NERD has been keeping a close eye on the upcoming James Mangold (KNIGHT AND DAY) directed film THE WOLVERINE ever since it got its official title almost a year ago. Back in March of 2011 it was reported that the long connected director Darren Aronofsky left the project only to be replaced three months later by Mangold. Well it looks like Mangold is holding on strong to the project and has recently talked with The Playlist to hype up his new vision for the film. Below is what he has to say:
“You can actually just tell a story about this amazing character from the start, just the way they do when you read a comic. It isn’t an origin story, so I’m freed from that burden, and it also isn’t a save-the-world movie, which most of them are. It’s actually a character piece; it has more in common with The Outlaw Josey Wales and Chinatown. We’re not crowded with cutting to nine other action heroes. We can really make a movie about this dude.”
“This movie is an intense psychological and action-packed character piece,” Mangold promises. “It’s much more about Logan getting lost in these very insulated worlds of Japanese culture, gangster culture, and ninja culture. The fighting is all influenced by Japanese martial arts, and half of the characters in this movie speak Japanese. This is like a foreign-language superhero movie; it’s as much a drama and a detective story and a film noir as it is anything like a conventional tentpole film.”
As a HUGE fan of Mangold’s work on such film as KNIGHT AND DAY and 3:10 TO YUMA, I am more than confident that he is a good fit for this project. I admire his enthusiasm and respect how open he is about his vision. Hopefully we will learn more about this project in the coming months and be sure to check back in for all the latest updates.
THE WOLVERINE is scheduled for a summer 2013 release.
