James Wan is having a very busy Comic-Con. As the convention was getting started, he announced a new collaboration with his old Insidious partner Jason Blum for a horror-thriller called M3GAN. Then he showed up at Scare Diego, New Line’s horror showcase, to talk up projects like the Conjuring continuation The Nun and a third Annabelle movie. Now, he’s prepping to take over Hall H tomorrow to give fans their first look at his forthcoming Aquaman standalone film.

In other words, he could be forgiven for being a bit stressed out. Yet Wan, the Australian director who got his start in the grimy world of horror with the Saw movies, isn’t sweating one bit. Instead he’s tweeting, laughing about the dyed hair on his little Funko Pop! vinyl figure, and inviting me to place my recording device next to the toy Aquaman trident.

He’s also very cool about all of the Aquaman memes that popped up shortly after Warner Bros. released the latest poster for the movie. Featuring Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) squatted on a rock in the deep blue sea, the internet immediately remixed the image with characters from other oceanic films like The Little Mermaid.

“I love it,” Wan says. “The irony is when people ask me ‘How hard is it making this movie? Is there a lot of visual effects?’ I generally always say ‘I feel like I’m making an animated movie. I feel like I’m making Finding Nemo.’ I have no problem with people making a relationship between this and Finding Nemo because that’s one of my favorite movies ever.”

What else is Wan excited about? WIRED sat down with him—on a boat!—at Comic-Con to get the goods on everything he’s got going.

James Wan on what’s coming in Aquaman:

“Well, uh, it’s based on the comic. [Laughs] The most exciting thing for me about Aquaman is the fact that he’s a superhero who hasn’t really been done on the big screen before. We’ve seen him in a supporting role in Justice League, but you’ve never seen it to the extent that this film’s going to get into. That’s the most exciting part of it for me, to show today’s audience and all the fans that grew up with a big-screen portrayal of this particular character.”

On the most surprising thing in Aquaman:

“Pop culture has kind of made him into a joke, you know? They call him a lame hero with no power other than the ability to talk to fish. In this movie, they’re going to see how powerful he really is. With Jason Momoa in the lead, you’re going to see a tough Aquaman like you’ve never seen before.

On working with the ‘full of life’ Jason Momoa:

“I really admire the discipline that Jason and the other actors have to stay in shape and look as good as they do. I know how hard it is for Jason especially because he enjoys life. He loves to eat and drink and all that stuff, so it’s hard for him to give up all his pleasures. The cool thing about Jason is he never pretends to be anyone other than who he is. I like watching how much fun he’s having [as Aquaman].”

On why Aquaman is like Lord of the Rings:

“My overall philosophy going into this film was that I felt like there were a lot of superhero movies out there already, and I have to do something unique. A character like Aquaman is great because he’s very fresh to the general public. But the other thing was I didn’t want it to feel like it had a typical superhero movie structure. It’s designed more like an old-school action-adventure fantasy movie, akin to Lord of the Rings. You get to go on this crazy adventure visiting this heightened realm of the different kingdoms that we have on Earth. It’s very fantastical. But it doesn’t take place on another planet, it’s not on Middle-Earth.”

On tying his movie into the DC Extended Universe:

“The world that I take my characters into is so different from the worlds that the other heroes live in. They live in the DC universe, but this is not Gotham City. This isn’t Metropolis. You’re going to all these different underwater kingdoms, where these races have spent their whole lives hiding themselves from the surface-world civilization. I would say maybe two-thirds or half of the film [is underwater]. It’s a journey movie, so it goes down and up and down. The audience might get a little claustrophobic otherwise; you have to come up for air.”

On staying involved with horror:

“It’s what I’m passionate about. It’s what I love. I don’t like to be pigeonholed, I’m just a fan of filmmaking—and the horror genre is one I’m grateful for, for what it’s done for me. It’s allowed me to explore all these other kinds of films. Having said that, I bring a little bit of horror into Aquaman because the ocean, the sea, Mother Nature is very majestic on one hand, but can be terrifying as well. And that’s something I’m not afraid of. There is a particular kingdom in this that they have to visit to get to their destination. And this is a kingdom of very scary monsters.”

On working with Jason Blum again with the robot horror movie M3GAN:

“Jason and I sort of blew up together with Insidious. That film kicked off Blumhouse for him, and it exploded my directing career. We’ve always wanted to come back together for something. And it’s no surprise that I’m a huge a fan of creepy dolls and creepy puppets. [Ed.—His Twitter handle is @creepypuppet.] It’s a world that I love. The opportunity to work together on a project like that is really exciting.”

On whether or not he’d ever return to the Fast and Furious franchise:

“I’m so proud of that film, and it was also the most heartbreaking movie I’ve ever done. [Actor Paul Walker died during the production of Furious 7] But we’ll see. I learned that from Sean Connery: Never say never again.”

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