There was a very loud sigh of disappointment when Darren Aronofsky dropped out of directing the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine — which is simply titled The Wolverine. After all, Aronofsky was coming off a string of excellent films (including the Oscar-winning Black Swan and the Oscar-nominated The Wrestler) and added immediate prestige to the project. But as we reported months ago, Aronofsky dropped out for less-than-clear reasons, and Variety reports that 20th Century Fox’s search for a new director has produced a shortlist of names that has been whittled down to… well, eight names. What’s fascinating about the list is that there’s such a range of directors listed. And the nominees are:
Jose Padilha (Elite Squad, Elite Squad 2)
Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn’s Finest, Shooter, King Arthur, Training Day)
Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go, One Hour Photo)
Justin Lin (Fast Five)
Gavin O’Connor (Miracle, Pride & Glory)
James Mangold (Knight & Day, 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line)
Gary Shore (Uh, TV commercials. But probably good ones. He also made this nifty Wolverine 2 trailer.)
So there’s a lot of choices here, and I guess 20th Century Fox will go with whomever they think can best direct the material, which is mainly based on the 1982 Chris Claremont/Frank Miller Wolverine mini-series in which the Canadian mutant spends some time in Japan. Darren Aronofsky said before his departure that The Wolverine was more of a “one-of” film than a sequel in an attempt to distance it from the formulaic “superhero movie” approach. That makes sense considering that Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Tourist) wrote the script, who is certainly not a “superhero movie” writer. The incomparable Hugh Jackman will of course return as the title character.
So, do you have a director preference? I’m going with James Mangold, but tell us what you think in the comments!
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