I guess timing is everything. Around a month ago during
Black Swan's unveiling at the London Film Festival, we had the opportunity to sit down with
Darren Aronofsky to chat about his much buzzed psychological thriller and when we cheekily tried to slip a few Wolverine questions in there, he acted as if he had never heard of the character in all his life. This was during the week when his appointment wasn't quite confirmed but it was increasingly looking likely it would be his next film. Fast forward to this week and now he's officially attached, he has proven to be a lot more chatty about the film to
Drew McWeeny at Hitfix. Aronofsky reveals his film will simply be titled
The Wolverine, which is the 'to the point' name the first movie should have had. I mean did anyone go to their box office clerk and say "2 tickets to
X-Men Origins: Wolverine please" - I doubt it. They would have simply asked for 'Wolverine' - which by the way is the better title than 'The Wolverine' but whatever, I will take The Wolverine over anything Rising, Returning or Beginning or with the number 2 attached. Interestingly Aronofsky says his movie will be an 'one-off' and not a sequel in the conventional sense, which I think everyone expected anyway. We already know that The Wolverine will be set in Asia and will enjoy a cast filled with all Asian actors (instead of
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine) and no further characters from the Singer/Ratner movies, or the first Wolverine movie.
It's also been revealed that cinematographer
Matthew Libatique will shoot the picture - a frequent staple of Aronofsky's films (Black Swan, The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream). So a one shot Wolverine movie directed by Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman from a
Chris McQuarrie screenplay loosely based on a cool
Frank Miller/Chris Claremont era and that isn't bogged down by even having the need to fit into contunity. Well, we can't lose.