Source: MTV
MTV News briefly spoke with Mangold about "The Wolverine" during an interview about the Blu-ray release of "Cop Land," and the director was more than up for discussing his work with Jackman on a Wolverine that's "more intense than we've ever seen him."
"I was just really intrigued by the script and the project and the boldness of making a really personal Wolverine movie," Mangold said while assuring fans that the "serious action" is still very much there. Umm, one thing the Wolverine didn't really have was the serious action, especially when it came time for people to use their mutant powers. Agent Zero gliding/jumping/teleporting over that fence had to be one of the worst SFX sequences I've ever seen in a movie. But moving back to Mangold, he goes on to state, "But it's also more of a journey for the character in a completely foreign land and more of a mystery and an adventure than it kind of is another save the world 'X-Men' film."
"I think it also goes more deeply into some really great questions about Hugh's character and his journey and where he's going," Mangold said. "In many ways, the storyline makes me think even of Asimov's 'The Bicentennial Man,'" Mangold said. "The man who's here forever must watch mankind make all of its mistakes and also lose everyone they ever love because we all either get killed or die in some way. We pass and they endure. At some point, do you ever get tired of it?"
"Hugh and I have an idea about when in Wolvie's life when we're finding him," Mangold said. "I think it's in a place that will be a little more intense than we've ever seen him. In that sense, we'll be examining his look and everything else through that prism. That would affect everything from his level of musculature to his look."
"I think that we are not rebooting, but we are going deeper into something than anyone's ever gone, and we're finding a way to do that in a really original way," Mangold said.
So, are you guys liking what you're hearing so far from Mangold? Of course it all sounds good on paper but we'll have to wait and see, as far as the execution goes. One just hopes that the SFX are narrowed down to a point of believability. In the first film, the scenes where we had the raw, guttural, knock-down fights between Wolverine and Sabertooth were very well done but by the time we reached the motorcycle jumping, helicopter crashing, fire-escape slashing scenes there was no saving that movie. Sounds like Mangold has learned from the mistakes of the first movie.
In November 2010, Aronofsky stated that the title of the film will be The Wolverine and described the film as a "one-off" rather than a sequel. Also in November, Fox Filmed Entertainment sent out a press release stating that they have signed Darren Aronofsky and his production company Protozoa Pictures to a new two-year, overall deal. Under the deal, Protozoa will develop and produce films for both 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Aronofsky’s debut picture under the pact will be The Wolverine. It had been reported that the film would begin principal photography in March 2011 in New York City before the production moves to Japan for the bulk of shooting. In March 2011, Darren Aronofsky bowed out of directing the film, saying the project would keep him out of the country for too long. In a joint statement with Fox, Aronofsky stated, "As I talked more about the film with my collaborators at Fox, it became clear that the production of The Wolverine would keep me out of the country for almost a year... I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. 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". Fox also decided to be "in no rush" to start the production due to the damage incurred in Japan by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. On June 16, 2011 James Mangold was chosen to direct the film, having previously been on a shortlist which included directors José Padilha, Doug Liman, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Romanek, Justin Lin, and Gavin O'Connor. On June 27, Jackman said in an interview that filming for The Wolverine would start in October. Silver Samurai will be the film's villain. In September 2011, filming was postponed to Spring 2012 so Jackman can work on Les Misérables. Location include both Vancouver and Tokyo, with Mark Bomback doing a rewrite of McQuarrie's script. It was announced that the main cast of the movie will be concluded by Japanese and Japanese-American actors except from the character of Viper (the secretary for Japan's Minister of Justice) who is Caucasian. It is rumored that Israeli actress Sarai Givaty has auditioned for a role, the character is described as a sexy huntress. Givaty has reportedly passed two early auditions and has a third set up directly with director James Mangold.