The Wolverine : Post Production/Publicity

[jo]

More photos ( borrowed from the "Wolverine" message board of SuperHeroHype)








Thanks, SHH!


Jo

[jo]

comicbook.com/blog/2013/05/24/bryan-singer-banned-comic-books-from-x-men-movie-set/

Bryan Singer Banned Comic Books From X-Men Movie Set


By: Scott Johnson on May 24, 2013
In : Movies, The Wolverine




In an interview in Entertainment Weekly about The Wolverine, Hugh Jackman reveals a rather interesting tidbit of information about director Bryan Singer. Back when Singer was shooting the first X-Men movie in 1999, comic book movies weren’t the box office juggernaut that they are today.

In fact, Bryan Singer took the unusual move of actually banning comic books from the set, because he didn’t want his actors to be wrongly influenced by focusing on the comic stories rather than the movie script. However, Singer’s ban on comic books resulted in them actually being everywhere on the set.

Jackman said, “Through the trailer door would come comics.” It was during this very first X-Men movie that Jackman read Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s Wolverine limited series from 1982. After reading that take on the Wolverine, Jackman decided he wanted to make a Wolverine movie like that some day.

The Wolverine is scheduled to be released in movie theaters in the Unitedd States on July 26, 2013.

Just an interesting thought -- I wonder what the working relationship is now for Hugh and Bryan Singer? The first times they worked together, Hugh was a newcomer ( esp for XMEN) and had not achieved the Hollywood acclaim and respect he has now. Bryan seems to be a dominating kind of director...but Hugh has also become a FOX key figure for the XMEN series ( even attaining producer's credit for the last few movies). Can Bryan still ban comic books from the set? LOL!

Jo

[jo]

Interesting that SEED PRODUCTIONS ( probably the corporate shell) is still listed as a Production Company for the two new XMEN movies --

www.imdb.com/company/co0018020/?ref_=ttco_co_11

*The Wolverine
*XMEN:Days of Future Past

For Days of Future Past, it is listed as UNCREDITED.

I wonder if that was part of the deal when Hugh signed up for Days of Future Past ( was that a way by which his compensation was worked out?)? Being producer for The Wolverine is understandable, though.

Jo

[mamaleh]

Ah, Hugh's Entertainment Weekly cover issue was in my mailbox today, and he's nicely represented on several pages. Page 4 has a photo of him and EW editor Jess Cagle doing their SiriusXM interview, Page 8 features a mini-version of the cover photo, and there's a cute caricature of Hugh alongside others on the "Summer Must List" on Page 41. (He's the hairy one between Jessica Walter and Seth Rogen, LOL.) The six-page spread on THE WOLVERINE, "And Now for His Sixth Act...," begins on Page 42. Good article, though the slant does seem to be that this is Wolvie's chance to redeem himself after the franchise was "bruised" by XMO:W.

I liked the quote from model-turned-neophyte actress Tao Okamoto (Mariko) who initially didn't want to go to the audition, and then learned her character would be Hugh's love interest: "Oh, maybe I can go." Duh!!!

Just noticed: there's also a pull-out on the "25 Greatest Movie Superheroes," which cites Wolverine twice: once as a member of number 8, the X-Men; and once as a solo, number 16. The illustration for the number 16 spot is the EW cover preceding the release of XMO:W.

Ellen

[jo]

Thanks for the EW scoops, Ellen.

Some are disdainful of how fashion models were chosen for this movie - both Rila and Tao are high fashion models ( I have actually seen Rila in a Vogue photo shoot).

But high fashion photography ( especially in magazines like Vogue where famous photographers do the photoshoots - calibre of Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, etc) involves some amount of acting -- mood and emotions have to show correctly and impressively on their faces and body language even if it is the clothes and accessories that are being showcased. I guess that was why Eddie Redmayne was a successful male model for Burberry - he has an expressive face, even if he does not have the conventional good looks of a male model. Another factor in the choice of Rila and Tao could be their proficiency in English ( as they have worked in the English-speaking world) - it might have been difficult to cast other Japanese actresses who have only been in Japanese films.

Although James Mangold was very pleased with these Rila and Tao, shown on his tweets about them.

Jo

[jo]

Part of the advance publicity for THE WOLVERINE --

Summary of key points during part of the Sirius Town Hall session, including brief clips.

comicbook.com/blog/2013/05/24/the-wolverines-jackman-reveals-what-power-he-wants-and-more/

The Wolverine’s Jackman Reveals What Power He Wants and More


By: Russ Burlingame on May 24, 2013
In : Movies, The Wolverine





As part of the launch of Entertainment Weekly Radio and the Town Hall show, The Wolverine star Hugh Jackman joined a group of fans, moderated by EW‘s Jess Cagle, and answered some personal and professional questions.

Sirius XM Radio have provided ComicBook.com with a sampling; you can check out the questions and answers below.


One fan asked Jackman who would be there if he could host a dinner with anyone he wanted, living or dead.

“Nelson Mandela would still be the top of my list,” Jackman said. “I think the book A Long Walk to Freedom, to me, is one of the most inspiring books of all time and to me he is the living embodiment of Jean Valjean.”

He added that since he’d always been fascinated by history and philosophy, he’d also like Socrates to be there, “and just to spice it up, Ricky Gervais…because otherwise it would be way too earnest.”

Incidentally, it’s Jean Valjean that was his hardest role–although he finds beefing up to play Wolverine the hardest diet he has to endure.

Another fan asked him what power he would want from the X-Men library, leading to a very practical real-world answer from the actor.

“Easy–I know which one, easy. Teleporting! Don’t you think teleporting would be great? No more security at the airport,” laughed Jackman. “And also, for an actor my job is I do have to travel and now with family all back in Australia, I could have just gone and had a swim at Bondi, come here for the Town Hall, picked up my kids in the afternoon? That’d be awesome–teleporting would be great.”

You can check out the clips from Soundcloud below.

One clip could not be downloaded, at least for me.

Jo

[foxie]

couldn't get the sound but thanks for the article!

[jo]

It looks like this is a Limited Edition cover page for an EmpireOnline edition --






It is a great image of Wolverine with a Japanese weapon. Hope it also appears on the regular issue.



Jo

[foxie]

I am watching Wolverine or Ximena I don't know which since I came in the middle but nowI know where Pauly D got his hair style!!!!!

[jo]

Here's the other version of the hightly-coveted EMPRIRE magazine cover --



Empire calls it " in adamantium and gold" smiley-happy096

[jo]

Logan and Mariko

[jo]

From the cover story of EMPIRE?


Jo

[jo]

How does he fight off all these ninjas?

Will they hew to the original script?


Jo

[jo]

Long (very long!) set interview when the movie was being filmed in Sydney --

screenrant.com/the-wolverine-movie-set-interview-hugh-jackman/all/1/

‘The Wolverine’ Set Interview: Hugh Jackman

by Rob Keyes



While on the Australian set of The Wolverine last fall, walking into a tent full of ninjas waiting for the wind to die down before they’re called to set, we prepare to to chat with the star of the film. The ninja army leaving doesn’t help reduce the noise in the large tent being blasted by the wind. After a few minutes, Hugh Jackman walks in, wishing to chat with us before he goes in for his makeup and hair. He’s noticeably tall, unassuming, and he walks in with a smile, introducing himself as “Hugh” as if we didn’t know who he was.

Under my button down is a classic X-Men t-shirt, he notices a corner of the logo, grabs my shirt asking what’s on it and I assure him that Wolverine’s there as I reveal the early ’90s team. I was told, actually warned, he likes that sort of stuff, I wasn’t told he loves that stuff.



There’s myself and two others as we sit down on one of the dozens of wooden lunch tables is the vast temporary structure and begin our interview which we were told would be around 10 minutes.


Hugh Jackman: “How’s it going, guys?”

Good, yourself? A little windy.


“A little windy, yeah, unfortunately. It’s frustrating.”

Okay, so the first thing we wanted to kind of ask you is where will we find the Wolverine character in the beginning of this film? We’ve heard a little bit about Wolverine’s at his lowest point at the beginning of this film. Could you tell us a little bit about that?


“Well, you know where it takes place, right?”

After the [X-Men] trilogy.


“Yeah. So, pretty much as you know, a lot of his life even though a fair bit of it he couldn’t remember, even the bits he does remember has involved pain and loss and the people closest to him dying, sometimes at his own hands, as you saw in X-Men 3. So, he’s pretty much jacked off with life, with himself, with who he is, with his past. He really just wants out. He is finding it tough to find a reason for anything—to live, and battling with himself, with his really—with his immortality. All these things, everything close to him dies, so he doesn’t want to be close to anything. So, he’s pretty much off on his own. I don’t think I want to tell you much more than that.”



When you say everybody he knows dies, does that mean that this is further in the future?


“Well, not everyone, but the people he loves, you know? He’s not good for people that are close to him. So, what was your question?”

No, that was it.


“Oh, that was it, right.”

So, the Claremont Wolverine series, you were drawn to that. What was it about it that was interesting to you?


“Our movie is obviously quite different. I mean, it’s not an X-Men reunion and there’s no wedding like that. But, I just immediately loved the intrigue of the world, that it was based on some things that are true—the Yakuza, the elements of Japanese life. And I just think the juxtaposition of who he is as a character thrown into this world, which is just so opposite to him, where he kind of ends up at first, you know, he’s sort of disdainful of it all, dismissive, and then he actually starts to learn some things. I love that first scene where he kind of, he’s a little poisoned and he gets his ass kicked by the father. You know, I thought it was unexpected, and I think that’s the great thing about that series and about the world we’re setting up. A lot of it’s unexpected and a lot of it, it’s not jam packed full of mutants everywhere and powers, but it is otherworldly, in a way, and it’s a fish out of water story and he’s in our movie. Certainly, through Wolverine’s eyes, it’s really foreign and you don’t know who’s what. You don’t really know who’s good or bad. You don’t really know what’s at play. All we know is there’s a lot of confusing, intricate elements.

The love triangle between Logan, Yukio and Mariko was a big part of the comic series.


“Yes.”

Does that factor into this film as well?


“Yeah, it’s obviously different because we’re not starting—well, I’m trying to work that out before…..” [Looks towards publicists at neighboring table]

(Laughs) We understand.


“Yeah, I know. There is an element there, but it is different than it is in the comic. But, I think that we touched on it enough that the fans of the comic will I think be really impressed with what Chris McQuarrie, how he interpreted it and how he came up with it to make it a narrative film line, I think was really smart, and I think actually even the points where we move away, the fans will go, ‘Oh, actually, that’s really cool, and I see why,’ I’m pretty sure.

Our own Kofi Outlaw spoke with Christopher McQuarrie about Jack Reacher late last year where he detailed his original vision for The Wolverine, a screenplay he describes as his best work, and one that surprisingly involved no other mutants.


I have a question. So, when you did the live chat with Ryan [Penagos aka Agent M] on Monday, you specifically used the word, we’re going to see your “Kryptonite,” so to speak. Can you tell us a little bit about the physical dangers that you deal with, and whether or not mutants factor into that—mutant powers or mutant abilities?


“Right. Well, there are definitely, you know, let me start by saying I always think one of the most interesting things about Wolverine is the battle within himself. I think that is key, key to this story too, and that’s where we start and it’s really the resolution where we finish. There are a number of other mutants. You know about Viper, obviously. There’s others that are certainly formidable in a very classic sense, I think. The fans will be really excited about that. So, there’s a number of opponents to him that are great matches for Wolverine.

In terms of his Kryptonite, we were getting in that situation, and it was Chris McQuarrie who first said it to me, he said, ‘There’s this weird inflation or power to the point where it feels like there’s very little danger, you know, to him, very little peril and it’s like that. So, what you know, really, he’s been shot. Oh, so now we gotta shoot him with an atomic bomb?’ So, in this movie, and now I actually can’t tell you why because it’s so endemic to the core of the story. But, I was about to say something which would’ve given it away—no, I think he’s just very, he’s certainly compromised. And so, some of the things he could rely on, he can’t all of. So, that’s what I meant by Kryptonite.

This is a key part of the marketing so far when it comes to both trailers (one and two) of The Wolverine. Something happens and when Wolverine is shot at the funeral, his healing powers don’t work as expected. We have yet to discover the cause of it, whether it’s a permanent change that’ll end his “curse” as promised or something caused by poison or another mutant power.

So what is it about the Japanese culture that draws Logan in?


It’s girls, first, as is with him (laughs), you know, his weakness, really. There’s a lot more girls in this, but it really is actually a girl. I mean, in our story, the reason he gets over there, I definitely can’t tell you. I know you guys will love it. It’s fantastic. It’s Chris McQuarrie at his best. So, he gets drawn in very reluctantly, what is going to be a flyby, and it’s got to do with something in his past and something that he said he would do a long time ago in his past that he’s avoided, really for years, and just sort of, ah fuck it, I’ll go, you know, that kind of thing. But, what really draws him in is the girl. That’s what makes him stay a little longer than he normally would’ve, should’ve, whatever, however you want to look at it. But, I think your question is a good one because this idea of tradition and family, honor, history, the whole samurai code are opposite to him. He kind of thinks it’s a bit like how you found him in X-Men – this whole idea of teams and this and schools. It’s a crock, you know? He’s just look after yourself and do the best you can, don’t worry about all this other stuff. He actually realizes through it – even though he’s definitely still a little disdainful of a lot of it – he realizes that actually in some way, the strength of those codes is in some ways greater than his own strength. So, he sees the positive side to it as well, and certainly learns from it. And one of the cool things of the action is, not that he’s going to finish up the full samurai, and I know we’ve seen those images. Those certainly are some of the elements, particularly the mind control, which is something he’s obviously struggled with his whole life. There are elements that he picks up on.



So we know a lot of this film deals with the idea of immortality, something you deal with with all of this loss. How many years does this take place after the X-Men films? Could we ever see something of Logan in the future, like Old Man Logan from the comics where he’s looking back on his life and he’s lost even more?


“Mmm… Great question. Can I say generally how long after? (looking at publicist)

Publicist: Yeah.

Jackman: A few years, not that far. So, it’s not that long after X-Men 3 finishes, long enough so that you see him—and you’ve probably seen the pictures of me with a really long ass beard and the long hair. Right. So, obviously long enough for that, and long enough to feel that he’s settled into this kind of rut that he’s in. Essentially, he’s doing his best to stop himself from inflicting more damage and pain on everyone around him. I didn’t answer the second part about the older. I think that would be fascinating, and I think that I can’t really answer that question because you’re onto something.”



It seems like from talking to the second unit director [David Leitch], it seems like the action and the tone of this film is very different than the action films or even the Wolverine films. Can you talk a little bit about that?


“Yeah, it definitely feels like a standalone movie in every way. I always hated the idea of saying ‘Wolverine 2.’ I didn’t know what it was going to be called. It was the studio, I think, who came up with the idea of the title, and I was like, ‘Fantastic.’ Because in a way, I knew that everybody, from studio down, was embracing this idea of this movie being different, and it needed to be. I mean, it was one of the reasons why the comic books are so popular. It feels like a whole different offshoot and I think visually, stylistically, the movie—and I’ve probably seen at least 45 minutes cut together and I’m so happy with it. I definitely think it’s the best I’ve been in the character. I look at it and go, ‘Wow.’ It feels different and it feels in a way more like the character that I envisioned when I first read it. I think their style is different. The palette, the design is different. The story is different. This is not jam packed with mutants. This is not a massive, special effects movie, and nor should it be. It doesn’t need to be. This is a character study about this guy, and setting it in this world I think is just exciting because as I said, we start normally where you might finish a movie, you know? It’s over, so you kinda need to bring him out of that, but he’s still dragging. I keep thinking of ‘The Mission’ and Robert De Niro with all that stuff up the mountain. He’s still dragging it all with him that in this world it’s this fantastic opportunity to see him really try and embrace who he really is, which is the essential struggle, always that I feel like we’ve never really taken him down far enough in order for him to see that rebirth, and to see him really embrace who he is or not. We’ll see, you know?

Is there any room for Logan to be happy, or is it always at his lowest point?


“Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, like, it just feels disingenuous to have a completely happy ending. I don’t know—and Chris McQuarrie talked about that, or we talked about that two or three years ago. Jim [Mangold] and I, I think, you can definitely talk more him the battle to be at peace with himself, the battle to be happy. It just sends the wrong conversation for this character. But, his version of happy is different from my version of happy, you know? I think he’s a lot more badass than me, but there’s certainly a lot more women around in this movie. He’s happy for that.

We heard that Bryan Singer’s rejoining the X-Men.


“Yes, I just read about that, yeah. I think it’s great.”


Is Wolverine going to be involved?


“We’ll see. I don’t know. I don’t know about that. I’ve just gotta focus on this one, but yeah.

Publicist: Thank you very much

Jackman: I’ve got a couple more minutes.”

One question I had—


Jackman: (To Publicist) Unless you’re worried about what I’m saying. Is that what that’s about? Yeah, right.

Side-note: Jackman himself effectively doubled our interview time and was very enthusiastic about just chatting all things X-Men.

I was very excited when Aronofsky was going to be directing.


“Me too.”

But I’m equally excited about James. I’m just wondering, how much has the film changed from when Darren was working on it, and what kind of changes?


“That’s a good question. Not too much. Like, maybe 10, 15 percent is the realm of changes script wise. Obviously, stylistically, who knows what Darren would’ve brought?”

What has James brought to the project?


“Many, many great, great things, which are key story points that I can’t tell you. They were some of the actual lynch pins of this, he really brought to it. Out of defense to Darren, I don’t think we got to the point—even though we were on and it was going—because he had “Black Swan” and all that going, we hadn’t got to the point where I was really seeing his shooting script. I don’t think he stepped over that line. Like, he was making the movie, but you know, for Darren, I’ve worked with him on a movie, so I know where he gets to. I don’t think I’d seen the final version. Like, he was working on the script as it was, and in that way, the story hasn’t changed that much because he responded to Chris McQuarrie’s like Jim did. And Chris is really, really great, and this is one of the movies that even he said to me, he goes, “Sometimes I struggle with a movie. This is one of those ones where I said whoosh, it just came out.” You could feel it when you read it. So, even now the draft we have, and of course, we’ve had writers come on and help with this or that, change this or that, it’s still 80 percent of what Chris was writing, you know? It was never one of those, oh, it’s great, but we have no third act, or we have none. So, in that way, Jim first said to me ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ you know, and that idea of that character who’s driven by this—well, in that movie it’s clear sort of revenge and desolation of everything that he’s had. So, it’s not exactly the same, but stylistically, I think he was onto something really great. He’s definitely made me angrier, surlier, more tortured. He’s encouraged me at every turn to—you know, at times I want to quip, and here and there I’ll quip, and occasionally they’re there, but very careful about that, about us losing the tone, which is notably darker in this movie, which I think is always the way it’s gotta be. But really, in many ways, both of them are very assured filmmakers, and they would’ve been different movies, but again, I want to say in the 20 percent difference, not like chalk and cheese.”

With Darren’s story, was it also going to be based after the other films? That was always the plan?


“Yeah, yeah.”


With this being a darker film, is an R rated film more appropriate?


“We talked about it. Darren and I talked about it. Jim and I talked about it. The studio and I talked about it. By the way, they were open to that idea because if you’re ever going to make a real character R-rated, Wolverine’s the one, and I can… part of me would just love to indulge in the freedom that that gives you. On the same point, and I worked with him, but I’m forever grateful to Chris Nolan because I think what he’s shown is actually the R-rating is not necessary to give you a satisfying, smart, dark, emotionally complex story. All I said to Darren and I said to Jim, I said, ‘It’s tempting , could be great.’ Obviously, the samurai elements, and you think of the history of blood spattering and all of that, the visuals, all of that, which is so tempting, I can’t tell you in the last 10 years how many 11, 13, 15 year olds, 17 year olds that I’ve met that it’s not just ‘cool movie, man,’ what it means to them. And so, I say, we’ve gotta have an incredible reason to deliberately exclude them, because that’s what we’re saying. We’re saying, ‘This is not for you,’ or ‘you can watch it in six years’ time. I mean, of course, they’ll all watch it anyway. But the message is, ‘This is not for you.’ And I just said, ‘In the end, actually, everything we wanted to do with an R-rated version, we are doing in terms of who the character is.’ So, yeah. One more?

Side-note: For more on an R rated Wolverine from the directors and producer, click here.

Yeah, sure. We saw the set photo from “Empire,” which had you sporting the old bone claws. We also saw some photos from the prison camp. Can you tell us how much time was spent in World War II? We think it’s World War II, or in the past, and how that affects…

“Good leading question, man. It is in the past.”


A reason why you go back to Japan? How does that affect him?


“It is related. It’s not that much of the movie time wise, but it’s a significant story point. It is, yeah, yeah.”


Is it a certain character in the past?


“Yes.”

Okay. I think a lot of fans would want to know, would Wolverine—you as Wolverine—ever appear in an Avengers movie? Do you think the legal powers that be could ever make that happen?


“You know, obviously we have people from—one of the great things about this movie is that a lot of people from Marvel are here and it seems a lot more inclusive than it has been in the past. I don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, but I think it’s fantastic. I actually just asked the other day, I said, ‘I don’t know what the legal situation is, but why don’t these companies come together? Why isn’t it possible?’ Because personally, I would love to mix it up with Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man and kick his ass. It’d be great. (laughs) There you go. There’s your quote. (Laughs)



That’s why we came here.


“Now I’m getting yanked. But no, I think it’d be fantastic. I loved The Avengers. I love what they do with it. Kevin Feige, by the way, I can tell you is one of the true gentlemen of this business. And I say that from when he was on X-Men 1, and I don’t even know what his role was, officially, associate producer maybe? But, when I first auditioned for Bryan [Singer], Dougray [Scott] was playing the role. Bryan… I think I was sent there by the studio. I don’t think he even knew I was coming, and it was one of those auditions you walk out going, ‘Well, I know this isn’t happening.’ Instead of just putting me on a plane, I remember him taking me out, him and Tom DeSanto took me out for a restaurant because I had to stay overnight. It was too late. They took me out for dinner. I remember thinking, I go, ‘Well, I know I’m not in this movie, so you guys are true gentlemen.’ They were really nice. I know how busy they were. They were already filming at the time, and I know I really wasn’t doing it. I know what was going on behind the scenes. And within a week, all of a sudden the Dougray thing started to unravel. So then, I went back and did a real audition. But the first one, I don’t know what the first one was, maybe for the studio to see me more. I don’t know, or maybe they were anticipating what was coming. Who knows? But anyway, I just always remember Kevin and I have such a soft spot for him, and I’m in touch with him and I don’t know how I got onto that. But anyway, I’m basically really happy and proud of what he’s achieved. I think he’s making great movies. People love them. And consistency is incredible. So, who wouldn’t want to be involved with that?


The Wolverine is directed by James Mangold off of Mark Bomback and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay. It stars Hugh Jackman, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rila Fukushima.

_____

The Wolverine hits theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on July 18, 2014.

[jo]

Two interesting responses from Hugh, which I think encapsulates the movie version and the approach to making it --

“Yeah, it definitely feels like a standalone movie in every way. I always hated the idea of saying ‘Wolverine 2.’ I didn’t know what it was going to be called. It was the studio, I think, who came up with the idea of the title, and I was like, ‘Fantastic.’ Because in a way, I knew that everybody, from studio down, was embracing this idea of this movie being different, and it needed to be. I mean, it was one of the reasons why the comic books are so popular. It feels like a whole different offshoot and I think visually, stylistically, the movie—and I’ve probably seen at least 45 minutes cut together and I’m so happy with it. I definitely think it’s the best I’ve been in the character. I look at it and go, ‘Wow.’ It feels different and it feels in a way more like the character that I envisioned when I first read it. I think their style is different. The palette, the design is different. The story is different. This is not jam packed with mutants. This is not a massive, special effects movie, and nor should it be. It doesn’t need to be. This is a character study about this guy, and setting it in this world I think is just exciting because as I said, we start normally where you might finish a movie, you know? It’s over, so you kinda need to bring him out of that, but he’s still dragging. I keep thinking of ‘The Mission’ and Robert De Niro with all that stuff up the mountain. He’s still dragging it all with him that in this world it’s this fantastic opportunity to see him really try and embrace who he really is, which is the essential struggle, always that I feel like we’ve never really taken him down far enough in order for him to see that rebirth, and to see him really embrace who he is or not. We’ll see, you know?

“Many, many great, great things, which are key story points that I can’t tell you. They were some of the actual lynch pins of this, he really brought to it. Out of defense to Darren, I don’t think we got to the point—even though we were on and it was going—because he had “Black Swan” and all that going, we hadn’t got to the point where I was really seeing his shooting script. I don’t think he stepped over that line. Like, he was making the movie, but you know, for Darren, I’ve worked with him on a movie, so I know where he gets to. I don’t think I’d seen the final version. Like, he was working on the script as it was, and in that way, the story hasn’t changed that much because he responded to Chris McQuarrie’s like Jim did. And Chris is really, really great, and this is one of the movies that even he said to me, he goes, “Sometimes I struggle with a movie. This is one of those ones where I said whoosh, it just came out.” You could feel it when you read it. So, even now the draft we have, and of course, we’ve had writers come on and help with this or that, change this or that, it’s still 80 percent of what Chris was writing, you know? It was never one of those, oh, it’s great, but we have no third act, or we have none. So, in that way, Jim first said to me ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ you know, and that idea of that character who’s driven by this—well, in that movie it’s clear sort of revenge and desolation of everything that he’s had. So, it’s not exactly the same, but stylistically, I think he was onto something really great. He’s definitely made me angrier, surlier, more tortured. He’s encouraged me at every turn to—you know, at times I want to quip, and here and there I’ll quip, and occasionally they’re there, but very careful about that, about us losing the tone, which is notably darker in this movie, which I think is always the way it’s gotta be. But really, in many ways, both of them are very assured filmmakers, and they would’ve been different movies, but again, I want to say in the 20 percent difference, not like chalk and cheese.”

[jo]

Rob Keyes of Screen Rant shares his experiences when he came to the Sydney set of THE WOLVERINE --

screenrant.com/the-wolverine-movie-details-set-report/

Exploring The Set of ‘The Wolverine’ – Part One


by Rob Keyes


Last Halloween, when not suiting up as Hawkeye, I traveled to Japan. I was in an old, icy, snow-topped village and there were ninja warriors everywhere dressed in classic black shinobi shōzoku, on the street and on the rooftops of the dark wooden structures. It was night time and the houses and shops down the street were highlighted by the sheen of icicles as snow softly fell from the sky. There was a snowplow in the middle of the street with a woman behind the wheel sporting a noticeably colorful hairstyle. On top of the machine stood a fierce and rugged man, wearing a winter coat on top of a white beater.

He had blades extending from his fist, his name was Logan and I wasn’t really in the cold winter of old Japan. I was in Olympic Park in Sydney Australia and it was a hot summer day. At night, while we watched the second unit film action sequences of Hugh Jackman preparing to battle an army of agile foes, it got pretty cold – at least it looked cold – as we stood and watched Jackman and the large cast of extras work their magic in front of the cameras on the set of The Wolverine.


Let’s rewind. Twentieth Century Fox invited us to visit the set of James Mangold’s The Wolverine last fall to watch a few sequences being shot and meet the cast and crew. The time difference was two tiers away from normal and beyond description, but seeing a mutant fight ninjas negates the human need for sleep.



It’s the day after Disney bought Lucasfilm and for our late afternoon, evening and overnight tour of the sets for Twentieth Century Fox’s The Wolverine we began by taking a boat to Sydney Olympic Park, where the crew had assembled a large outdoor set, enclosed by the carefully designed exteriors of an old Japanese village, surrounded by another layer of work tents and trailers and beyond that, another layer of fencing for security. For a large visible parking lot, the area was rather desolate and outside of the public’s eye even though in the distance one of the Olympic buildings could be seen.

Fake snow calmly floated from the night sky onto the shockingly real, yet entirely artificial set. Even the moonlight above came from cranes holding a massive rack of lights, a structure that needed the wind to die down for safety reasons before the crew could shoot their scenes.



The aesthetic from street view looked incredibly authentic, from the detailed snow and ice on structures and on the ground, to the Japanese license plates on the vehicles and signage on the walls. We walk through a very narrow alleyway which leads behind the buildings to a tent where Hugh Jackman is later outfitted with a safety harness for the scene he’s shooting, and there are two stations of monitors, one where an editor is actively cutting footage on the fly and another where second unit director David Leitch took time to show us footage they had shot over the last several days.

Without any special effects and barely any editing, the footage looked real. We saw scenes of Jackman’s Logan running through the street being shot repeatedly by arrows, becoming a pin cushion of sorts for the ninjas’ ranged weapons, and we saw scenes of ninjas riding motorcycles on the snowy village rooftops, doing all sorts of stunts, including most notably, a shot where Wolverine is held down by chains and one biker does a backflip to hit him in the face with the rear wheel of the bike. No CG effects, just cut together.



X-Men Origins: Wolverine was criticized for its shoddy special effects in some of its action sequences and scenes involving Logan’s adamantium claws. In The Wolverine, that’s a non-issue and everyone we spoke to about the film being grittier, more real and more visceral were not exaggerating. The general message is that viewers will feel the blow of each hit and when Wolverine swings those claws, there will be damage.

We won’t spoil the sequence depicted on the storyboards behind the monitors, but fans of Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s run on the Wolverine comics will be happy with how iconic moments are paid tribute in the movie adaptation. A stunt coordinator tells us:


“We went back to this particular comic for the iconic images so you’re going to see a lot of those spiced throughout. Tonight you might even catch a few of the images from the Frank Miller stuff, and I mean, we’re all fans of that so we want to make sure that we’re true to that.”

The sun has vanished and at this point the crew is still waiting for the wind to die down and it’s going to be an even later start than expected. So we take the time to chat with some of the crew, from assistant directors to stunt coordinators who have nothing but praise for Jackman’s abilities and work ethic.


“Obviously there’s going to be heightened reality and there are going to be big set pieces but the way we did the action is way more grounded, with way more practical stunts, with more human talent. In this sequence with the performers we have parkour artists, great freerunners and acrobats, great motorcycle riders and we’re just shooting real, real stunts, so it’s great.”

The footage we watched from the previous day’s dailies and what we were later going to watch live, we were told, may be the most complex action set piece in the film.


“We’ve got three bikes at speed all performing various stunts in amongst ninjas jumping, leaping, bounding all while they’re fighting Hugh who’s in the middle of it all. So to get that choreography to work time and time again without ever trying to put Hugh in any danger whatsoever – I mean obviously there’s an element of risk with any action sequence you do and you just try to minimize that. The benefit to us is that Hugh is just so capable. In another life he was probably a stuntman because you can put him in a 20 beat fight with next to no rehearsal he picks it up like that and to find an actor like that, who can do that, is very rare.”



A few fun facts and observations:
•Through disarms, we will see Wolverine using other weapons although the claws remain his primary.
•Fight coordinator Jonathan Eusebio – a massive comics fan – came up with some very interesting and unique fights for Wolverine fighting humans, ranging from ninjas to the Yakuza gang, to mutants as well. Many of the action sequences, how they finish is the same as the books.
•What we saw and what was described felt like an R rated film, like a Jason Bourne movie with more bladed weapons and harder-hitting combat in larger-scale sequences.
•The props master showed us a trailer full of functional bows. They were black, matching the outfits of the many ninjas wandering around set, with silver arrows with black fletching. There were swords and smaller blades everywhere, even a few spears. He even had a chained weapon (a Bolas) he designed for Trinity in The Matrix sequels but it was never used.
•Shingen Yashida (Hiroyuki Sanada) is by far the best swordsman.
•The stunt guys wanted Shuriken (throwing stars) but they wouldn’t work for the scene so are not used. There are however, firearms in the film to go along with the bows (Korean Horse Bows) and arrows.
•The props master also designed the knife used by Crocodile Dundee.
•Behind the set structures, there are wooden planks everywhere with a complex set of ramps for motorcycles to drive up to the roof of each building. There are white camouflaged matts to offer the bikes gripping as they traverse the rooftops in pursuit of Wolverine.

With some time before the second unit could being shooting, we interviewed Hugh Jackman (Logan) and Rila Fukushima (Yukio) and then traveled by car to the main unit to see the multiple sound stages of Fox Studios Australia where James Mangold was shooting a top secret scene.

Stay tuned for Part Two of our visit to the set of The Wolverine where we explore the main stages.

[jo]

More observations...with an eyebrow-lifting last comment!

www.slashfilm.com/25-things-i-learned-on-the-set-of-the-wolverine/

Excerpts:

Darren Aronofsky was originally set to direct the film, reuniting with his Fountain star. Aronofsky worked on the project for six months which included rewriting the screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie. He departed citing the long overseas shoot would prevent him from being with his son, but online sites speculated that the studio was unwilling to approve his hard R-rated draft of the script. Hugh Jackman told me that he believes Aronofsky was never 100% committed, that he was developing it but not ready to shoot it. James Mangold replaced Aronofsky as director, and Jackman claims that James changed about 15 percent of the movie since boarding the project. Mangold says he spoke with Aronofsky before he became involved with the project...


The Wolverine will be the first X-Men movie released in 3D. The decision to post convert the film to 3D has not affected the way James Mangold shot the film. Mangold says he does not want to use 3D as a gimmick coming out of the screen, but instead using it more as a window into a world.

A cynical Mangold was shocked that 20th Century Fox agreed to let him end the film in the way he wanted.

[jo]

COLLIDER interviews are usually much more enjoyable to read --

collider.com/hugh-jackman-the-wolverine-interview

Hugh Jackman Talks Finally Putting “the Real Wolverine” on Screen, the Comics Influence, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub Posted: May 28th, 2013 at 9:00 am


Many people have wondered where and when The Wolverine takes place in the X-Men movie timeline, and how much influence the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller Wolverine comic book series had on the story. During an on-set interview in Sydney last year, I participated in a group interview with Hugh Jackman. He explained while they had to change some of the storyline, “There’s definitely a lot of similarities. More similarities than differences. The fans will definitely be excited by it.” He also told us:


“I think one of the keys to me in signing on to this movie was that we had a very strong idea and we had a strong approach to the story. That we really went from something new and different, and the moment the studio agreed to call it The Wolverine, I was just thrilled, rather than saying Wolverine 2. This is a standalone movie. This is set in a different time. It’s fairly after X-Men Origins, we’re in a different location with Jim Mangold, who’s a terrific director, we have a visual style that is different from all the other X-Men movies. I think it’s going to feel very fresh.”

Jackman also talked about the challenges of bringing this new spin-off to movie screens, what makes him “The Wolverine,” the humor and Logan’s irreverent side, and so much more. Hit the jump for the interview.

Question: This is a project that has gone through a little bit of development hell. You had multiple directors, a lot of people working on the script.

HUGH JACKMAN: Does two make multiple?

Yes. What’s it like for you finally being on set filming this thing?

JACKMAN: Fantastic. It’s weird. Maybe on paper it would look like as you described it, but in reality, apart from the long gestation, it has felt in a way the most secure because the Chris McQuarrie script that was first delivered was so fantastic, which was why Darren Aronofsky came on board. For some reasons, he couldn’t continue, and then obviously there were delays, there were some delays in my schedule, there were delays here and there. There was never a doubt that the movie was going to be made, so I never had that worry. Fox was committed to it. For me the whole thing was worth the wait. I waited in a way 12 years for this chapter in this saga, for this samurai story, from the very first week I had on X-Men 1. I was reading this comic and Lauren Shuler Donner and I were saying, one day hopefully we get to do this story. So I think maybe in the past we’ve had times where we’ve had late changes in director or whatever, but we’ve been backed into a release date, so we’ve had to push. It was nice to know that we started with something really solid.

You are Wolverine. Look at the Hulk, that’s been recast three times. But even in X-Men: First Class, you had one line and people were saying it was the greatest line in the film. What makes you Wolverine?

JACKMAN: Well, first of all, you always look at the pedigree of anything and the character itself in the comic book series is incredibly popular, so I could never take sole credit for any of that. I’m really pleased the fans have similarly embraced me in the part because I love playing the part. I never thought my run would last this long. To be a guy who can’t age, obviously there is a shelf life for playing this role, so I love it. I’ve always found it fascinating and slightly, I’ll admit, frustrating that I feel we’ve never really delivered what I would say is the core of the character. And I think in this story, you get to see the ultimate Wolverine. You get to see who he really is. You definitely see him at his most vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. As we were saying before, we had the preparation time so we were really in great shape, and I may be going off the question a little bit, I’m sorry, I feel really blessed in a way to have had the opportunity. I know a lot of the Wolverine fans. I’ve met many of them. They’ve told me exactly what they think of the movie, every scene, whatever. Lucky for me so far, there hasn’t been major disappointment because I’m pretty sure I’d get spat on in the street. That’s the level of passion involved. So I’m happy.

What’s prevented you from playing the real Wolverine before?

JACKMAN: In the X-Men movies, the movie’s called X-Men, so there are many characters and many character arcs, and actually the real difficulty with that is serving up as many different story lines in one and keeping the overall world of mutants and the world of X-Men in play. So, very difficult task. Bryan Singer did a brilliant job. We were also setting a tone that didn’t exist back then. There was no Chris Nolan. The idea that you could have a movie where you cared about the characters didn’t exist. So give him a lot of credit for what he created there. I think for whatever reason, there were a number of things working against us at the time in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. We all put our heart and soul into it, I just honestly when I watched it I went, I still don’t feel like we’ve really delivered who my vision of who this character is. I think we’ve got another shot at it.

Talking about who he is, on one level, the claws are very literal, but on another they express an idea. What are they? What’s the metaphor?

JACKMAN: There’s a number of things in play here. One of them is the human-animal tussle that’s going on in him. Which, on a far smaller scale, we all have, even on a day-to-day basis. It’s the chaos-control theory. The claws are an embodiment of the animalistic side. They come out generally with rage, that internal rage. Wolverine’s a character who’s at war with himself, as much as anything. In a way you could say his greatest enemy is himself. In this movie, you definitely see him at his lowest point. He’s without purpose. He’s without a reason in the beginning. Through the samurai story and through being in this foreign land, he’s fired to embrace who he is — or not. I don’t want to give that away. But you’re right, Wolverine hasn’t got the most spectacular of all the X-Men. He can’t fly, he can’t jump, he can’t shoot laser beams. He’s got a healing ability, which is fantastic, and he has these claws. I think his greatest weapon is who he is inside regardless of… If you took away all their powers, I’m pretty sure of all the X-Men, Wolverine is the one you don’t want to piss off. He’s the one you want on your side and definitely not against you because he won’t stop until he’s dead — or you’re dead.

You’ve got a reputation for being a nice guy in the industry, but as you’re saying Wolverine is this dark, brooding character. Where do you pull that from?

JACKMAN: I’m an actor, man. Never trust an actor, whatever their energy is. I suppose you guys see that side of me, but I’m sure there’s plenty of people close to me who’ve seen the other one. I think if we’re all honest with ourselves, we all know that internal rage. I think one of the things I always loved about the comics was this idea that this character, when he goes berserk, that white, blind rage makes him incredibly powerful, but it’s also a great flaw. It’s almost like he loses consciousness of what he’s doing. During that he can do great damage. I can remember that vividly at times. Usually, luckily for me, that took place on a rugby field, where it’s somehow sanctioned, all this violence. On some level, it has to exist. On many levels, you have to imagine it. That’s why I got in this business. There’s many, many things that could get me to that kind of rage.

Wolverine is actually quite funny. Is this irreverent side going to be a part of this film?

JACKMAN: Yeah, I would say the film’s got a generally darker overtone to it. Also, as I said, you see him at a much lower eb. Jim and I were very adamant that any one-liners overcome the expense of what is really going for him in a realistic sense, usually that’s what happens a lot. The ones who are more deeply, internally in pain, can on the surface be more sardonic, can quip and make one-liners. The trick is really getting that line right, where all of a sudden it doesn’t become just hammy. So we constantly ad lib. I find myself ad-libbing a lot and probably 90% of them end up on the cutting room floor. I remember X-Men 1 most of the funny lines were ad-libbed. Sometimes they work.

How do you stay so physically fit to play Wolverine?

JACKMAN: Ugh. It gets hard, let me tell you. Basically one of the great things about having the preparation is I really probably started months ago, when I first thought we were about to gear up and go. And this year, I’ve been eating incredibly strictly probably since January. I’ve changed my training for this. Over the years, I’ve got smarter with it. Unfortunately, I realized I needed to train a little more to get what I wanted for this, which was a leaner, more animalistic look. And I want to be as big as I possibly could be, which is hard for me because I’m skinny. So I started eating six, seven meals a day from January and training about three hours a day.

There was some talk that you were doing the Dwayne Johnson diet.

JACKMAN: Oh, I rang Dwayne for help because I saw him between these two movies, the two Fast and Furious movies, and he put on 25 pounds, which in muscle is a lot. It really is hard to put on that amount of muscles. He did it in six months. He sent me his entire thing, so I followed that. You got to adjust to yourself.

Is Wolverine supposed to learn martial arts in this movie?

JACKMAN: That’s a great question because no one is simplistically just saying he becomes a martial artist or he becomes a samurai. What happens is Wolverine is a warrior by nature. His weapons, his strength is not pretty. It’s not formed so much, it’s more instinctive, a little more brutal. I think I’ve told you guys before I used to watch a lot of Mike Tyson videos, that’s what I’ve tried to model Wolverine on. What happens in this story, which follows on from the comic book arc, is actually he realizes that doesn’t always work for him and sometimes a more efficient, more disciplined approach of a samurai is more effective. He learns his lesson in a painful way and he adapts. That’s one good thing about Wolverine, he adapts. I’m not going to say he’s going to finish a triple black belt, but you do see him adjust, so I’ve been learning a lot for this, which is great.

The X-Men series was a metaphor for racial tolerance, is there some larger themes like that in this film?

JACKMAN: You know, I would say the overtone in this movie probably spans a little more from that idea of discrimination and minorities to more of life and death and more elemental questions of why we live, what’s our purpose, why are we here, who are we, that kind of thing, which is the battle Wolverine is struggling with. It’s funny, we just did a scene where he’s questioned about his kind. It bristles. It still obviously is there, it’s part of the X-Men lore. I think this probably is even deeper than that.

I’m curious, obviously you guys have been working on the script for two years. You’ve been able to refine it. How much is the film that you’re making today what you set out to make two years ago? How many tweaks have you done? I’m also curious how much influence Chris Claremont had on this one.

JACKMAN: I don’t know if all you guys know the original comic book series. It’s not just one. There are reasons we’ve had to change it, which I don’t want to give away. There’s definitely a lot of similarities. More similarities than differences. But for the purpose of story in the film and not a more rambling arc that goes on, it has been changed. The fans will definitely be excited by it. They will definitely see more similarities than not. In terms of refining the script, I think one of the keys to me in signing on to this movie was that we had a very strong idea and we had a strong approach to the story. That we really went from something new and different, and the moment the studio agreed to call it The Wolverine, I was just thrilled, rather than saying Wolverine 2. This is a standalone movie. This is set in a different time. It’s fairly after X-Men Origins, we’re in a different location with Jim Mangold, who’s a terrific director, we have a visual style that is different from all the other X-Men movies. I think it’s going to feel very fresh. What Chris McQuarrie did with it, which I don’t know if many of you know, was also involved with X-Men 1, not credited in the end, he had very strong ideas and a lot of that is there. Things were refined, but that’s because of time. It’s so hard. I want to give you more details. I’m sure you’d let me give you more details, but I see five people hovering, pretending it’s lunch, but it’s not really. [Laughs].

The Wolverine opens July 26th. For more from our set visit:
•40 Things to Know About THE WOLVERINE From Our Set Visit
•Director James Mangold Talks Making a Noir Film in Japan, Visual Style, 3D, the Rating, the Comics Influence, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE
•Producer Hutch Parker Talks the Long Development Process, Continuing to Develop the Third Act During Production, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE
•Tao Okamoto Talks Making Her Acting Debut on an X-MEN Movie, Taking Advice from Hugh Jackman, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE
•Svetlana Khodchenkova Talks Playing Viper, Landing the Role, Her Costume, Working with Hugh Jackman, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE
•Rila Fukushima Talks Fight Sequences, Similarities to the Comic, Working with Hugh Jackman, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE

[jo]

Here's Collider's account of THE WOLVERINE AND THE FORTY THINGS (about it ) --

collider.com/the-wolverine-set-visit

40 Things to Know About THE WOLVERINE From Our Set Visit

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub Posted: May 28th, 2013 at 9:00 am


Last year, when James Mangold‘s The Wolverine was filming in Sydney, Australia, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. While some sets feature a cast and crew more than willing to talk about the twists and turns of their movie, I found The Wolverine team on full lock down mode. Now before you start to think they didn’t want to tell us about the story, that definitely wasn’t the case. It’s just they all wanted to protect the story until we could see it on a movie screen.

However, even though the cast and crew were all very guarded when talking to us, I still learned a lot about the project and after the jump you can read forty things to know about the film. If you’re the type of person that likes to avoid spoilers, the list is safe reading. Hit the jump for more.

And one last thing before getting to the list, while I had serious issues with the last Wolverine movie, I’m extremely confident The Wolverine is going to kick serious ass. I really think this is going to be the Wolverine movie we’ve all been waiting for.

The Wolverine hits theaters July 26th. Before getting to the list, watch the recent trailer:


40 Things to Know About The Wolverine:
•Mangold wanted a lot of “original faces” for the cast.

•Mangold was very adamant that he wanted the film to take place after the events of all of the previous X-Men movies. He didn’t want to be beholden to some pre-existing story.

•The central idea that Mangold wrote on the back of the script was, “Everyone I love will die.” He wanted to explore the curse of Wolverine’s immortality.

•Mangold wanted to make a different kind of comic book movie that didn’t deal with a question of whether the earth/moon/a stadium would be destroyed. He wanted to make a character-based film that explored “the world of gods.”

•The Wolverine fits into the X-Men universe, but it’s a standalone film.

•Mangold and Jackman’s goal with the film was to make “the ultimate Wolverine movie,” which in their minds hasn’t been made yet.

•Visually speaking, Mangold wanted the film to have a rawness. He wanted it to feel “gutsy and handheld and very urgent."

•Mangold shot digitally in part because he wanted to push performance without having to cut and change set-ups, therefore interrupting the actor’s headspace.

•The film was heavily influenced by Chinatown, according to Mangold. The director was excited about making a noir film in Japan.

•Mangold isn’t too concerned with putting a tag after the credits, as he says the whole idea of adding something after the movie has already ended is “not his favorite thing.”

•The third act of the film was evolving from a logistical point of view during production.

•Christopher McQuarrie “set the tone” with the first major draft of The Wolverine script, and it was subsequently worked on by Mark Bomback, Scott Frank, and Mangold himself.

•There are times in the film where characters speak Japanese, but the majority of the movie is in English.

•The production filmed a bit in Japan, but most of the filming was done in Australia both on soundstages and on location.

•Jackman was reading the samurai Wolverine comic on the first day on X-Men and discussed with producer Lauren Schuler Donner the possibility of someday telling that story.

•Jackman says he always felt frustrated that they never really delivered what he thought to be the core of the character, which he believes finally makes it to the screen in The Wolverine.

•The film has a generally darker tone to it than the previous X-Men films.

•Jackman got weight training advice from Dwayne Johnson to put on muscle in order to get a lean, animalistic look for the film.

•The film’s themes explore questions of mortality and humanity’s purpose in life, in contrast to the social issues that were raised in the previous films.

•There are a lot of similarities to the Chris Claremont comics story, but also some significant differences.

•Khodchenkova wanted to infuse some of her own flavor into the character of Viper, but was still eager to match it as closely to the character from the comics as possible.

•The film doesn’t take place over an enormous amount of days.

•Both Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto make their feature film acting debuts in The Wolverine.

•The film’s version of Yukio is a bit different than the comics.

•The design for Yukio is that she’s a cool agent assassin with a grungy, street side.

•Fukushima trained for three weeks in Australia before filming began to prepare for the action sequences.

•Okamoto had never taken acting lessons before, but Mangold told her not to take any lessons or advice from anyone after seeing her screen test.

•Jackman showed Okamoto the ropes on set with regards to the filming process.

•The approach to the action was to make it visceral and realistic in style.

•Most of the action sequences were captured using practical effects. They tried to limit the amount of CG and visual effects in the film.

•All of the action sequences are different from each other, from location to environment to style.

•All of the weapons in the film have some symbolic meaning.

•They made the claws in this film a bit sharper and more dangerous-looking than previous iterations.

•Mangold describes the film as “a Japanese fever dream.”

•The film also ties into the Western theme, as Wolverine in Japan is sort of like the “man with no name.”

•They paid great attention to detail in depicting Japan and Japanese culture.

•They considered filming the whole movie in Japan, but so much of the film needed the control of a big studio environment, so they settled on Sydney.

•They built a massive amount of sets on the soundstage.

•With regards to the film’s atmosphere, they wanted to make it moody and much more emotional than what we’ve seen before. A place where danger is lurking around every corner.

•The third act involves a fight in a village with snow and ice, then the action moves to inside a tower.

•Visually speaking, Mangold wanted the film to have a rawness. He wanted it to feel “gutsy and handheld and very urgent."

Hmmm... I thought he must have wandered into the wrong set - more like Pinewood than Fox Sydney


Jo

[jo]

Collider talks to James Mangold --

collider.com/james-mangold-the-wolverine-interview

Director James Mangold Talks Making a Noir Film in Japan, Visual Style, the Comics Influence, and More on the Set of THE WOLVERINE

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub Posted: May 28th, 2013 at 9:00 am


During a fantastic group interview with The Wolverine director James Mangold last year on the Sydney set, he explained his reasons for wanting to tackle this project and what interested him about the character.


“What was most interesting about his character is this concept of his immortality and his healing. The fact that there’s a kind of exhaustion that sets in when you’re here forever, when you lose everyone you love. What I wrote when I met with Fox in the back of my script were like six or seven words, which were ‘Everyone I love will die.’ But I felt the story I wanted to tell was about a man who in a way felt cursed and that everyone he had ever cared about in the world, whether it be the people he fought with as part of the X-Men, his wife, or others, had perished, and that the curse…this idea that we all kind of yearn or wish for immortality, but the curse of actually having to be on the Earth like a god forever is its own purgatory, its own hell, which is to have to see everything you love go away, and have to keep reconnecting and re-finding inspiration.”

Mangold also talked about wanting to make a character-centric film as opposed to something where the characters are fighting to save the planet, putting together his cast, his thoughts on the last Wolverine movie, why he used the ARRI Alexa, 3D, shooting the action scenes, Easter Eggs, and so much more. If you’re looking forward to The Wolverine, you’re going to love this interview. Hit the jump for what he had to say.


Question: Are you satisfied with the takes?

JAMES MANGOLD: Am I satisfied with the takes? Every day, yes. Yes, every day you’re satisfied, but everyday you’re pushing for more. You’re always looking, you’re always searching, but I love shooting here and I love this environment a lot. It’s very cool.

Rila — We saw her, we met her, we looked at her costume, and then we saw a shot on the monitor and she seems to be breakout, like a fan favorite. Talk to us about her a little bit.

MANGOLD: Rila was someone — we did a lot of searching for the cast, we wanted a lot of original faces — and Rila was someone who when I first saw tape and photos of her, I thought it’s such an amazing-looking woman. She actually had colored hair in some aspects that were already speaking to the role, but she’s also so beautiful and so unique. And I was working with a friend on the script when this tape arrived and I was going, this is who it’s going to be. I hadn’t met her yet. I flew to Japan and met her and I was absolutely sure when I did that she was it. Amazing young woman, amazing.

I’m curious, obviously this project has been in development for a little bit, you finally got the gig, I’m curious how the script’s changed over the years and how you put your stamp on it.

MANGOLD: The tricky thing in answering that would be I have to catalogue where it was, what changed.

That’s what I’m looking for.

MANGOLD: That’s huge. It’s like Paul Ryan — you don’t want to get into those bunches of details. But the reality is that for me the focus of the movie was always about a very specific idea, which is that I wanted to place the film at the end of the timeline of all the existing movies and stories we’ve seen in the movies. Meaning that, I didn’t want it to somehow be located in the middle of everything you’ve seen. I wanted to get past it all. I didn’t want to hand off to a pre-existing story. I also was really interested in an idea that spoke to me from the original Claremont-Miller epic, which was the idea of finding Logan at a point when he had… To me, what was most interesting about his character is this concept of his immortality and his healing. The fact that there’s a kind of exhaustion that sets in when you’re here forever, when you lose everyone you love. What I wrote when I met with Fox in the back of my script were like six or seven words, which were “Everyone I love will die.” But I felt the story I wanted to tell was about a man who in a way felt cursed and that everyone he had ever cared about in the world, whether it be the people he fought with as part of the X-Men, his wife, or others, had perished, and that the curse… I mean Isaac Asimov’s Bicentennial Man speaks to it beautifully in a different way, but this idea that we all kind of yearn or wish for immortality, but the curse of actually having to be on the Earth like a god forever is its own purgatory, its own hell, which is to have to see everything you love go away, and have to keep reconnecting and re-finding inspiration.

And to me finding Logan in a place where his tank was empty, and that the man who killed his wife, that it’s like there’s a really interesting place to come in and find him. What the journey to Japan would then be if we could pick him up there. That’s what I was most interested in. It also spoke to me in terms of influences I thought, ideas I thought. I love comic books. Since I was a kid, I’ve collected them. But I’m bored with the cutout of what the comic book movie is and I was going, If I was going to do this, I was thinking to myself, I really wanted to make more of a character-based film, rather than will Earth be destroyed, will the moon be destroyed, will a stadium be destroyed, will a city be destroyed. It’s all kind of the same movie over and over again with some giant villain. To me, the idea of exploring the world of gods, which is what superheroes really are, mutants, superheroes are all in a sense touched people, bigger than people, immortal people that what’s most interesting is to explore that and still be rooting for who they are, what they are and give a shit.

To me, any sequence in the arms race between movies of spectacle, the one way you’re going to be more spectacular the next film is if the audience gives a shit. If you aren’t just bludgeoning them with sound and fast cuts, but if they’re actually emotionally invested in the outcome of the sequence they’re watching. So again, to me the focus was how do I make it a film where I’m really invested in these people? So I thought about parallels to even things like The Outlaw Josey Wales. That’s a movie where I’m starting with a character who has nothing, who’s lost everything, who was unmoored. I watched samurai films and thought about then. And this idea of a ronin, the samurai without a master, which is exactly what Logan is, a kind of hero without a purpose, a hero without a mission. Does he even have interest in a mission anymore? Or is he so bored with the way mankind keeps fucking up that he has almost decided, What’s the point? They just keep getting in more trouble. I think that’s a really interesting place to start a film and a really interesting place for this character to go on a journey. So if that speaks to it at all, those ideas were the ones I was interested in bringing to the material and also pulling out from the existing material.

Everyone that we’ve spoken to today has said how clear your vision is for this film and that you really took them aside and explained what you want. What have you been saying to Hugh or to Rila?

MANGOLD: Well, I try and keep it simple. The other thing I try and do is I’m always trying to tailor it to who they are. You see the assets of your actors and you see their strengths and you try to play into them. It’s like I feel part of my job is as a coach. I’m putting a team on the field and you want to formulate how to make the best game out of these players. But I wouldn’t know how other than you can get the sense that I’m a pretty direct person. I love making movies and I’m pretty clear with them about what the scene’s about. What is underneath it. Because I make dramas and because I’m not by trade a tentpole filmmaker, the thing I’d like to believe that I’m bringing is the same attitude that I’ve been bringing making Walk the Line or 3:10 to Yuma. That in a sense, the scene work is excellent, the moment to moment reality of these characters living, breathing, loving, touching, turning, feeling is real, not bullshit. To me that’s been the biggest handicap of some of these films. No matter how many resources studios pour into them, there sometimes just isn’t the ultimate special effect, which is a real live moment. To me, the challenge of even trying to sustain amid all the other spectacle is the really interesting challenge.

How was it to come to the project when your stars were already that deep into it?

MANGOLD: Well, I think I was really lucky in this movie and you see why. Hugh and I have been friends for years, but I think also he was really interested, as was I, in doing something that hadn’t been done. Is it a reboot? No. If it were, it wouldn’t be with Hugh. But the fact is that it’s kind of rebooting with Hugh. It’s the sense that we’re making a standalone film. It fits into the universe. It doesn’t deny the world, but it also is its own film. The liberating journey to another country has also freed us from the shackles to a lot of standard sequel making. It’s a movie on its own from the moment it fades in to the moment it fades out. The aspect that I think we’ve gained from is we don’t have the burden of doing the origin story. We can actually start in media res. We can start in action. We can just start telling you a story. When I opened 3:10 to Yuma, I didn’t do how Russell [Crowe] became Ben Wade, I just started the movie. That can be the huge burden on these films, that there’s this double tax on them to explain how these people… Like Superman. Brilliant film. Donner’s Superman is two movies in one, kind of jammed together. Origin story and then the Lex Luthor battle story. That’s a cumbersome thing to try and do in a movie. Very often, I think studios want a twofer. They want you to set up the character and also do the ultimate battle. What was really freeing about this for me was we could just start right away in action with this character that everyone knows.

Hugh isn’t very secretive about being 100% happy with the last one. Did you two have an open talk about what, in his mind, was missing from the last one?

MANGOLD: I certainly in public I don’t really get into knocking other people’s movies. That’s exactly what you’re asking me to do. The fact is that what I would say is that we’ve talked a lot about what we hoped this one would be. What we hoped this one would be is something that many other X-Men films or otherwise haven’t been in some ways. But I see that as much a function of my own sense of what I’m interested in in style in this particular story. But certainly, I think the opportunity I saw here was a great actor in one of the roles of his life who maybe hasn’t done it yet, who hasn’t done the one, the one that hits it out. That’s a huge opportunity for me and as a friend to go, we don’t have to deal with nine other members of the X-Men. This is about you. So that investment and the actual real estate from the running time in the movie means we can go a lot deeper than I think people have gone before. Both of us were really looking forward to that.

Can you talk a little bit about why you chose to use the ARRI Alexa and your thoughts on 3D post-conversion?

MANGOLD: The ARRI Alexa I’ve used on two pilots and commercials and I’ve loved it. I’ve loved a) it’s low lightability. What I wanted for this movie was a rawness. I didn’t want to feel… I wanted to feel like this film was urgent and happening now. I didn’t want it to feel like every set-up is some kind of studio set-up or every fight is only about cables and rigging. I wanted it to feel gutsy and handheld and very urgent. I thought that the equipment you’re describing was going to assist me on that. We were shooting anamorphic, which is something I very much wanted to do. In using combination old-anamorphic lenses that are 30, 40 years old on top of brand-new Alexas, which is a really interesting combination.

A lot of filmmakers are doing that now. It gives it a very unique look, a very cool look.

MANGOLD: I did it in Walk the Line. To go back even further, we used lenses pre-multicoated. So a lot of the lens flares you were seeing from Walk was doing the concerts and stuff when the spotlights were moving were kind of pre-lens coating, so you were getting extra flare. That was the main thought. Also, for me I do love, the one aspect I do love about digital is I love to push performance and I love to roll and roll and keep doing takes in a single performance. You don’t see as much of that today doing pieces of action, but it’s hugely… Something Bob De Niro taught me a long time ago, which is just that every time you say cut, a hundred people descend and tweak. And if you don’t say cut, the actor stays there. They’re in that moment. They stay there. You keep journeying in this emotional space without allowing all the tweakage to come back in. Having the kind of infinite loop of what a digital stream is — you can shoot for a long time without cutting — allows me to sometimes perform these really exciting things.

What about the 3D?

MANGOLD: 3D is a brand-new experience for me, something the studio is very excited about for the film and I’m very excited about how it might play for the martial arts stuff we’re doing. My own sense and taste in 3D films has been I don’t really like it when it feels like it’s a gimmick and it’s coming at me, it’s flying at me. What really did it for me was Prometheus. It was incredibly well done. So I’m very curious about that. But it’s my first experience. I’m glad on a movie like this that I’m getting a chance to taste what it’s like. We never could have afforded to do it 3D in production. This movie is a risky movie. It’s got a lot of foreign language. It’s got a cast that’s 9/10′s not American. All those things make studios feel that they’re taking a little more of a risk. It’s a character-based film. There isn’t some obvious uber-villain that everyone’s heard of who’s going to be reigning through the film. So a lot of the aspects of the movie become elements of risk that they have asked us to make for a little less than some tentpoles might be. So the idea of shooting in simultaneous 3D was always off the table. For me it’s also the freedom that they’ve really set us free to make the exact movie we want to make.

You’ve given us a bit of it, but I would love to hear you to talk about the language in the film. Some of the things you’ve said and some of the inferences I’ve picked up from that list of films you said, so if you could expand on the visual.

MANGOLD: Black Narcissus, you take a couple of very Western characters and you drop them into a far Eastern land where desire, sex, mystery, murder, all are suddenly infecting them, changing them. This movie does all take place in Tokyo by the way. We journeyed to some of the hinterlands in Japan, so there’s a naturalistic experience happening as well and that connection to nature. But there’s something about that film and the way also… I think when you actually see this film’s staging, Mike Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s staging of that climactic sequence with the bellower, which is a real influence on some of the stuff that I’m doing here, but the exotic nature, the nature of that movie is the film travelogue, the film taking familiar characters and plunging them into a really unknown universe with new rules, new culture… If you haven’t seen this film, it’s one of the most sexy films about nuns you’ll ever see in your life. It’s a great film.

The lipstick scene.

MANGOLD: Yeah, it’s a great scene with her putting lipstick on. It was also very influential on me when I was making Girl, Interrupted. There’s a lot of movies that… In that case, it was not an exotic locale, but it was a lot of women in a confined space.

Let me quickly ask you about the language.

MANGOLD: I don’t know how to answer that question other than to describe my influences. How would I describe my visual language, I don’t know. I think I want to be in there. I want to feel these characters on the inside Logan. This is a movie where… The funny thing about me is I move from genre to genre, but I essentially shoot all the movies the same way. I shoot Walk the Line exactly the same way as I shoot 3:10 to Yuma. I don’t try to affect a style. I find that I think that filmmakers get into trouble when they’re watching too many DVDs and quoting all the time. John Ford wasn’t quoting. He was just making the movie. The idea of doing doorway shots and always kind of quoting, it’s like to me, just internalize all these movies and then make your movie and see what all those influences do on you, if that makes any sense. I take movies as far-ranging as The Professional or Chinatown. This movie has a lot of Chinatown in it to me. Logan is cynical, disillusioned, and there’s a labyrinth of women and lies and deceit. Is falling in love or is he falling into a hole? These are all questions that will destroy him. Or is this something that will save him?

For me the biggest influence has been making a noir film in Japan. All these other things are just parts of it to me. The noir film and the Western to me are incredibly close together. What’s in front of the lens changes, but the way you shoot them… The gunman walking on a wet brick street with a single light is not all that different than the gunman walking on a dusty street with a single Winchester. The stylized nature of those movies is not all that different. The kind of style they each possess is different, but the language is not that different. I would say that I’m very much living and breathing in the world of the Western noir film, both in the sense that I want this film to have actual romance. I want this film to have actual sensuality. And danger. I don’t want it to live only on the bombast of its action sequences although that’s all going to be there.

In the action scenes are you looking forward to new creative ways of putting together set pieces?

MANGOLD: It’s all a part of it. For all my talk of wanting to do a well-acted film and a naturalistic film and a film that’s urgent, you also owe yourself. I want to make a movie I want to see and that I think fans want to see. So there’s been a good amount of imagination put to it. My difference is I don’t want it for gimmick’s sake. I think that sometimes that’s already gone too far. Some things I have seen in these movies, I don’t believe they can do that. It’s the computer-aided credibility. When I read comics, I love believing what my heroes can do, but I love believing that they’re still flesh and blood, whether they were inside some uniform or not, that there was some reality to when they hit a wall or brick or anything, that still fucking hurt. Within the realm of that I think we’ve got some great ideas, some great set pieces that I’d hate to describe. It’s some cool stuff. And we’ll definitely be having fun with the blades.

Is it allowed to be R rated or does it have to be PG-13?

MANGOLD: I’m not going to comment on that. Certainly he does get bloody. Things have repercussions. You get hit, it hurts. You get cut, you bleed. For me the instantaneous nature of healing is something that I think got carried to such an extent that I felt like it’s almost like there’s no stakes for the character. What I wanted to find again was this idea that it hurts to be Logan. It’s not free of pain. Just because your leg might heal doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel broken. It doesn’t mean that a car hitting your body doesn’t hurt like the same it would hurt if a car hit your body. He’s still flesh, blood, and nerves wrapped around that skeleton.

Were you familiar with this story beforehand? Did you have a childhood vision of how you saw the X-Men universe?

MANGOLD: I love Marvel and DC Comics, but I don’t think I was ever so presumptuous to say I have a vision for the X-Men universe. Honestly my entry into this world is really at the beckoning interest of this particular saga, the Claremont-Miller saga. I’m always looking for what is going to make me interested and not feel like I’m doing a carbon copy of stuff that already exists. The idea of devoting two years of my life to making a corporate product that looks and smells and tastes like a lot of other things out there with just a different trademark character is a bore. If I understand the qualitative differences in this world that makes it unique, that makes it its own brand, that makes it its own idea, its own flavor, the sense of exoticness, of the world and the characters and the language, was what really made me want to make it. Otherwise these movies can be really… I don’t know how you get through them if you don’t have a specific reason for something unique you’re going to do.

I’m curious about Easter eggs. Marvel movies are notorious for throwing the fans a little bit of extra. Obviously this is a Fox movie. Fox owns Fantastic Four, New Mutants, X-Men. They have a laundry list of characters. They could make their own Avengers movies with other characters. Obviously you’re not going to give it away, but are there certain things you wanted to throw in as Easter eggs?

MANGOLD: Thoughts like that have occurred to me.

One last thing, if I can ask you, also there’s a great cameo in X-Men: First Class and there’s always the tags after the credits. When you’re filming right now, are you already thinking about the tag after the credits?

MANGOLD: You’re thinking all different things, but I will say that for me the tags after the credits thing has never been my favorite thing in movies. To me the idea is the curtain rises and the curtain comes down. In theater, there’s the idea of the encore and I’m not opposed to it, but what I’m really focused on at this point is the majesty of the best films I see are films that don’t panhandle for an extra laugh later, but actually deliver the goods. And when the screen goes black, you go, Yes. My goal, whether there’s an egg for you later or not, is that when the thing goes black, that you go, Yes, that you say, Yes, the meal was good. I don’t need a fancy wine. I don’t need a dessert. I don’t need an aperitif. What he gave me was satisfying. That’s my hope and dream.

[jo]

Another enjoyable account of a set visit ( this time by a SuperHeroHype geek) -LOL!

www.superherohype.com/features/articles/176941-from-the-set-of-the-wolverine

From the Set of The Wolverine


by Scott Chitwood

May 28, 2013


Page 1 of 4






On October 31, 2012, I sat in a hotel room in Sydney, Australia reading an e-mail from the publicist hosting the online press for the set visit to The Wolverine. The last line of the e-mail said everything a Marvel fan could want to hear:

"Be prepared to see ninjas."



That sentence ran through my mind as we traveled to the set in an unusual manner – by boat. The outdoor set of a Japanese village was built outside of Sydney in Homebush in the parking lot of Olympic Park. The fastest way to get there during rush hour was by boat, so that was the preferred means of transport for the crew. We zipped past iconic views of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge before arriving at the set.

We were met with an impressive sight – a small Japanese village covered in ice and snow in the middle of springtime in Australia. From the small streets to the small cars to the authentic signage, everything about the set looked genuinely Japanese. Walking around the set, we discovered that the snow was actually made of fine paper while the small flakes drifting from the sky were a mixture of burned paper ash and foam. The end result was an amazingly real winter setting.

While touring the set, we were able to meet John Bowring, the head of armory for The Wolverine. Even if you don't know who Bowring is, you know his work from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, The Matrix and The Thin Red Line. But he may be best known as the man that gave Crocodile Dundee his knife. Yes, THAT knife. Bowring showed us an arsenal of ninja bows, arrows, swords, spears, and more. He revealed that he had at least one weapon recycled from a previous film - a bolo used by the ninjas was originally a weapon used by Trinity in The Matrix in a scene that was eventually cut from the film.

As we continued touring the Ice Village set, we ran into David Leitch, the Second Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator on the film. Leitch has an impressive filmography as a second unit director, stuntman, and stunt coordinator on films like 300, Fight Club, Daredevil, The Matrix Revolutions, The Bourne Ultimatum, TRON: Legacy and more. He also previously worked with Hugh Jackman on Van Helsing and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Leitch showed us footage from action scenes they had been shooting the previous nights. We saw ninjas on the roofs of the set, ninjas on motorcycles, and in one amazing sequence, a ninja flipping a motorcycle and hitting Wolverine in the face with the rear tire. Leitch told us about how the stunts in The Wolverine are way more grounded than in the previous films.

"There's obviously going to be heightened reality and there's going to be big set pieces, but the way we did the action is way more grounded and way more practical stunts and way more human talent." Leitch continued, "In this sequence with these performers we have great Parkour artists and great free runners, acrobats, great motorcycle riders and we're just shooting real stunts."

The footage continued and we saw Wolverine hit with one poison tipped arrow after another, eventually becoming the iconic pincushion we saw in Frank Miller's comic artwork. Leitch explained that this was, of course, by design.

"We went back to this particular comic for the iconic images, so you're gonna see a lot of those spiced throughout. Tonight you might even catch a few of the images from the Frank Miller stuff, and we're all fans of that. So we want to make sure they were true to that." Of Logan's defeat at the hand of…well, The Hand, Leitch said, "We were shooting it last night and there's some great graphic shots of that. This porcupine shot of him covered in arrows and he's stabbed with samurai swords and any sort of ninja implement you can imagine."



The tour continued and we spoke with Kyle Gardiner, the Australian Stunt Coordinator. He happened to be dressed as one of the many ninjas seen lurking around the set. Gardiner has worked on The Hunger Games, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Expendables 2, Ghost Rider, and more. We asked Kyle if it's a challenge to come up with new ways for Wolverine to fight considering this is his fifth film. Kyle said, "It's kind of nice 'cause it's its own story. It's nice it sort of came with its own action as well. There's a few things we came up with. We wanted to see something different. We've got a young trials bike rider by the name of Jack Field who does some things that are one offs that there's not many people in the world can do. But we managed to incorporate them into the choreography. I think it will be the first time you see some of the things we'll see. It's something a bit different." But who will Wolverine be fighting in the film. Will it include mutants?

"He fights obviously the ninjas. But we also have Hiroyuki Sanada, a famous Japanese action actor. They have quite a few battles which is nice to see. So he fights in human form as well as….let me just say, I guess, non-human. That's probably the safest way to say it. So it's a good element…Yakuza gangs, there's a lot of that. So it's just a nice general crossover. It's not all mutant-mutant. It's a lot of human-mutant interaction. It's something different."

While talking about a movie full of ninjas, you have to bring up the old Saturday Night Live skit "Ninja Pep Talk" where they asked the critical question – why don't they all attack at once? Gardiner answered the age-old question, "The funny thing is we do have that. So they do all attack at once which is, I think it probably helps (Wolverine) in the end." Kyle also confirmed that these Hand ninjas won't be disappearing in a puff of smoke like those in the comics.

As we continued visiting the set through the night, we talked with producer Hutch Parker. Hutch was formerly President of Production at 20th Century Fox during the earlier X-Men films. Now he's out of the studio and on the set with the production side of things and very involved on The Wolverine. We asked Hutch what the key was to making a successful Wolverine movie, to which he responded, "I think at the core of his character is this sort of struggle between his immense humanity and this rage. This kind of unresolvable rage. I think a key piece to me was delving deeper into what is the complexion of that? Not just treating it as an on-off button, but actually try to detail in a way and give it specificity and a life. Reason. Context. Which is part of what makes Jim (Mangold) such a superb filmmaker for it, because he's such an incredibly gifted character-based director and I think his sensibility is all over this. And now that we're most of the way through filming, that is such a godsend for the fulfillment of this piece."

Parker assured us that we'll get to see the Wolverine that we want in terms of action. "It's definitely Wolverine unleashed. It's rawer, much more visceral. In pushing him down further, it means you can expect and will be, I hope, satisfied by how much more of the berserker you see. He's fighting more desperately in this, and I think the challenges he faces, both internal and external, are deeper challenges. And as a result, it provokes a kind of more rageful and berserker Wolverine."

As one of the men formerly in charge at Fox, we had to ask him if it would ever be possible to have a crossover between the X-Men and the Avengers. Hutch said, "I'd like to think so. You know, candidly, it's people whose pay grades are high, and I'm removed from, that will make that decision. But you'd hate to think that that couldn't happen. Greater problems have been solved."



The conversation then drifted to comic writer Mark Millar's new role at 20th Century Fox. "His role really is to, as you know, help to make sure they are taking full advantage of what is a very, very important asset and to see opportunities where others might not. And clearly he will be invaluable to them in that regard although I think when I speak to them now and look at the way they're approaching their franchises and specifically films they've targeted in the X-Men universe, I think they're on a great track. I think bringing Bryan (Singer) back is incredibly exciting. I think Josh (Trank) as a way to reboot and sort of reimagine Fantastic Four is wonderfully creative and inventive. I guess the bottom line for me goes back to stories and storytellers. So as long as they are continuing to commit to top grade storytellers, be that new voices or established, I think the world of this universe is in good hands and they do seem to be making a really concerted effort to do that which is fantastic."

As the night wore on, we returned to the Ice Village set where David Leitch had resumed filming the big battle scene with the ninjas. There we finally saw what we had come to see – Hugh Jackman in action as Wolverine. Seeing him with the iconic claws and hair while surrounded by bloodthirsty ninjas was quite a sight. As my fellow press realized, this was Jackman's sixth time to play Wolverine in a feature film (counting cameos). That's a superhero record when you consider that Christopher Reeve played Superman four times, Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man five times (don't forget "The Incredible Hulk"), and Samuel L. Jackson played Nick Fury five times (and about to tie for six with Captain America: The Winter Soldier).

In the scene we watched being filmed, Logan hangs onto the top of a snowplow being driven by Yukio, played by Rila Fukushima. As the snowplow races down the street, a dozen angry ninjas chase it while another dozen descend from the village roofs overhead. The snowplow then spins out of control as Wolverine hangs on for dear life. As exciting as it is to be a fly on the wall while watching filming, it is also an undeniably slow and repetitive process. We watched Hugh Jackman hang onto the roof as it spun around again. And again. And again. That being said, the other press and I were happy true believers watching it be filmed.

As filming went into the wee hours of the morning, Jackman noticed the other press and I still standing there. From the top of the snow plow and still trussed up to safety wires, Jackman yelled to us, "You pulled an all-nighter! We need to put you in a ninja suit up on a roof." And while that sounded like a wishful dream, the night before Jackman actually HAD put a Marvel representative in a ninja suit and had him fight in some of the background scenes. The guy from Marvel was understandably very enthusiastic about playing a ninja as anybody would. Jackman looked at me, standing 6 ft 5 inches among the crowd, and said, "You'd be the tallest ninja." I would have been okay with that!

After they finally got the take they wanted on top of the snowplow, the crew began resetting for another shot. As the other online press and I continued to stand on the sidelines, the crew parted and Hugh Jackman started walking up to us. He walked up to me while holding the Wolverine claws and I quietly geeked out. He showed us how they fit on his hands and talked about the design. He held them out to me and said, "Take a look." I looked at them and said, "Yeah, very cool." He said, "No, go ahead and take them." Utterly floored, I took Wolverine's claws from Hugh Jackman. It was like taking Excalibur from King Arthur. I said, "Wow!" He said, "Put them on!" With my mind already blown, I started to put them on my left hand. The three claws are held together by a couple of small metal rods, then in the palm is a plastic base molded to the shape of Jackman's palm. As I put them on my hand, my wedding ring hung up between the claws (a commentary on Wolverine's own personal life?). After getting them on my hand properly, Hugh then started talking about the subtle changes to the claws over the various films. The shape, length, etc. were all different for each movie. He then said, "Let's take a picture!" Taking photos on set is a huge no-no, so for Jackman to offer it was a big deal. As we posed, he noticed that I was a few inches taller than him. He said now Logan would finally look like he was short! He told me to make a Wolverine rage face, but all I could do was helplessly grin like an idiot. I then took the claws off and he took photos with the other online press on our tour.

As we concluded our visit and departed the set, we were wide awake despite being simultaneously jet lagged and having pulled an all nighter. But one thing was very clear – Hugh Jackman and the cast and crew of The Wolverine seem to be on track to make the Wolverine movie that fans have been waiting for.

[jo]

The Mangold interviews are very insightful! Here's another one --

screenrant.com/the-wolverine-movie-interview-james-mangold/2/

‘The Wolverine’ Set Interview: Director James Mangold


by Rob Keyes


While on the Australian set of The Wolverine last fall, we began our tour with the second unit, talking with the crew who were setting up an overnight shoot with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine fighting ninjas in a snowy Japanese village. We also traveled to the main unit who were shooting secretive scenes in one of the main stages of Fox Studios Australia.

Director James Mangold took some time in between shots to chat with us about The Wolverine where he discusses the development on the film, its ties to the X-Men film franchise and comics, the use of 3D and Easter eggs, and of course, mutants.



Before you came on board at one time, Darren Aronofsky was in line to direct. In what state was the project in when you came joined and how much did you have to rework?



James Mangold: “Well, I mean, pretty much any movie I get involved with I’m going to kind of take apart in some way and put together in a way that interests me. I mean, Darren, you would have to ask Darren about what he was doing on it and how he was working on it, but I mean, I don’t believe that he was on it very long. I mean, there weren’t like drafts that had come from his involvement or anything. But, I did speak to him before I became involved because I was just curious about what his experience was before I kind of got involved on it.

My whole connection to it was my own kind of fascination with Logan and immortality. I saw a real opportunity to kind of explore a lot of really interesting themes that were inside the Claremont-Miller kind of saga. I saw a lot. There was a lot of great stuff in the McQuarrie script that existed, but over the last two years, we’ve continued to work it—other writers, myself. I mean, you probably know the other writer, Mark Bomback, Chris, myself and Scott Frank all worked on it at different times, so kind of all on the same page and working on the same agenda. But for me, it was always about A—trying to really get underneath Logan, trying to get inside Logan, trying to break out of the kind of natural gravitational pull of these kind of movies to become a kind of—they’re pretty much all built on the idea of some really bad guy is going to doing something, or alien or something, is going to do some incredibly nefarious thing to earth, or a continent or at least the city. And that, to try and go, how can we make a kind of character based film—I mean, obviously it’s going to still have tent pole action and super hero action in it, but that isn’t essentially based on the same exact three act structure of super villain, stopping the super villain, how do I stop the super villain? And, trying to break out of that and make it a much more internal story about a character and his own journey, yet I mean, in many ways, there’s a whole litany of films that are kind of action based—Westerns, film noir that are mysterious, exciting, filled with gripping action that don’t necessarily have to have a 70,000 pound lizard from the planet something coming to earth. So, there is a way. It’s not like you’re abandoning excitement to make a movie about characters. You’re just trying to find a way to break out.

Also, to me, having been a comic book collector since I was a kid, in a way, the standard formula of the Hollywood superhero film was also something that didn’t reflect to me the way comic books lived, which is that very often they’re much richer and deeper in characterization. And part of what keeps you glued and hooked is not just the gimmickry or the unique powers or kind of the high octane action, but actually, the interpersonal relationships, romances, yearnings, fears, depressions of the hero of the piece.”



That’s what put Marvel on the map to begin with.


“Well, it is, and yet I think that what happens in the natural conversion of almost any kind of story to the kind of standard two hour structure is that there’s this kind of snap to grid that suddenly the movies kind of get into, and I think that’s what we’re trying very hard to kind of avoid.”



So you read the comics when you were a kid?


“Oh sure.”


You were familiar with this?


“Sure, sure. I mean, I was a DC and Marvel fanatic. I was really into comic book collecting and reading. But, that particular saga, I was out of college at the point when it came out. But, for me, there was something so bold and intriguing about trying—I mean, honestly, I didn’t believe they were going to let me make the movie. I mean, I thought that the movie was so interesting, I kind of always had this sneaky feeling that I thought they’re going to find a way out of doing this because essentially, there’s so many adventurous aspects to the film. Number one being the fact that it takes place in a foreign land, and language, multiple languages are getting spoken, multiple cultures are getting exposed to one another. And so, it struck me, you know, that I mean, the cast is almost entirely Japanese. So, the natural kind of cynicism of this business made me wonder, “Are they really going to do this,” and they did, to their credit. To Fox’s credit, they pulled the trigger on it and they put a lot of resources behind this. I think they’ve allowed us to do it the right way.”


How did you like filming in Japan?


“I loved it. I mean, it’s very challenging, but I loved it. We had a great time and we all love Japan and we’ve spent a great deal of time there, both mentally and physically, meaning like, even when we’re here (motioning to the set), we’re kind of in Japan. But, and we have so many Japanese people as part of the cast and kind of consulting with me and working on the film that it’s kind of this continuous immersion in Japanese culture. But, I love it.”



Yeah, I wanted to ask, so two questions relating to that. Does the Wolverine character—like in the books, he’s got so many years, so many experiences, so he’s actually very intelligent and can speak multiple languages, does he learn to speak, or can he speak Japanese in the film?


“He doesn’t really speak much Japanese in this movie.”


No?


“We play this as his first trip to Japan. I kind of didn’t want to get involved in—I find that it gets really complicated in a film to be suddenly opening a film and bringing someone, for instance, to Japan and going, ‘This is our fourth time here.’ It’s kind of slightly anti-climactic. So, this would be the story of kind of a lot of the elements, most of the elements that exist in the Claremont-Miller comic are in it, but the only difference is that he’s experiencing them all for the first time. He’s meeting Mariko. He’s meeting Yukio. These things are all happening as a first, as opposed to feeling like you stepped into the third or fourth episode of a saga. You’re kind of starting with all these people kind of coming up against it for the first time.”



On Monday, you and Hugh did a live chat with Ryan [Penagos aka Agent M]. A big highlight from that was how grounded in reality this is and how it’s not just like, full of mutants. It’s a character piece, but Wolverine is a super human fighting a lot of humans. How many mutants are in this film as well?


“I’m not going to give you a count. But, I’m just going to tell you that there’s (Laughs) less than 10, but more than six! No, that’s bullshit, by the way. The reality is that I’m not going to give you a count. There are other mutants in the film, and the world of mutancy exists in the movie as a live cultural element in the movie just as it does in the X-Men universe. But the point being that on the most simple structural level, if you have a movie in which Wolverine is your protagonist and it’s not about cutting away to five or six other team members, it completely changes the complexion of the film. He owns the movie. I mean, there is almost no scene—I mean, I’d say maybe two or three percent of the scenes in the picture don’t feature Logan. Hugh and I are together every single day shooting the movie, and it presents a unique and really exciting challenge for us doing stunt work because it’s not like you can farm it all out to just kind of a double because the fact is that he’s got to be there because A—the way we’re shooting, it is close and intimate, and so that it’s not like it’s so easy to just double someone. And B—in your normal movie where there’s five or six super heroes and different stars, someone can be shooting this scene with them while someone’s doing an action scene with the other guys who aren’t working that day. The fact is, that the hero of this film was working every day because he’s in every scene.”



Was there any pressure—I mean, this is a standalone story but with the other X-Men: First Class sequel going on—was there any pressure like, somehow interweave or set up something, like that kind of thing?


“I mean, all these things exist in the world around me, and friends of mine and people are working on them. But the fact is that, no, the simple answer is no. I mean, we’ve been underway and kind of producing our saga and getting our script solid for the last two years. I mean, what’s happening with the other pictures is still in play and kind of we’re way ahead of them by a year or two. So, our focus has been entirely on making this the very best Wolverine movie we could.”


Logan’s had a lot of love interests along the way.


“Yeah.”



How do you bring in this new character (Mariko) and convince the audience that she’s the love of his life?


“Well, one of the ways you do it is the way you do it in any love story, which is you just, you get terrific actors who have a connection with each other, but you also—I think that it’s been no secret, and we talked about this in the chat, that the Logan we’re finding in this movie is someone who’s adrift, who is without anybody, so a connection to anyone, and certainly doesn’t really believe in love anymore. So, the job in relation to his relationship with Mariko in this film is certainly one from he’s starting from a place of zero, which is as someone who’s made romantic films before, a good place to be starting when you have a romantic element in the film, that someone doesn’t believe even in the possibility anymore.”



Some of the clips we saw on the set of the second unit, Wolverine was more unleashed than we’ve seen him before, and it was more violent than we’ve seen before. So, is it going to be more violent than we’ve seen before, or is it still going to be PG?


“Well, I want to be careful about the words I’m using only because it has a lot of power one way or another, influencing all sorts of people. I want to make a more gripping, intense film. I feel like that – and I think you know what I mean, and I think the reality is that this character is built – he’s not Superman. He has limits, but one thing he has built into him that’s a part of his character is anger, and the anger of being forever, the anger of being misunderstood, the anger of being a mutant, the anger of being damaged, the anger of the losses he’s suffered in this incredibly long life he’s already lived, the anger of the fuck-ups of humanity that he gets to watch us do over and over again. Those things I want living and breathing in his character, in his action, in his interactions with other people, and also in the way we depict action in the movie, which is that less fanciful, more gritty, more urgent, and more real in the sense that you want it to feel like it’s not straining the bounds of credulity every moment that action is happening.”



So what are your plans for the music? Will there be a big Japanese influence with the soundtrack?


“It’s very interesting. I’m cutting right now and we’re hardly – I mean, music is really something—Marco Beltrami will be working on the score with me, and it’s not something I’ve thought about too much. But one thing I’m always cautious about is kind of that, you know, we’re past that days in the 1940′s and 50′s when like, if the movie takes place in China it goes (Sings) Dunka—dunka—dun—dun—dun—dun—dun, and then, they fly to Rome, it’s like someone’s playing Italian restaurant music. So, I mean, I think what’s really honestly in the broadest sense so exciting to me about this movie is, I mean, you asked me like, I own a set of about 120 CDs of the scores of Takemitsu. I’m a huge fan of Japanese films, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily the answer for a movie like this to lean in in every way to Japanese culture. My own inclination is that this is really an international film, and that part of what’s so exciting for me about it isn’t only the Japanese aspect, but it is the fact that we’re bringing those ideas and that culture in conflict with Logan and mutancy and other characters in the film who represent other cultures, and the kind of clash going on, to me is really exciting.




We recently learned that the film is going to be post converted into 3D. This is the first X-Men film to do that. Can you tell us a little bit how that affects how you set up the scene or direct a scene?


“I met with the folks who were doing it, and the great thing about it is it doesn’t really affect me all that very much other than having a good idea about how you want the 3D to work. I mean, the way I shoot films generally is as I’ve understood from meeting with them is actually very conducive to the conversion because it’s like—well, it would be hard to explain, but I would just say that there’s a kind of grammar you either use or don’t use in making the film that can be helpful in making something that isn’t grating on the eyes and actually has depth. Also, though, my own taste in 3D is not to use it as a gimmick, just to kind of allow the film to actually breath and have a spatial quality and not to kind of try and get into every three seconds, you know, something flying at your face.”



So it’s going to more of like, a window and less—?


“Yeah, like I thought what Ridley did on Prometheus looked beautiful. I thought that it looks like a window into a world. There’s actually a lot of theories on all that. I mean, there’s a lot to consider and a lot to talk about. I mean, one of them is just one of the things you establish when you’re working in 3D is how far from the performance stage things will break. These are all decisions that get made. For me, I’m more interested in it being a window into a world than a world that’s flying out over your head and making you duck. I mean, I think that this film strives to be mature in a way that is both reaching young audiences and older audiences, but speaking, and I think what a lot of Wolverine fans want, which is a slightly higher reading
level.”



The one last question I had is fans of the franchise and the character have certain expectations, I suppose. Is there going to be Easter egg references or even cameos to other things that will please the fans?


“Well, it’s a universe. And so, within that universe, there’ll be all sorts of things. I will tell you that my own thing is I don’t know whether it’s fans who love the Easter eggs or companies that love planting the Easter eggs to get you to come back six times to find them. But the fact is that my own feeling is that movies with integrity open and end. They have a sense of when they start and they have a sense of when they end, and that what we’re trying to make is something that functions as a movie, as a film. As it would, if it wasn’t a branded character, that it would if it wasn’t a franchise, that it would function if it was about—you know, when I bring up the films that have influenced me, The Outlaw Josey Wales hadn’t sold hundreds of millions of copies of Josey Wales comics. It functions as a film. Our goal was to make something that doesn’t rely upon the franchise to build interest, but actually just functions as a movie in and of itself with the added benefit that it’s a character who’s so unique and means so much to so many people.

[jo]

Wolverine incognito wolverine


Jo

[jo]

Another interview -- from a producer's viewpoint! Very articulately expressed!

The perspective is different( in some cases more widereaching and far-reaching) and his views really add more insights to what the actor and the director have already shared about the film.

screenrant.com/the-wolverine-movie-interview-sequels/all/1/

While on the set of The Wolverine last fall, we traveled back and forth from the outdoor overnight shoot where Hugh Jackman was working on a major action sequence and the indoor main stages of Fox Studios Australia. Director James Mangold and producer Hutch Parker took time from their schedules during our tour to talk about the latest entry in the X-Men franchise.

The Wolverine marks the first time Hutch Parker steps into the producer role and he’s proud to have chosen this one in particular as he explains in our interview.



Tell us about your history with the X-Men franchise and how you moved into a producer role for this film.


“My background is almost all studio. I was at Fox, between Fox and Regency, for 17 years, so my association with the franchise goes back to the beginning. Really, Tom Rothman was at the helm and kind of the chief custodian and then after the first I was President overseeing X2 and then 3 and then Wolverine and the beginning of X-Men: First Class. The relationship is pretty longstanding, and both with Lauren, the original producer, and with Hugh, the various filmmakers, and the mythologies, you know, all the various scripts that were discussed and developed, and considered, ruled out or ruled in, all of that sort of thing.

I think a lot of that is why when this one came along and it was going to be in Australia, Lauren wasn’t able to go. It made sense for Fox and for the project. It was just a good fit. I’m familiar with it, know the studio well, knew Jim [Mangold] well, know Hugh [Jackman] well. It just kind of made all around sense.”



Did you always know that The Wolverine, the Japanese story arc specifically, was on its way, and the second part of that is, did you know that it would be based after all the other films?


“The first part, yes. This comic is one that I think for everybody really stands as one of the most important comics in the great library of Wolverine comics, and one that kind of held a unique place for everybody. It’s such a powerful journey for his character. I think the challenge always was in mounting these films, on the one hand you have an obligation to deliver a level of spectacle, a level of audience entertainment, not just for the fans, but for everybody else. At the same time, in constantly driving, we all know that the key is character, that what really bonds and audience to these stories is when you manage to take them to a more specific and interesting place with regard to the characters.

And with X-Men that’s a lot of characters to manage. There’s a lot to try to balance all the time, and I think we did it to better degrees and lesser degrees at different times. But I think for all of us, unquestionably there was a longing to tackle something as specific and as profound a storyline as the one embedded in The Wolverine. It really became a question of when was the right time. I think for Fox, Lauren had long championed it. I think it was one she had long been a fan of, and all of us who were reading the comics felt this was one you had to do. But to their credit it was always a question of when and coming off the last Wolverine having really closed the traditional X-Men franchise and having started a new chapter with X-Men First Class the table was set ready to tackle a whole new chapter for Wolverine and I couldn’t have been more thrilled because I believe the tone of this, both the tone that Jim has brought but the tone embedded in the comic itself is what the next step should be.

Frankly, I sort of long felt that a more reality-based, both psychologically, emotionally but in terms of the environment was certainly what I longed for and when I feel the most connected and compelled. And this, almost more so than any other I can think of, the fact that it’s set in Japan which is both alien and yet real, as opposed to having to take us to either some fantasized environment or rely on really histrionic characters to challenge him in new ways. This gave us a venue that could take him further away from everything he knows, detach him from everything he knows and relies on, and force him into confronting the core challenges of his character and do so in a way that could be entirely original and make all of us feel like we’ve gone somewhere completely unique and none of us really know; both the ancient world as well as the contemporary world of Japan. But do so drawing on all the character-based issues we’re all very familiar with from what we’ve all seen and know from the comics. Again to your point, that comic allows the character to go much further in those ways than any other that I’ve seen. So, all of that led to them wanting to put this one forward. They’ve got a really good script.

I was incredibly proud of Fox for stepping up because it’s ambitious and not an obvious choice from a commercial marketing perspective but I think it was a fantastic choice from a fanbase, mythology and lore perspective. It’s exactly what was needed and it’s why, and I’m sure you talked to Hugh earlier, for all of us we feel it will be – what we’re striving to do – is the definitive Wolverine. To actually really give everybody who loves this character the definitive experience.”



What are the keys to making the definitive Wolverine movie?


“Look, if at the core to his character is this sort of struggle between his immense humanity and this rage, this irresolvable rage. I think a key piece to me was delving deeper into what is the complexion of that, not just treating it like an on/off button, but actually trying to detail it in a way and give it specificity and life, reason and context, which is part of what makes Jim [Mangold] such a super filmmaker for it because he’s such an incredibly gifted character-based director. His sensibility is all over this, and now that we’re mostly through filming, he’s such a godsend for the fulfillment of this piece. To me, first and foremost, it would be that.

While of course you want and need to deliver on the action, the spectacle, on all of the entertainment values, in my experiences those only resonate and really work when you’re connected to the character and the character-based stakes that are underpinning those sequences.

If you’re really invested in the issues that the character is managing, then that action sequence takes on entirely different meaning. You pay attention and care. When you’re not, that’s not to say you won’t enjoy it, but you’re watching it with a different relationship. First and foremost, given what the underlying material is, for all of us tackling it was to honor the integrity of it and really deliver on that experience for the film audience which meant bringing to life all those values in a way that you could feel them more profoundly than you ever had before. And that invites challenging Wolverine more deeply then he has been before, seeing him more vulnerable, more in conflict with himself, more in conflict with his role in the world – really choosing to delve into those questions and not run away from them, and make them part of the text of the film which Jim has done a brilliant job of doing, and Hugh too. It’s an amazing opportunity for an actor of his caliber to be able to sink his teeth more fully into the role, and to delve into issues that he hasn’t really had to tackle

That’s the big headline for me. Then it’s about this tonal thing which is really important, the notion of committing to something that can fulfill all the comic book expectations, but be real. I really love that. I really think that’s important. Comic books are no longer sort of fringe, they are the mainstream. They are a modern mythology. Taking the emotional or psychological issues more seriously just pushes them that much further into the heart of our contemporary storytelling. In this case that had a lot to do with tone and making sure the tone of all the characters and the world was one that felt real, that the audience could connect to even though you’re dealing with characters that have abilities that we obviously don’t have.

I’d argue that the power of the first one, how richly Bryan [Singer] captured the themes of teen alienation. As much as it was about mutancy, he was incredibly skilled in the scenes where kids are coming out to parents about their mutancy, the hiding of it, those were really powerful and resonant articulations of that theme. And we hope that this has the same sort of resonance, but delving more deeply specifically into this character that is The Wolverine. You guys can tell us in however many months, but I couldn’t be more excited by what Jim’s done and what Hugh’s done, by what everyone’s done in the fulfillment of that.”



I feel like fans have been waiting for Wolverine to be unleashed. He’s been in an ensembles and even in the first Wolverine, it’s more comic booky. This seems darker in tone. Are we going to get a more R-rated Wolverine?


“I don’t know what I’d put the rating, but it’s definitely Wolverine unleashed. It’s much rawer, much more visceral. In pushing down Wolverine you can expect and will be, I hope, satisfied by how much more of the berserker you see.

He’s fighting more desperately in this and I think the challenges he faces, both internal and external, are deeper challenges and as a result it provokes a more rageful and berserker Wolverine, so it’s certainly our intention to fulfill that. I think the comic book does and that’s certainly the intention of the film.”



You talk about closing the door on the previous X-Men movies and we’re here now with Days of Future Past coming that’s more tied with the Wolverine. We know he’s a central character in that. Do you see the series converging together again?


“I don’t really know, honestly, because I’m not connected enough now to what’s going on at Fox. To me it was more that X1, 2 and 3 were sort of ‘of a piece.’ I think they did a superb job on First Class and that was a significant evolution in that franchise in finding a new cast of characters and embedding it in this universe. It’s one of the things that’ so unique to the X-Men – you really do have a universe to draw on, a universe that we all live in alongside, so there are limitless possibilities to where you can go.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they continued to both mine and look forward and continue to build and expand on the universe and yet never lose sight of the cast that got them there, the key component that got them there. How that marriage will work, I’d love to know but I don’t.”



I know you’re really mindful of what the fans are looking for. Fans obviously want to see, now that they’re seeing The Avengers, they want to see Wolverine as an Avenger. Do you think that could ever happen?


“I’d like to think so, but candidly, it’s people whose pay grades are high and I’m removed from who’ll make that decision. But you’d hate to think that that couldn’t happen. Greater problems have been solved.”



You were talking about the visceral experience and a lot of what we’ve seen highlighted today and heard about is the tone, the grittiness and how much more violent and action-packed The Wolverine is, can you talk a bit about how the 3D will enhance this experience?


“I think the best use of 3D is by way of immersing you in the experience. That’s really what it does well, it’s not when it shocks you. It’s what the heart was of [James] Cameron’s work, first on Avatar and then going back and converting Titanic, it was all about bringing you closer, bringing you more fully and deeply into the world. To the degree we’re exploring 3D, it will be with that in mind. To the action, I do think there is a significant evolution in terms of what you’re going to see from this. It is dirtier. It’s more visceral, more real. It’s kind of uglier in the ways that make you feel it and I think that’s fantastic. Taking the gloss of it and borrowing a page from Bourne, a little bit from French Connection or whatever references you want to use to. Jim’s often referenced for character and tone, The Outlaw Josey Wales. You’re touching on things that are taking seriously the issues that underpin their characters and I think that’s happening here, and Dave [Leitch] and his team have done a fantastic job of realizing that in the action context of this movie.

When you asked what are the distinguishing elements, my mind flashed to one of the things that’s most important and we hoped to be the most proud of – that’s an element that I really hope that people are as excited about as we are because I’m so excited by the material I’m seeing and by the step the film take sin alloowing it to be that tone. It feels like Wolverine unleashed and Wolverine grown up. There’s something about that marriage of tones that just feels like a big step. To your tonal question, that’s a big part of why the action is so special based on what we’ve seen. We’re doing a big sequence now but we’re now 4/5ths done so I’ve seen most of it and they’re doing a fantastic job.”



There’s a genuine sense of excitement around this and we know Hugh has wanted to do this specific story for years, and we hear that from a lot of the cast and the crew and this is like the Wolverine story, and you said yourself this is Wolverine unleashed, the Wolverine we’ve all been waiting for. Is there still room for Wolverine to do another solo story down the road or does his future lay with the team again?


“Absolutely, absolutely. This is a standalone piece. You guys know the story, it lives really neatly off by itself and doesn’t preclude anything else. It doesn’t preclude reconnecting. It doesn’t preclude other standalone stories. I think part of what makes Wolverine such an iconic character is that it’s an irresolvable conflict. His immortality and the emotional conflicts he has surrounding those issues are limitless in terms of where that character can go and where they would live and become an issue and engage so that, I think you’ve got – To Tom [Rothman]‘s credit, to Bill Mechanic’s credit – this is a well that can be mined for a long time. I think the challenge will be the obligation on the part of the filmmakers and the studio to make sure the stories are worthy of going back to the well. Certainly, Hugh’s been a good sport about it over the years he’s done this character. He clearly loves it to death but I do know that it becomes a storytelling obligation to make sure that this one will be a hard one to top, so that we can continue to serve up opportunities for him as a performer that warrant ‘yes, I want to put the claws back on and grow out my mutton chops and do my thing.’”




With this whole Mark Millar thing and him coming in as a consultant, there’s so much potential for what can happen, what would you like to see next from the Marvel side of Fox? We know Fantastic Four is in development with Josh Trank and Bryan Singer is back with Days of Future Past. Is Millar involved with this at all?


“He’s not. Understandably, we were way down the road. We were well into shooting before that happened. You guys know, when you pick the story and are writing the script, you’re setting the table so in odd ways it can be problematic to bring in chefs late in the game. His role really is to help to make sure they’re taking full advantage of what is a very, very important asset, and to see other opportunities where others might not. And clearly he will be invaluable to them in that regard although I think, when I speak to them now and look at the way they’re approaching the franchises, specifically films they’ve targeted within the X-Men universe, I think they’re on a great track. Bringing Bryan back is incredibly exciting. Josh, as a way to reboot and reimagine Fantastic Four is wonderfully creative and inventive. The bottom line for me goes back to stories and storytellers so as long as they are continuing to commit to top grade storytellers, be that new voices or established, I think this universe is in good hands. And they do seem to making a really concerted effort to do that which I think is fantastic.”

[mamaleh]

Jo, thanks for posting all those incisive interviews. Some prognosticator on "Entertainment Tonight" the other evening predicted that THE WOLVERINE should do "monster business" at the box office. The movie sounds worthy of that. (I still can't fathom the popularity of what I consider crap like FAST AND FURIOUS 6.)

Hopes high for Wolvie!

Ellen