Post by jo on Dec 2, 2013 18:10:32 GMT -5
An interview with James Mangold by The Wall Street Journal --
*Interesting dilemma about what to do with the costume
*It seems that publicity for a movie still to be made ( actually still to be greenlit) is front-loaded now -- is this the new marketing team's way of doing things? Or is this one way of combating any "audience fatigue" ( re a Wolverine-centric XMEN movie) by whetting the appetite with interesting concepts of the new film?
*James Mangold is the right helmer, not just for his directorial talent and scriptwriting gift, but also because he is as "talkative" as Hugh in an interview
Jo
5:30 pm
Dec 2, 2013
Blu-ray
Director James Mangold on the Future of ‘The Wolverine’
By Alexandra Cheney
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, director James Mangold is already meeting with “The Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman to develop the storyline for the next Wolverine sequel, which is currently untitled.
Unlike “The Wolverine,” which Mangold took over after director Darren Aronofsky left the project, the sequel is being written and developed both by the director and its presumed star, Jackman. “I’ve talked with Hugh and he said he’d like to continue and I would love to do this again, but we’re just refining that story and working on making a script. All other decisions flow from there,” Mangold said.
Jackman told Speakeasy last month “What we’ve done is we’ve all agreed to work on a script to get it up again. None of us have signed on until we have something great. None of us want to do it unless it is better, basically. It’s got to keep getting better in my view.”
Mangold’s “The Wolverine,” which comes out on Blu-Ray on Tuesday, marks the sixth time Jackman has played the mutant hero since he began his run in the role in 2000. The film grossed $415 million globally according to Box Office Mojo. Mangold phoned Speakeasy to discuss the project.
The Wall Street Journal: With the arrival of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” next May, audiences will have seen Jackman reprise the role of the clawed mutant seven times. Do you think there’s audience fatigue?
James Mangold: I think when I came on to make “The Wolverine,” there was a hell of a lot of untapped comic book history and lore, and the predicament of Wolverine and Logan as an immortal figure who must watch all his loved ones come and go, being either murdered at the hands of his enemies or through attrition, he’s developed this dark relationship with society and the world. There are huge questions and really interesting biblical kinds of questions when it comes to immortality and responsibility and a sense of connection. There’s a lot explore with this character.
Such as?
With the movie I just finished, I think that I very much focused, when I went to Fox and presented, I told them I was interested in making a movie about someone who feels like anyone they love will die, not only that they are cursed but that anyone they become attached to becomes cursed. That film was about Logan’s jaundiced view of society.
And the film you are developing, what’s its theme?
I would just say it is always going to be about his relationships to other characters. We are very much trying to work with existing text. There are other great Wolverine stories out there but suffice it to say there are great texts about his connections to others, villains, characters from the lore and from the comics that we can bring out and have another great and meaningful adventure.
Although he’s been onscreen in a variety of scenarios with a variety of people, we’ve still never seen Wolverine’s uniform translate onscreen. Are you going to change that?
A lot of fans keep asking about when he’s going to wear his uniform. It’s a struggle for us in relation to question, because Logan’s personality as developed onscreen and in comics is one in which he hates publicity. The filmmakers, even on X-Men, have struggled with an outfit. Finding the rationale for a uniform when the character disdains self promotion, why he would put on some outfit that promotes himself as some kind of hero? It’s like Dirty Harry didn’t walk around with special outfit. There’s a difficult line to walk. He’s not a show off, he’s the last one to put on a team jersey. The flesh and blood character is very loyal to that iconoclastic rebel who doesn’t seem to be the first to don spandex. It isn’t something I’ve talked about much. Some fans may be frustrated, but we’re trying to be true to his character. Who knows whether that will change, I cannot verify and will not deny.
What would make you stop developing Wolverine-centric films?
How many westerns did John Wayne make, swashbucklers that Errol Flynn made, how many times did Sean Connery play James Bond? Clint Eastwood has been playing something like Dirty Harry, some similar character for 20 something movies. When an actor is so good at it, there’s no reason except for running creatively dry to not keep doing it.
I know it is still early in the process, but many critics hailed you for your character development versus action scenes in “The Wolverine.” Is the sequel going to follow suit?
It’s not a function of I wanted less action than some other movie, but my own commitment that I wanted you to feel attached to the characters that were in action. Superhero films and tent pole films are in an arms race of spectacle of who could put more [stuff] blowing up on screen. The wisest way to react was to withdraw from it. I don’t have as much money, I’m not going to try to blow up as much stuff up but instead deliver characters, a film that might function on its own even if you didn’t know the comic book. I want to make it like a classic noir film or western, a lot of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”–there was a good deal of action but they run on character.
So Wolverine isn’t going to be saving the world?
The simple thing is when the world is in danger. I think it is a cheat that a lot of movies do to create stakes, about how the world will blow up or a stadium or a planet or a region will blow up if x and y doesn’t happen by this time. Much more than the genre being tired, when every movies is about the destruction of the universe or the globe, it makes it hard to tell a meaningful story when the scale gets so huge, it dwarfs the characters.
For more entertainment and film coverage, follow @alexandracheney.
Dec 2, 2013
Blu-ray
Director James Mangold on the Future of ‘The Wolverine’
By Alexandra Cheney
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, director James Mangold is already meeting with “The Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman to develop the storyline for the next Wolverine sequel, which is currently untitled.
Unlike “The Wolverine,” which Mangold took over after director Darren Aronofsky left the project, the sequel is being written and developed both by the director and its presumed star, Jackman. “I’ve talked with Hugh and he said he’d like to continue and I would love to do this again, but we’re just refining that story and working on making a script. All other decisions flow from there,” Mangold said.
Jackman told Speakeasy last month “What we’ve done is we’ve all agreed to work on a script to get it up again. None of us have signed on until we have something great. None of us want to do it unless it is better, basically. It’s got to keep getting better in my view.”
Mangold’s “The Wolverine,” which comes out on Blu-Ray on Tuesday, marks the sixth time Jackman has played the mutant hero since he began his run in the role in 2000. The film grossed $415 million globally according to Box Office Mojo. Mangold phoned Speakeasy to discuss the project.
The Wall Street Journal: With the arrival of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” next May, audiences will have seen Jackman reprise the role of the clawed mutant seven times. Do you think there’s audience fatigue?
James Mangold: I think when I came on to make “The Wolverine,” there was a hell of a lot of untapped comic book history and lore, and the predicament of Wolverine and Logan as an immortal figure who must watch all his loved ones come and go, being either murdered at the hands of his enemies or through attrition, he’s developed this dark relationship with society and the world. There are huge questions and really interesting biblical kinds of questions when it comes to immortality and responsibility and a sense of connection. There’s a lot explore with this character.
Such as?
With the movie I just finished, I think that I very much focused, when I went to Fox and presented, I told them I was interested in making a movie about someone who feels like anyone they love will die, not only that they are cursed but that anyone they become attached to becomes cursed. That film was about Logan’s jaundiced view of society.
And the film you are developing, what’s its theme?
I would just say it is always going to be about his relationships to other characters. We are very much trying to work with existing text. There are other great Wolverine stories out there but suffice it to say there are great texts about his connections to others, villains, characters from the lore and from the comics that we can bring out and have another great and meaningful adventure.
Although he’s been onscreen in a variety of scenarios with a variety of people, we’ve still never seen Wolverine’s uniform translate onscreen. Are you going to change that?
A lot of fans keep asking about when he’s going to wear his uniform. It’s a struggle for us in relation to question, because Logan’s personality as developed onscreen and in comics is one in which he hates publicity. The filmmakers, even on X-Men, have struggled with an outfit. Finding the rationale for a uniform when the character disdains self promotion, why he would put on some outfit that promotes himself as some kind of hero? It’s like Dirty Harry didn’t walk around with special outfit. There’s a difficult line to walk. He’s not a show off, he’s the last one to put on a team jersey. The flesh and blood character is very loyal to that iconoclastic rebel who doesn’t seem to be the first to don spandex. It isn’t something I’ve talked about much. Some fans may be frustrated, but we’re trying to be true to his character. Who knows whether that will change, I cannot verify and will not deny.
What would make you stop developing Wolverine-centric films?
How many westerns did John Wayne make, swashbucklers that Errol Flynn made, how many times did Sean Connery play James Bond? Clint Eastwood has been playing something like Dirty Harry, some similar character for 20 something movies. When an actor is so good at it, there’s no reason except for running creatively dry to not keep doing it.
I know it is still early in the process, but many critics hailed you for your character development versus action scenes in “The Wolverine.” Is the sequel going to follow suit?
It’s not a function of I wanted less action than some other movie, but my own commitment that I wanted you to feel attached to the characters that were in action. Superhero films and tent pole films are in an arms race of spectacle of who could put more [stuff] blowing up on screen. The wisest way to react was to withdraw from it. I don’t have as much money, I’m not going to try to blow up as much stuff up but instead deliver characters, a film that might function on its own even if you didn’t know the comic book. I want to make it like a classic noir film or western, a lot of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”–there was a good deal of action but they run on character.
So Wolverine isn’t going to be saving the world?
The simple thing is when the world is in danger. I think it is a cheat that a lot of movies do to create stakes, about how the world will blow up or a stadium or a planet or a region will blow up if x and y doesn’t happen by this time. Much more than the genre being tired, when every movies is about the destruction of the universe or the globe, it makes it hard to tell a meaningful story when the scale gets so huge, it dwarfs the characters.
For more entertainment and film coverage, follow @alexandracheney.
*Interesting dilemma about what to do with the costume
*It seems that publicity for a movie still to be made ( actually still to be greenlit) is front-loaded now -- is this the new marketing team's way of doing things? Or is this one way of combating any "audience fatigue" ( re a Wolverine-centric XMEN movie) by whetting the appetite with interesting concepts of the new film?
*James Mangold is the right helmer, not just for his directorial talent and scriptwriting gift, but also because he is as "talkative" as Hugh in an interview
Jo
