Director Pulls Out of The Wolverine, Fox Scrambling for Replacement

[Greg Tito]

Director Pulls Out of The Wolverine, Fox Scrambling for Replacement

Darren Aranofsky, the acclaimed director of Black Swan, quit the comic book reboot this morning.

After receiving an Oscar nod for Best Director for the Natalie Portman ballet drama, it must have felt like a step back having to direct a popcorn action flick. But Aranofsky said his decision to back out of directing The Wolverine was based on location and not artistic integrity. The film, still starring Hugh Jackman as the hirsute clawed gentleman, was supposed to start filming in Japan as early as this Spring - this was pre-earthquake - and Aranofsky said that he couldn't be away from his family for the scheduled year of shooting and post-production. To their credit, Fox respected Aranofsky's reasons for backing out and said they are still committed to the film. Fox just needs to find a talented director quickly.

"I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time," said Aranofsky, who lives in Brooklyn, NY. "I am sad that I won't be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again."

"While we are, of course, disappointed that Darren can't do The Wolverine, we also understand and respect his reasons," the statement from Fox read. "Hugh Jackman and Fox both remain fully committed to making The Wolverine. We will regroup and move forward aggressively."

The Wolverine was supposed to reboot (Is anyone else getting tired of that word/concept?) the Clawed One's storyline that veered off course in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The script follows Logan as he travels to Japan to train with a samurai warrior, and was widely regarded as being well-written by Usual Suspects scribe Christopher McQuarrie. Hopefully, another competent director is found soon so that Aranofsky's departure and the tragedy in Japan don't prevent this film from being made.

Who would be the ideal director for The Wolverine?

Source: Variety [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034040?]

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[gundamrx101]

Hmmm, a director for a character that needs a hard R rating. I can only think of Zak Snyder, because he's proven that not only will he respect the source material (300 and Watchmen) but he can make it as bloody as it needs to be, which Wolverine needs to be because let's face it, he guts people for a living then chomps on a cigar and tries to seduce redheads with his hair body.

 

[icyneesan]

I think I should direct the next Wolverine movie

 

[Etherlad]

Can a director that easily pull out of a CONTRACT because he suddenly realized he doesn't like the location he knew about firsthand? Sounds like a cheap excuse to me.

Anyway, if the script is as "terrific" as Xmen Origins:Wolverine i can understand why he suddenly thinks he's above shit like this.

 

[Woem]

Charlie Sheen. Duh, winning.

 

[Harbinger_]

I think that they should get someone with a history for making well done comic book adaptations. None come to mind off the top of my head unfortunately. Perhaps even someone who has starred in comic book adaptations as they might have a good idea of what needs to be done.

 

[coldfrog]

Can a director that easily pull out of a CONTRACT because he suddenly realized he doesn't like the location he knew about firsthand? Sounds like a cheap excuse to me.

Anyway, if the script is as "terrific" as Xmen Origins:Wolverine i can understand why he suddenly thinks he's above shit like this.

I'm assuming the missing detail is that, after the earthquake, there would be a lot more difficulty with the filming that would either delay or take more time then originally planned. Neither article says that, however, but I'm willing to assume that A: He actually looked at the script before agreeing to it, and B: he legitimately just can't do it. He's a director I have a bit of respect for, and I don't think he'd renege on his contract or agree to work on a terrible film. That said, anything goes in show business, so if new details come out of this that paint him in the wrong, I'll be sorely disappointed.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

screw wolverine, when are we getting an honest to goodness Deadpool movie?

 

[Axelhander]

Hmmm, a director for a character that needs a hard R rating. I can only think of Zak Snyder, because he's proven that not only will he respect the source material (300 and Watchmen) but he can make it as bloody as it needs to be, which Wolverine needs to be because let's face it, he guts people for a living then chomps on a cigar and tries to seduce redheads with his hair body.

To suggest that Snyder is a suitable replacement for Darren freaking Aronofsky is... what's the most polite way to say this... questionable.

"Respecting the source material" is a statement too often used to really say "adhere to the source material without deviation and without respecting the fact that a film based on said source material must succeed on its own as a film."

That's all I can say while remaining civil towards you, so I'll leave it at that.

Can a director that easily pull out of a CONTRACT because he suddenly realized he doesn't like the location he knew about firsthand? Sounds like a cheap excuse to me.

Anyway, if the script is as "terrific" as Xmen Origins:Wolverine i can understand why he suddenly thinks he's above shit like this.

On the former: depends on the contract. And no contract can force you to work in unsafe conditions to the best of my knowledge (and Japan is, unfortunately, very unsafe at the moment).

On the latter: are you... talking... words? Seriously, no clue what you're trying to say.

 

[Therumancer]

The ideal director would be nobody.

I'll be honest, while he's not to everyone's taste, Wolverine is a great hero, but he doesn't work well as a solo act. His success has largely come about as part of a team where he can play off other established characters. While he HAS held down several solo series, it's noteworthy that even then he usually (though not always) has at least one other major character around to play off of. He's also notable for getting around so much, as he works so well as a supporting character that he shows up in tons of other series all the time.

It's not that his backround and storylines aren't interesting, it's just that they worked well as flashbacks, or when interposed with other stories he was a part of. Doing entire "Wolverine" movies, or even series has a numberof intristic advantages, especially seeing as he's kind of a one dimensional character whose major appeal has largely been him being the anti-thesis of the other characters he teams up with, while still being a good guy.

I look back at one of the first Wolverine "solo acts" and actually perhaps the best, and that was the time when he was doing the Majripoor thing as "Patch" during the Extinction Agenda storyline where Cameron Hodge was running Genosha as an immortal head animated by Mephisto attacked to a robot body (yes, yes, it's exactly as it sounds...). This was the same storyline that more or less made enduring characters like Jubilee, and turned Betsy Braddock into the cult-favorite character she is now (ie she got turned into an Asian and mentally programmed to be a Ninja by an alliance between The Mandarin and The Hand, she was nowhere near as popular before hand). That worked however as a sideline, and while it was interesting and had people interested in seeing more attempts at the same thing, it also had a lot of disadvntages and relied on flashback stories with Captain America and such in order to stand on it's own. You can find some pretty bad solo Wolverine story arcs if you look, and honestly I think he's had more misses than hits.

I can see why they want "Wolverine" movies given his popularity, but I think it won't work out any better than "origins" did because you have to really play around with the character and his personal storylines to make it work, and then he really isn't the same character anymore even if he has the same powers.

I think they should probably keep him with the X-men, and I think the wise desician is actually to back him off a bit more into a supporting role. He's better as one of those characters who does something cool here and there, that keeps you wanting more, rather than someone who comes to the forefront and does his schtick so much that it becomes predictable.

 

[Cheesebob]

Good. It would be a waste of talent. Although people may have said that about Nolan and Batman but whatever. Aronofsky is a better director, I'd like to see him do something like Transmetropolitian.

 

[are.you.the.god.its.me.vader]

I'll admit when I saw the words "director pulls out of wolverine" my mind went to a dark...dark place.


Ideal director? Errrr, me?

 

[qbanknight]

Well...shit. There goes the only reason I had for liking this movie

 

[se7ensenses]

Give the nod to Terry Gilliam

 

[deleted_by_strongbad]

Man, I was really hoping to see the Aranofsky version of Wolverine. Granted what I had envisioned is Wolverine in some dark absurdist merging of Pi and Requiem for a Dream..man that would have been great. Hmm, the only way to make this even close to as badass would be to resurrect Kubrick as Aranofsky's replacement...no wait...Wolverine is unmistakably an ultra-violent ALMOST antihero. Three words for the only possible director: David muthafukkin' Lynch.

 

[Littaly]

A reboot? Man, the X-Men movie time line is becoming more of a mess than the X-Men comic book time line, that's gotta be worth some kind of medal...

 

[Ekonk]

I'll admit when I saw the words "director pulls out of wolverine" my mind went to a dark...dark place.

Dark as in where the sun don't shine, I think.

Anyway, Aronofsky is too good for this. I'm happy to see him retreat from the project.

 

[lazarus1209]

Remember guys, Aronofsky lobbied for this gig, so to presume that he's pulling out because he thinks he's above it is absurd. And give up the dream for an 'R' rating on this movie. There is no way Fox goes forward with anything higher than a PG-13 on this one, especially considering the budget they'll be working with here.

As far as a suitable replacement director, I wouldn't want Snyder. He's too flashy for this kind of pick - I presume we're going with what Aronofsky's vision would have been. Given that who's out there, I'd like to see a David Fincher Wolverine movie(I might as well be dreaming in that scenario) or more realistically, a Bryan Singer flick.

 

[lee1287]

as long a it gets made, ill be happy. Loe me some Hugh.