James Wan

I'd love to be a filmmaker and look back and be like, 'Ah, man, we were part of that whole '80s video nasty thing!'

I love my genre films, but I think when I get older, the way I tell it will be very different to how I told it when I was in my mid-twenties, which is how old I was when I made the first 'Saw.'

I'm a student of cinema in general, not just of one particular genre. So it was very important to me and to my soul to go out and do something different.

I love the idea of being the underdog, coming in with a take on this underdog character and completely blow people's expectations away. Like, 'Oh, you thought he was going to be a wimpy character? No no no.'

If I can get the audience to connect with the characters emotionally - and they love who they are, they love the larger-than-life situation that they're in, but most of all get the audience invested in the characters - then I always feel like I can sort of put them in the most outrageous circumstances, and the audience is okay to go with that.

I love Carpenter, I love Craven - these are all the classics - the Romeros of the world, but I think the biggest influence on me as a storyteller and as a filmmaker is actually Steven Spielberg. I love that even though Steven isn't known for being a horror director, he started out his career making scary movies.

I've always loved action movies. The first films I fell in love with were 'Star Wars' and Steven Spielberg films.

The thing that ultimately pushed me more towards 'Aquaman' is I love the possibility of creating a whole new world. I've always wanted to do a world creation story and visually create this amazing, incredible, magical kingdom.

I guess, deep down, there's a dark side to us. I guess that's why movie fans really love the revenge drama. We like to go into dark movie theaters and fantasize.

I definitely love to be scared. It draws the primal side out of you.

When you create those characters that people love and care about and put them in a dark hallway, already the audience is on edge, and they feel empathy for that character. Then it's up to me to decide what jumps out in that hallway. So I think laying that foundation of strong characters and strong story is the most important thing in a horror film.

I love high concept movies, but they can only work if the source of inspiration is really human - if they're driven by pain and strong emotions. Once you connect the audience with that, then I swear you can take them on the craziest journey, and they'll come along.