Momoa and co-stars Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman say they were "invigorated" by the intensity of filming the comic epic.
The stars of Aquaman has a great time filming the comic book epic's fight scenes -- but they were definitely intense!
"Your body is constantly working," star Jason Momoa, who plays the movie's titular hero, said of the grueling filming schedule in ET's exclusive behind-the-scenes sneak peek. "You're doing judo, jiu-jitsu, fight choreography."
"After four and a half months of training six days a week, you feel pretty superhuman," Momoa's co-star Amber Heard, who plays Aquaman's heroic underseas counterpart, Mera, agreed.
Following the character's introduction in the Justice League team-up, the central conflicts of the Aquaman standalone film stem heavily from the equilibrium between humanity and superhuman destiny. Momoa, whose mother is native Hawaiian, said he could identify with the struggle of both Aquaman and his land-bound alter ego, Arthur Curry, as someone who feels torn between two worlds.
"This story resonated with me instantly," Momoa said. "He's not accepted here, he's not really accepted here, I definitely can identify with that."
Nicole Kidman also stars in the film as Aquaman's mother, and some of the film's scenes were even shot in her native Australia. While a comic book movie might seem an odd choice for the Oscar winner, she explained that's exactly why she signed on for the role.
"The appeal of it was to step into something else," Kidman noted. "You really are invigorated because of it."
"You get to experience all these amazing worlds," Momoa added of the film. "We haven't been under the ocean yet. This is our outer space."
"You get to fall in love with the idea of what it's like to have these powers, to be a kid. That's fun for the family, that's fun for everyone."
Last month, ET's Ash Crossan spoke to Heard about stepping out of her comfort zone with the comic-inspired film, and what motivated her to take on the role.
"It's a very special dynamic, and one that does not put the burden of dependency on one or the other," she said of the on-screen relationship between Mera and Arthur. "I like that as a woman, I'm not relegated into a position of dependency or subservience. I love that she is self-possessed and in control of her own destiny. She's powerful, she's nuanced. She has her own attitudes and her own problems and they counter that of his."
"Specifically speaking to their dynamic, where one is strong, the other is weak and vice versa. They come from two different worlds, quite literally, he comes from land, she comes from Atlantis... and in doing so you create a dynamic that's fair, it's balanced, it's equal. They are both providing for one another that which they didn't [have] before."
Aquaman hits theaters on Dec. 14. See more in the video below.
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