With director Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall now playing in theaters, I got to speak with Patrick Wilson about making the movie. During the fun interview, Wilson talked about why Barry Munday is the first thing you should watch if you’ve never seen his work, what it’s really like working with Emmerich on set, why people love watching end of the world movies and TV shows, and his excitement at being involved in a sci-fi movie. In addition, Wilson talked about making Aquaman 2 (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), how the James Wan helmed sequel is using all new VFX techniques to help tell the story, and what else fans can expect in the DC sequel that also stars Temuera Morrison, Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman, and Amber Heard.
If you haven’t seen the Moonfall trailer, or the first five minutes of the movie, the film tells the story of an unlikely team of individuals (Halle Berry, John Bradley, and Wilson) who are tasked with saving the Earth when the moon is knocked off its orbit by a mysterious force and comes hurtling towards earth. Moonfall also stars Michael Peña, Donald Sutherland, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak, and Charlie Plummer. The script was written by Emmerich, Harald Kloser, and Spenser Cohen.
Watch what Patrick Wilson had to say in the player above, or you can read the full conversation below.
COLLIDER: If someone has actually never seen anything that you've done before, what is the first thing you want them watching and why?
PATRICK WILSON: That's a great question. And I have done thousands of interviews, and I've never been asked that. Probably Barry Munday.
Is there a reason?
WILSON: If you've ever seen it; you probably haven't. Because that's probably the closest to me. I don't feel like I need to prove my skillset. I could say something like Angels in America or Fargo or Little Children, or horror stuff, I guess. But I feel like I'd want someone to laugh. So, I'd probably give them something. I haven't done a ton of comedy. But that for me. I'd probably give them that, just to go "Wait, that's that's you? "Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's actually me. All this other stuff is..."
You also haven't done a lot of sci-fi. So when Roland said to you, "Do you want to do this?" Were you, "Uh, yes."
WILSON: For sure. Yeah. I really wanted to do it. I had not done a lot of sci-fi, and I love sci-fi. So for me, as you know, I like to do a lot of different genres. I don't work in this space, pun intended, almost at all. But I love it. I love sci-fi movies. So for me, I was like a kid in a candy store. It was great.
You've worked with Roland before. What do you think might surprise fans of Roland Emmerich about the way he works on a set?
WILSON: That he's a very relaxed focus. Even when he's stressed, it's very direct and very easy, probably very German. "Stop. Doesn't look good. Stop, do it over." It doesn't... What are you doing?" but it's always with care and ease. And there'll be this, there'll be that. It's very passionate and very focused, but you kind of imagine on a disaster movie, someone, "Yes! Explosions! Here we go. The moon's coming!" and just going crazy. He's just the complete opposite. It's just, "It'll be this, and then these scary things come at you." And "Yeah, no, it's really bizarre." It's very, very chill. So I think that's, for me, probably the biggest difference of what you'd expect from these massive epic disaster movies.
People love end of the world TV shows, end of the world movies, destruction. What is it about that genre that people keep coming back to it?
WILSON: Because I think there's always a kernel of us, just a little piece of us inside that kind of feels like God, what if it did all end? I don't think people are necessarily fatalistic, but it's twofold. I think you can go see a movie, and it's a real escape, and you can walk out and go, "Well, things are stressful to me, but it's not nearly that bad." So maybe it makes you feel better. But also, a lot of psychologists think that horror movies can be good for teenagers because there's a release. There's tension, and there's a built-in release of the scare. That actually makes them get over their fears. You see something very scary; "Ugh." And then there's a release and it's gone.
I think there's a similar thing with disaster movies, because a lot of us worry about the disaster or environmental issues or what's going to happen, or life is stressful. But a disaster movie gives you that release and that escape. But usually, there's a human element that always makes you care about... There's usually a happy ending, right? The world's usually saved. And I think that, with the exception of Don't Look Up, every other movie, spoiler alert, usually ends in a positive way. I think that makes people walk out, feeling like wow, for an hour and a half, I felt really stressed. And that past 15 minutes, now I feel good. I think there's actually something psychological, if I really break it down.
I am a big fan of James Wan, and I am incredibly looking forward to a certain sequel called Aquaman 2. What can you tease about it? Because I cannot wait.
WILSON: If you have an Ocean Master figure behind you, I will give you every spoiler. You don't?
I don't.
WILSON: You don't know? Oh. Then forget it. Sorry. Next time. Now you know. Next time you interview me, show me an Ocean Master, I'm in.
With the first film, you really don't know if audiences are going to respond to it because it's so different.
WILSON: That's true.
What was it like actually making the Aquaman sequel? Because you know audiences loved the first one.
WILSON: Yeah. So you take those things that you think people responded to, even if it was, "Oh my God, can you believe they did that?" Yeah, we did that. Now we're going to do more of that. I think we found our niche. I think DC has found their way to understand where each movie can fit, even in a multiverse, which is so overused now, as a term. Clearly the movie went beyond a fanboy demographic, because it made whatever; billion dollars, right? So that affords you a freedom of, "You know what? Let's keep it fun. Let's make it fun." And we still have our layers of environmental issues. We've got great relationships in the movie, some fantastic action sequences. We push all the fighting and the stunts…we've used crazy techniques between us and The Flash that have never been used before. So all these new VFX techniques that we're using.
And then storyline is... obviously not going to get into that. But James loves to pick and choose from his own mind and comics and how we bring in certain elements. Those little moments that even... I don't know, pick one in the gladiator sequence. There's an octopus playing drums. Now comic book nerds will go, "Yeah, well, it's Topo. Come on, guys. That's who it is." So those little moments; they'll be a lot more of that stuff, for sure.
Also, James is on a role. He is just such a talented filmmaker.
WILSON: Nah, he's terrible.
Listen, thank you so much for your time. And lesson learned for the next time we speak.
WILSON: There you go. See you later.