Aquaman movie: Nicole Kidman reveals why she signed on to play Queen Atlanna in DC film

In just a few months' time, Amber Heard and Jason Momoa will be seen on the big screen in upcoming superhero movie Aquaman. But they're not the only well-known actors appearing in the outing, what with Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman set to show up. Recently, the Lion actor confirmed her role for the first time and revealed that it was the project's director that convinced her to sign on to the DC Comics film.

"The reason why I love [Aquaman] is [director] James Wan is an Australian, and I've followed his career since he started," she explained to Entertainment Weekly. "He's a really good friend of mine, and he offered to let me play Queen Atlanna".

"As soon as he said I could wear mother-of-pearl and be a mermaid warrior, I said, 'I'm done! Please! If there is one thing I have to do in my life, I have to be that!' Because you've got to have some fun."

Kidman, 49, is no stranger to comic book adaptations. Back in 1995, she appeared in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Val Kilmer. In the film, she played Gotham City psychologist and Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Dr Chase Meridian.

In DC Comics, Atlanna was a resident of Atlantis long before it sank into the ocean. A scientist by trade, she survived the incident by taking a serum that she had designed to allow users to breathe underwater. In her storyline, she later falls in love with a lonely lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry, and the pair go on to have a son; Arthur aka Aquaman.

However, seeing as Kidman is referring to Atlanna as 'Queen,' it seems evident that Aquaman will see her bring a combination of both the original and the New Earth version of the character to life instead. After some fictional figure's backstories changed following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Atlanna was known as the wife of sterile King Travis of Atlantis and instead had a son with sorceror Atlan. She was later exiled for having a blond son – a physical trait that Atlanteans were highly superstitious about – and eventually imprisoned.

Seeing as Momoa can hardly be described as blonde, it seems safe to assume that screenwriter Will Beall has incorporated aspects from both of Atlanna's existing timelines. How much of each makes it into the movie? Well, fans will just have to wait and see.

Also starring Patrick Wilson and Willem Dafoe, Aquaman is currently scheduled to reach US cinemas on 21 December 2018. There is no official word as to when it will be released in the UK yet.