getting out again to get out of this shadow. Of course, I am thankful for what Saw did for me ultimately and it got people in Hollywood to see me seriously from a business standpoint. And it is this record which has allowed me to make movies I not only grew up loving but films I am also passionate about.”

Making Waves

So, knowing a little about Wan and his record of accomplishments in Hollywood, the burning question is why has Australia failed to claim/acknowledge him as an Australian success, considering he’s one of our biggest and most successful exports?

He’s been claimed in his adopted home of the US as an “American” and as an “Asian-American” director who is doing things and going places. Malaysia has also claimed him as one of theirs, with headlines such as ‘Malaysian-born director James Wan is making waves with Aquaman’, and ‘Aquaman: James Wan shares how his Malaysian roots inspired the film’.

Yet Australia was where he spent his childhood, his formative years and his young adulthood — and it is the country which has really made him unique from the many directors who try to make it in Hollywood. Yet, his recognition and name hardly exists in Australia, even though he has been creating successful films one after another for more than fifteen years in Hollywood and has created some of the most iconic characters in horror cult film history.

Australia Is Probably The Problem

Of course, now that Aquaman has topped box offices across four continents, he is getting some fame in Australia — but he’s also had to go above and beyond, and work extremely hard to even receive a glimmer of acknowledgement. Where was this acknowledgement five or more years ago? Is there a racial hierarchy in Australia when it comes to being acknowledged and recognised for global mainstream achievements?

The Australian media and entertainment industry is still heavily dominated with the ideals of white centrism and it is easy to fall in the traps of sidelining those who do not fit white centrism — and Wan falls into this trap being of Asian appearance.

But Wan is optimistic that this will change in Australia eventually as the world becomes closer and diversity is globally demanded:

“You know in the US, discussions around representation has been going on for a while, so it makes sense that the US is quicker at embracing diversity on and behind the screens, and even then there are still many issues around that. Australia will and is getting there and cannot avoid it considering it has a huge multicultural population. I have been away from Australia for a long time so I am not so familiar with the media landscape, but from what I have read and heard it is changing rapidly and if my intuition is right, it will only get better because progress takes time whether we like it or not.”

It is safe to say that Wan is an Australian through and through — even if Australia has failed to adequately acknowledge that.

As they say you can be away from Australia, but you can never take Australia out of the person. His work and his creations on the big screen all reflect on his experiences and fond memories growing up Aussie and his mannerisms and “can do” attitudes are all hallmarks of what it means to be Australian.

If the worldwide success of Aquaman is any indication, it is that James Wan is a trailblazing talent, which should not be ignored or forgotten. So Australia, it is not too late to stake the claim. Who is that man? THAT man is James Wan.

He’s Australian.

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Erin Wen Ai Chew is a social activist and founder of the Asian Australian Alliance. She is also a freelance writer specialising in issues around whitewashing, media representation and racism. Erin was a former co- editor of YOMYOMF ( You Offend Me, You Offend My Family) and runs a podcast called Offended AF (Asian Feminists).