There I was yesterday, on my break from work, and I decided to check out what was happening in the movie world. It had been a slow news week, with nothing really happening with the exception of David Slade directing a new Daredevil film (which I'm cautiously optimistic about, but that's another subject) and then saw some of the most depressing news for a CBM in some time.
Darren Aronofsky had left The Wolverine.
Now, I'm not a big X-Men fan, but I'm a huge Wolverine fan. Say what you will about the character and how overexposed he is, but there's a reason why that is and a reason why he's the most popular X-Men character. That said, I've been waiting for a worthy Wolverine movie for some time. I liked the first two X-Men movies but thought that Wolverine was considerably toned down for them. Then X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine happened. The less said about those two movies and how they treated the character, the better. Then I heard that Fox was producing yet another Wolverine movie and I could only imagine what hack they would hire to further butcher one of my favorite characters.
Then they hired Darren Aronofsky.
My fears turned to hope because I thought that if anyone could capture the torn, gritty, hard-hitting nature of Wolvie, it was Aronofsky. I was curious to see how Aronofsky would handle a mainstream movie, especially a superhero movie produced by Fox, who is notorious for interfering and limiting creative control on their movies.
And once again, Fox came through and messed it up, scaring away Aronofsky. When I read that his excuse for leaving was that he didn't want to be away from his family, I immediately cried "bullshit" on it (especially since Matthew Vaughn used the same excuse for why he left X-Men: The Last Stand). Soon after Aronofsky left reports surfaced that he did indeed leave the project because Fox wouldn't allow him creative control, and of course fans got up arms, immediately condemning The Wolverine, claiming that it will be another crap-fest like the last X-movies.
I'm not ready to give up hope just yet. Yes, the movie did lose an extremely talented director, but I think everything hinges on what Fox and Producer Hugh Jackman's next move is. Some people are already saying that Fox is going to get David Slade to direct seeing how he was the front runner before Aronofsky, but I for one certainly hope this doesn't happen. As a director, Slade has yet to really impress me,30 Days of Night was alright but lacked the tension needed to really make it special, and don't even get me started on the Twilight movies.
It's true that Aronofsky is very big shoes to fill but there are other talented directors out there to fill them. The key right now is to not only find a suitable replacement, but find one that knows how to play the studio game. I'm not saying get a clock-punching director that will walk on, give Fox what they want, and leave, but get a director that will keep Fox at bay while giving us something unique. Do I have an ideal director? Sadly no, seeing how most of the good ones are saddled with other CBM's right now.
So right now, the future of The Wolverine all rests with who Hugh Jackman gets to direct. I have faith in Hugh picking out someone good because he really seems to want to get the character right, and despite the last two lackluster movies, he somehow managed to keep Wolverine's dignity intact. I just one movie to finally give us the beserker rage we all wanted, to show us Wolverine torn between his human side and the raging animal beneath, and to show us Wolvie kicking ass and taking names! So yes, I still have hope for the next Wolverine movie, and to quote Batman, sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.