Interview with Black Manta: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Talks Diving In

The hit summertime – oh excuse me… winter blockbuster to see this holiday season is Aquaman. We are all on the edge of our seats to see how DC will be bring itself up in the ranks with this one. I personally have seen the film, it is a rockstar water ride of a movie that is fun for the whole family. We see moist Momoa, water magic, and underwater mayhem. I had the pleasure of speaking with actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who plays the villain Black Manta in this aquatic adventure film. He had a lot to say about getting into the role, and getting into comics! Read til the end to see what superHERO he wanted to play in the DC universe.

Testing the Waters Black Nerd Problems: What was the selection process for getting the role? Did you have to do multiple auditions, did you have to do rigorous training? Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: [laughs] Naw, actually this was probably – outside of maybe a couple offers I might’ve gotten, this was one of the most straight forward auditions that I’ve had. I got an email in my box for a general audition, just as they come. I sent in a tape, and about a month later I flew to Los Angeles. I had lunch with James Wan and Peter Safran the producer. And about 10 minutes later, maybe 5 minutes later, I got a phone call saying that I got the job, so it was a very, very, straight-forward process. I was actually very, very surprised at how straight forward it was. BNP: So did you have to then train with Jason Momoa for all the fight scenes and what not, what …