-
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was the talk of Comic-Con this summer after an impressive promo reel wowed the San Diego crowd. Expectations are high for the X-Men spin-off's release on May 1, 2009 and Hugh Jackman already hinted at the possibilities of a Wolverine sequel. He's currently on the road doing press for his romantic turn opposite Nicole Kidman in Australia, so we can probably expect some more Wolverine news to surface in the coming months.
The new issue of British Movie Mag Empire has two new photos from the film featuring Wolverine in the midst of a primal roar (popping veins and all) and Taylor Kitsch as Gambit playing a little cards. MTV has the Empire pics on their Splash Page. The images don't tell you a whole lot more about the movie, but they do look pretty cool.
Posted 12.01.08 by reelz -
Jeff Katz, a comic book writer and former executive at Fox, came back from the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and says: "I think it delivers."
The movie, opening May 1, 2009, will feature some characters familiar to comic fans but new to theater screens in Gambit and Deadpool (who just might get his own spin-off if Wolverine does well), and will feature a much darker Wolverine than he was portrayed in the previous X-Men movies.
Ultimately though, there's one main reason why Katz was so impressed: "I'm of the belief that you can boil down these characters to a couple of key words, phrases or images that sum up the tone and tenor of what they should be. And to me and [Hugh] Jackman, our mantra for 'Wolverine' has really been one term: 'bad-ass.' As long as 'Wolverine' is consistently bad-ass, people are generally going to go with you. That's what they want from that character." Indeed.
Jackman initiated the "bad-ass" talking point at Comic-Con this summer.
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer premieres exclusively in theaters December 12 before The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Posted 11.26.08 by reelz -
In a piece of truly bizarre news out of Variety, director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven, Out of Sight) is apparently set to direct a "3-D live-action rock 'n' roll musical" about Egyptian Goddess Cleopatra. And he wants Catherine Zeta-Jones to don the golden tiara.
Jones hasn't signed on for the out there idea just yet, nor have other rumored players Hugh Jackman or Marc Anthony. Considering Soderbergh's strong reputation, however, most actors are more than happy to lay their trust in the auteur.
The idea is admittedly strange, but if anyone has a penchant for delivering the unexpected, it's Soderbergh, who has effortlessly bounced between blockbuster efforts like the Ocean series and indies such as The Limey and Full Frontal with few missteps.
Music for the rock opera will be provided by indie rockers Guided by Light while James Greer (Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Just My Luck) will pen the script.
But don't expect the tentatively titled Cleo to hit screens for a few years. The busy director is expected to release Che later this year, starring Benicio Del Toro as Che Guevara. Soderbergh also recently wrapped The Informant starring Matt Damon.
Soberbergh's next effort is The Girlfriend Experience, in which porn star Sasha Grey portrays a $10,000-a-night call girl. And if that weren't enough, he may also polish off his biopic before tackling Cleo. Liberace will star Michael Douglas as the flamboyant entertainer and Matt Damon as his longtime partner.
Source: Variety
Posted 10.24.08 by reelz -
We caught up with Hugh Jackman during his inaugural appearance at Comic-Con to discuss the upcoming X-Men spin-off Wolverine. Jackman compares Wolverine to Mad Max and Dirty Harry, the kinds of characters he grew up with and loved.
Posted 07.25.08 by reelz -
Hugh Jackman and Marc Guggenheim (Eli Stone) are in the process of creating a new comic series, to be entitled Nowhere Man, with the ultimate goal of it being a movie vehicle for Jackman.
The comic, which will be published under the Virgin Comics shingle, is about a futuristic world with a protagonist similar to the one in I Am Legend, say Nowhere Man brass. The story is being developed first as a comic book, with hopes it will make the leap to video game and movie, in which Jackman would star.
Source: Variety.
Posted 03.25.08 by reelz -
It seems that X-Men Origins: Wolverine news is emanating from all over the web these days. The latest scoop comes from filmschoolrejects.com, which is reporting that B-list Marvel villain The Blob will likely make a cameo in Gavin Hood's Wolverine prequel.
From what we could gather from Marvel's official site, The Blob's "super powers" essentially consist of tough skin and morbid obesity -- the former presumably developed in response to the ridicule he received as a result of the latter.
According to filmschoolrejects, footage has already been shot of a guy wearing a fat suit tailored to make him appear to be in the 800 lb. range., with producers reportedly looking at (presumably digital) ways to bump him up to a full metric ton. Never mind CGI -- a few trips to KFC should do the trick.
Posted 02.18.08 by reelz -
The cast of the upcoming Wolverine prequel (officially -- and ponerously -- titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine) appears to be filling out quite nicely. In addition to Hugh Jackman reprising his signature role and Liev Schreiber playing Wolverine nemesis Sabretooth, JoBlo.com is reporting that it appears 30 Days of Night villain Danny Huston has been cast as young William Stryker, the renegade army colonel responsible for the gruesome experiments that gave Wolvie his adamantium skeleton.
We loved Huston in 30 Days of Night. Then again, most of his dialogue in that flick consisted of high-pitched shreaks and the occasional command, spoken in his bizarre vampire language, so we're not entirely sure what to expect.
Source: JoBlo.com
Posted 02.15.08 by reelz -
If director Gavin Hood gets his way, expect the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine to differ dramatically in tone from 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand.
Speaking last week to Secret's Out guest host Aisha Tyler, Hood described his Wolverine as "a person who's really suffering from a great deal of existential angst, who wants to lash out and yet hates himself for doing so...his battle is within his own nature."
Referencing ancient Greek lore, the Rendition director laid out his ambitious plan for the highly anticipated X-Men prequel, in which Hugh Jackman will reprise his trademark role. "These characters are modern mythological characters that represent human emotion in a grand and somewhat operatic way," Hood said of the inhabitants of Wolverine's comic book universe. "And if we can access that and combine it with some good action and some great cinematography and music and sound and so on, then we could have an exciting, emotional movie."
"Exciting and emotional" sounds pretty good, especially when contrasted with Brett Ratner's controversial "shallow and bombastic" approach toward X-Men 3.
Posted 10.24.07 by reelz -
It's true, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is getting off the ground. Gavin Hood, who headed up this weekend's political thriller, Rendition, is the unlikely choice to direct this fanboy prequel that will explore the 'violent and romantic' early years of Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman will be reprising his role and Liev Schreiber is close to nailing down a deal to play a young William Stryker. Shooting is scheduled for Australia, New Zealand, and New Orleans, which is leading some to speculate that the character of Gambit might be making an appearance.
In other news, Kim Basinger has signed on to join Charlize Theron in Guillermo Arriaga's directorial premiere, The Burning Plain. Arriaga, who wrote Babel, also wrote The Burning Plain, which follows a womaon who tries to repair her relationship with her parents after a troubling childhood. Basinger will play Theron's mother.
Source: Variety.
Posted 10.18.07 by reelz -
Looks like Wolverine, the upcoming X-Men spin-off exploring the origins of Hugh Jackman's character, finally has director. Variety reports that South African director Gavin Hood, whose 2005 flick Tsotsi won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, snagged the prized gig after Fox execs caught a glimpse of his latest film, Rendition, a political thriller set to open in October.
Fox must have really liked what they saw in Rendition. Hood's a newcomer to the comic book world with no previous genre experience. It'll be interesting to see how he approaches the Wolverine character.
Wolverine is currently slated for a November 2008 release.
Posted 07.20.07 by reelz