Peter Jackson turned down Aquaman twice

Filmmaker Peter Jackson has revealed in a recent interview that he was approached twice to direct DC's Aquaman, and he turned it down both times. 

The Lord of the Rings director said he was asked by Warner Bros if he was a fan of Aquaman and he had indicated that he was not. Six months later, he was approached again, this time by Kevin Tsujihara, former CEO of Warner Bros, and he replied saying, "No, Kevin. I already told you this. I’m not a superhero guy. I read Tintin. Look, films are hard. I only want to make something that I have a deep passion for."

In the end, Warner Bros approached James Wan, whose Aquaman was released last December and became the biggest grossing film for DCEU surpassing Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Aquaman 2 is currently scheduled for a December 2022 release.