Yahoo News Jason Momoa on the One Place in the World He Managed to Go Unrecognized — and How (Exclusive)
The 'Aquaman star' opened up to PEOPLE about the challenges of blending in when every part of him is iconic: 'I’m six-four, Hawaiian, probably in stripes and in pink'
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic
It's almost impossible for Jason Momoa to blend into a crowd — but he did manage it once with some extreme measures.
"I get recognized wherever I go," the Aquaman star tells PEOPLE while chatting about his new travel series On the Roam (premiering Jan. 18 on MAX). "I’m 6’4”, Hawaiian, probably in stripes and in pink, not being subtle, so. It’s just the way it is."
He's not typically bothered by the attention. In fact, in addition to his own unique appearance — his tattoos, eyebrow scar and flowing hair regularly give him away, he notes — he's known to drive around in a baby pink Cadillac, and recently acquired a one-of-a-kind vintage pink motorcycle.
Mostly, his efforts to go incognito are half-hearted.
He recalls an instance in which "I saw a paparazzi picture of me just going like this." He pulls his shirt over the lower part of his face up to his eyes, the rest of him still exposed. "It’s still like, you’re not getting away with anything. It’s still me." He holds up his arm featuring a half sleeve of triangle patterned tattoos that's easy to ID.
There was one location however, that afforded him the luxury of anonymity, however.
"You know when I got away with it, I was in Jordan and you’ve got to be fully wrapped and covered up," he says miming the long sleeves, head and face-coverings he wore in the Middle Eastern country, where he was filming for the 2021 movie Dune.
"It was amazing. No one knew. I was standing next to people, it was great," he recalls. He almost blew his own cover at one point. "A little bit of my tattoo came through and I saw a person like..." He raises his eyebrows, "and was like..." He slowly moves one finger to his mouth in a shhh gesture. Luckily they followed his direction.
In On the Roam, his travel persona is far less under the radar. "It’s me on the road and all the things that I love to do. And all the things I’ve never done in my life that I've wanted to do," he tells PEOPLE.
He travels to North Carolina to rebuild historic motorcycles with the foremost experts in the world — and race them on a death-defying dirt track with a gang of his own making in one episode. In another, after meeting up with legendary guitarist Slash, he visits the headquarters of Gibson guitars in Tennessee to recreate some incredibly rare instruments.
The eight episodes don't follow a set formula, instead meandering in a way that mirrors Momoa's travel style. "Each episode just evolves into it’s own thing. Some of them turn into therapy sessions," he shares. "That’s the beauty of it. It’s very intimate and obviously, for me, it’s very revealing."
On the Roam premieres Jan. 18 on MAX.
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