IN CASE YOU missed it, Jason Momoa is a real-life Aquaman with the same passion for saving our seas, minus the gills and underwater breathing. One person who definitely had the blockbuster star’s environmental activism on his radar is a fellow eco-activist and one of the biggest movie stars of all time: Harrison Ford.
In our May/June cover story, Momoa revealed that he received a letter from Ford that had him giddy like a child (“Han Solo! Indiana Jones! Bro,” were his exact words). In the letter, Momoa said the sage 80-year-old applauded him for his conservation work.
“He said he’s been doing conservation work for 30 years, and he says it’s the most positive work he’s been doing,” Momoa recounted.
While 43-year-old Momoa hasn’t been fighting for the future of our seas for nearly as long as Ford, he’s leveraged his celebrity to make sure his message is heard. He advocated for banning single-use plastics during a 2019 speech at the United Nations. He started Mananalu, a company selling purified water in recyclable 16-ounce aluminum bottles, after being frustrated about only seeing plastic water bottles at the airport. He pierced the fourth wall of celebrity and any superhero code of silence when he publicly slammed Guardian of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt in the comments of an Instagram photo Pratt shared of him holding a plastic water bottle. He later apologized, explaining his digital lashing due to his unbridled passion for ending the “single-use plastic epidemic.”
“We’re just killing our planet,” Momoa told Men’s Health. “We’re choking our planet out. Why the fuck are you drinking out of a plastic bottle of water? It’s crazy, ’cause it’s to change. Like drink a can of Coke, beer, or sparkling water.”
Playing an oceanic savior on screen helps Momoa stay committed to the cause. “It’s my kids’ generation, and they’re looking up to me, going like, ‘You’re Aquaman, you’re Aquaman.’ I’m. not fucking Batman or Superman. That’s really cool to me—it really is.”
“I couldn’t chicken out of it and try to do some fake stuff,” he continued. “I practice what I preach. Get up there, say what’s important, and fight.”
As for starring on the big (and small) screen, Momoa has a lot coming up in the near future. He cowrote, codirected, and stars in an upcoming Apple TV+ drama Chief of War, about a Hawaiian chief from the 1700s fighting to stave off colonization, which he told us is his dream project, and “my Braveheart or Dances with Wolves.” He’ll also be starring in the Dune sequel as Duncan Idaho, a role his new pen pal influenced that Momoa said on The Ellen Degeneres Show in 2020 was a “Han Solo-esque” role. He’ll also be a quirky villain in the upcoming Fast X film.
Keith Nelson is a writer by fate and journalist by passion, who has connected dots to form the bigger picture for Men’s Health, Vibe Magazine, LEVEL MAG, REVOLT TV, Complex, Grammys.com, Red Bull, Okayplayer, and Mic, to name a few.
Comments are closed.