LOGAN ( Spoiler Alert)

[jo]

[jo]

Dafne keeps in touch with Hugh.


www.looper.com/300809/how-his-dark-materials-dafne-keen-is-planning-to-dominate-hollywoods-future-exclusive/


Excerpts --

Speaking of scratching surfaces, Keen did far more than that in her break-out role as the unstoppable X-23 (also known as Laura Kinney) in 2017's critically acclaimed Logan. When Keen was 11 years old, she got to slice and dice dozens of bad guys with her lethal adamantium-plated claws and tag along with one of Marvel's most famous mutants of all: the Wolverine.
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And if Keen's involvement in one the grittiest of X-Men movies of all time wasn't already cool enough, how many teens can actually say they have Hugh Jackman's cell phone number?

"Actually, I sent him a text the other day — we were chatting for a bit," Keen told Looper during an exclusive interview. "We still stay in contact. He's been a massive, very important person in my life." 

[jo]

Poll on Best ComicBook Movie of the Decade --


www.joblo.com/movie-news/favorite-comic-book-movie-of-decade-poll


Please Vote!
I have voted...and have seen to-date results. LOGAN leads the pack


Jo

[jo]

Here are the choices --




XMEN: Days of Future Past is also a choice but way too behind the leaders.


Jo

[jo]

A retrospective on LOGAN!

No wonder it is still leading the pack in the JoBlo poll of the Best Comic Book Movie of the Decade!

[jo]

[jo]

We get new movies on a Wednesday, so we are usually ahead 2 days before day/date release in the USA.

[jo]

From LOGAN NOIR --

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

Features and Columns · Movies

35 Things We Learned from James Mangold’s ‘Logan’ Commentary

“Charles has to pee, Logan takes him to the bathroom, Laura needs another quarter stuck in her kiddie ride.”
Commentary Logan James Mangold
By
Rob Hunter
· Published on May 24th, 2017



Welcome to Commentary Commentary, our long-running series of articles exploring the things we can learn from the most interesting filmmaker commentaries available on DVD and Blu-ray.

3:10 to Yuma was my first commentary listen from filmmaker James Mangold, but I decided two things immediately after it ended. First, it would not be my last of his commentaries, and second, he really needed to record one for his latest film too.

Keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…



Logan (2017)
Commentator: James Mangold (director/co-writer)


1. He and Hugh Jackman began thinking about a follow-up immediately after completing 2013’s The Wolverine, and they knew it would most likely “bring the curtain down on his character.” They both agreed that superhero films in general had grown repetitious and wanted to do “something different, something deeper.”

2. The first thought on the road to crafting the story here was “what is Wolverine frightened of? What is Logan afraid of?” They wanted his final story to be the thing that scares him the most, and after scouring the comics he realized there was no villain or end-of-the-world scenario that would unsettle Wolverine. “The answer that came to me was love. Love scares him, intimacy scares him, being dependent on others scares him, being vulnerable scares him.”

3. Early drafts had Logan (Jackman) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) living in an old Kentucky bourbon mill before being moved to the U.S./Mexico border.

4. He describes his initial sixty page treatment as “Little Miss Sunshine meets The Gauntlet.”

5. They were aiming for a “more natural vibe” with the film, and he mentions influences like The Wrestler, Paper Moon, and “a lot of ’70s films.”

6. One of the reasons the film is called Logan is because it’s about the man, not the “hero” who Logan’s tired of being.

7. He praises Boyd Holbrook‘s portrayal of Pierce saying “one of the things you can really do that hurts your film is encourage the actors to just act ‘evil.'”

8. He’s equally fond of Stephen Merchant‘s performance saying the actor makes it clear that Caliban has real affection for Logan and Xavier. More than that though, he likes the varied rhythm that comes with blending performers like Merchant into the mix.

9. They struggled after deciding Xavier would be kept in an old water tank because it felt impractical that Logan would go up and down a 200-foot ladder every time. They were playing around with a model “and then suddenly we just tipped over the model of the tank on its side with its legs sticking out like some kind of dead spider.”

10. Some people assumed Mangold’s interest in the R-rating was that he’d be able to increase the level and detail of violence, foul language, and sexual references, “and in many ways all those things were attractive.” His biggest reason for going this route though “was a little more complicated than that.” An adult-rated film means the studio won’t make an effort to market the film to children with Happy Meals and toy tie-ins, and “what does that mean to the filmmaker?” He says what it changes for the writers/director is that no one at the studio is reading the script on a marketing level and then dictating editing choices to ensure it plays well to kids. “The ideas of the film are allowed to be more sophisticated because you’re no longer having to pace up the movie, edit it faster, make it more charming or colorful for a nine year old’s attention span. The film becomes what I had hoped for which is a comic book film for adults.”

11. There was a risk that Laura (Dafne Keen) would come off as “ridiculous” onscreen. “Would anyone believe the power and intensity and ferocity of this little kid and her foot claws.” He credits her performance for overcoming all of those concerns and delivering something truly special and remarkable here.

12. The film was shot primarily in and around New Orleans with a month of exterior work filmed in New Mexico. They had lost Stewart to a stage production by that time though meaning they had to intercut footage shot previously into the big scenes where the crew escape from Pierce. He details one thirty second sequence as follows. “This is shot in New Mexico. New Mexico. Louisiana, two months earlier. New Mexico. Louisiana. New Mexico. Louisiana.”

13. He knew that the internet being what it is audiences would know by the time they saw the film that Laura is essentially “a mini Wolverine, so you build the film with this anticipation.”

14. There’s obviously stunt performers and doubles involved in Keen’s scenes, “but you’d be amazed how much of this stuff Dafne’s doing, even wire work was one of her favorite things.” He says most adults are tired of wire work almost immediately, but Keen was always wanting to do more.

15. His goal with Marco Beltrami’s score was to avoid the typical sounds of big summer blockbusters and comic book films. “I wanted a more ’70s feel, I wanted more a kind of thriller or detective movie score, a more intimate score, something that wasn’t trying at every moment to bring the London Philharmonic to bear on the action.”

16. He says CG and green screen work has “robbed movies of a kind of authenticity that I miss. The films always film oddly fake even though the effects work is often amazing.” Preach.

17. He pimps the black & white version (included on a second Blu-ray) saying “the idea of releasing a monochromatic version of this movie really was the very organic result of early stills that I was taking in production, some of which I was releasing on Twitter, and I was making them black & white, and I think it startled all of us because I think it’s conventional wisdom that audiences don’t like black & white, it seems old-fashioned. People responded so intensely to those stills that it occurred to us to try and make a black & white version of the film.” He credits cinematographer John Mathieson with shooting a film that works beautifully in color or b&w.

18. The secret videos shot by the nurse were meant to appear as if she could actually have shot them surreptitiously, but he acknowledges they grow more elaborate as they go on. “My hope being that you’re being drawn into the story that Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez) is telling and less and less aware that the film-making and the cutting of her video might be a little beyond the level of your average nurse. Not that nurses can’t make great films.”

19. “One of the motifs of the movie is hands holding hands.” The shot of Laura looking at the casino mannequins first sets up the symbol of interlocked hands between a parent and a child as something she’s longing for.

20. He says George Stevens’ Shane is “a masterpiece of golden age American film-making.”

[jo]

Cont...

21. The idea that X-Men comics exist in this film’s universe came to he and co-writer Scott Frank late in the writing of the script. He acknowledges it’s similar to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (an inspiration here) which features a character chronicling the adventures of various gunfighters. The idea of Logan’s uneasiness with the burden of fame and public awareness fascinated him.

22. The hotel sequence where Xavier loses control and affects everyone in the area was an instance of ingenuity over budgetary limitations. Rather than hand the sequence over to an effects house (that they couldn’t afford anyway) they essentially used a program currently available on smart phones that takes shaky footage and attempts to smooth it out. “What we did is we used that technology, only we shook the camera like mad.”

23. The scene featuring horses loose on the freeway was accomplished with riders “in blue leotards” on each of the horses who controlled the animals to their mark under Xavier’s psychic control.


24. Much of the dinner scene between Logan, Xavier, Laura, and the farming family was improvised by the actors.

25. Regarding the question of why X-24 instead of Sabretooth or some other super-villain, Mangold says he played around with these other ideas before settling on the clone. “With any more elaborate character arriving you required a set of explanations. What is Sabretooth doing there? Why is he helping Transigen? What is his role in capturing Laura? Also these are more verbal characters, so now they’re gonna talk.” It also goes back to his earlier point about finding what scares Wolverine the most. Fighting another bad guy doesn’t do it, but fighting and facing himself? Boom.

26. The shot of a wounded Xavier in the back of the truck was Stewart’s final bit of filming for Logan, “and in all likelihood the very last time he’ll play this character.”

27. He was thrilled to cast James Handy as the country doctor, both because he’s a great actor and because “he’s in a favorite film of mine, Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict.”

28. Some crew members were shocked to hear Keen speak during the scene where she first does so onscreen. “I think no one ever looked at her the same on the crew after this day.”

29. The very first trailer resulted in fans sending Mangold images from the game The Last of Us, and while he wishes he could credit it as even a minor inspiration he had never seen or played it before making his movie. He’s since played it and agrees that “it’s a great game.” And now he’s getting requests from fans to adapt it for the screen. “Well no, I think I kind of did, you guys made that clear to me.”

30. He says an important element for young filmmakers to consider, one barely discussed even in film school, is point of view. It’s typically clear in novels and stories, but he finds that movies often neglect to attach themselves to its characters. “That can cause story problems, but it also makes the movie visually less interesting.”

31. He acknowledges that he may have driven some sound men crazy over the years with “how low and quiet I’ll allow my actors to play. Unlike some sets I absolutely forbid the sound man from sending word that ‘I need a little more level.’ I just won’t let him do I because there are magical moments… that feel like we’ve been invited in on something forbidden.” He thinks that as vocal performances get louder it too often feels like acting.

32. “It’s very basic action,” he says, “it’s very primal.” The goal was to move away from exploding cities and large spectacle and a move towards “a kind of primal, Braveheart, Gladiator, blood and guts level” degree of action. “These are characters with knives in their fists. It would seem logical that the action would essentially be a kind of a street fight.”

33. Frank wrote Logan’s final line of dialogue, “So this is what it feels like.” Mangold believes he’s referring to more than just the feeling of death. “I also think he means love.”

34. The idea of Laura turning the grave marker from a cross into an X was inspired in part by Mangold’s father, a painter who is known for a series of paintings called the Plus series and the X series, “so I have a very ingrained sense of the relationship of the cross and the X.” There’s also a comic book cover from the ’80s showing Logan stuck to an X atop a mountain of skulls.

35. He asks that you watch the entirety of the end credits despite there being no end credits stinger so that you can see the cast and crew’s names. “There’s no one here who didn’t work their ass off making this movie.”




Best in Context-Free Commentary
“Don’t lose patience with me if there’s a little bit of a pause.”

“When you’re casting you’re looking for people who make the most interesting stew possible.”

“No one’s going ‘can Logan have a funny little robot friend? Or a furry little critter?'”

“In many ways, this movie is a three-legged stool.”

“What I love most about westerns is their simplicity. I think movies have gotten really complicated.”

“I’m sure no one wanted to see a meatloaf for a year after shooting these two days.”

“The film almost enters the emotional and style space of a horror film.”

“It’s very important for my actors to confound my sound man.”

[mamaleh]

Thoughtful, fascinating comments.

Ellen

[jo]

What's interesting to me --

They filmed LOGAN and THE GREATEST SHOWMAN back to back, with some overlaps ( when Hugh would do some initial work for TGS while filming LOGAN).

*The Greatest Showman may have been Hugh's longtime passion project because he wanted to see how he can shepherd the development of a new movie musical( which has been very challenging in the very last 2 decades),LOGAN was more a big part of his evolution as an actor. He may have initially viewed the character he first portrayed 17 years ago ( the first XMen was filmed in 1999) as simply action-movie-acting... by the time he was discussing the final Wolverine saga with Mangold, Hugh must have been completely focused on tracing the evolution of the character. Many have scorned the ORIGINS movie but it laid the first insights on Wolverine as a human being, not just a superhero character. From there, THE WOLVERINE added more layers into the character. When the time for LOGAN came, Hugh had already developed a full appreciation of the character of Wolverine and had worked closely with Mangold on how LOGAN, the MAN, would finally be portrayed. In the process, Hugh Jackman grew as an actor as he began to understand the character with excellent insight so that he could almost project the fate of the character.

I don't know how many went back to when Hugh said that the basic story & fate of LOGAN came to him one night... how he sent his thoughts immediately to Mangold so that James could evolve the storyline and characterization.

An actor is probably most fulfilled when he begins to fully understand the motivations and actuations of the character he played for so long..and when he eventually has a big role in seeing the final adventure & ultimate fate of that character.

While 2017 was Hugh's arguably most successful year of his film career because of LOGAN & THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (completely different genes, one more critically favored than the other but both successful with the public) -- he can look back at his Wolverine valedictory, though LOGAN, as very special! A longtime acting idea that ended at its best moments!

[jo]

[jo]

Jan 31, 2022 21:22:13 GMT -5 jo said:

I am repeating the above ...

because the following article features one of the most personal impact of the XMEN/Wolverine legacies on Hugh and Patrick -

www.slashfilm.com/734767/patrick-stewart-and-hugh-jackman-improvised-one-of-logans-most-intimate-scenes/

[jo]

www.slashfilm.com/734767/patrick-stewart-and-hugh-jackman-improvised-one-of-logans-most-intimate-scenes/

REVIEWS MOVIES TV COOL STUFF PODCAST FEATURES
Patrick Stewart And Hugh Jackman Improvised One Of Logan's Most Intimate Scenes




BY RYAN SCOTT/JAN. 14, 2022 4:46 PM EST
The "X-Men" franchise is largely responsible for ushering in the modern superhero movie era as we know it, along with "Blade" and "Spider-Man." That is in no small part thanks to the popularity of Hugh Jackman as the fan-favorite mutant Wolverine, who made his debut in the 2000 live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics title and kept at the role for nearly 20 years. Jackman's run ended with "Logan" in 2017, and it's widely considered to be one of the best comic book movies ever made.


Directed by James Mangold, "Logan" moves the story well into the future, allowing for the filmmaker to tell a surprisingly intimate and emotional story, that doesn't skimp on the superhero goods. It is, in my humble opinion, pretty damn close to a masterpiece. And, as it turns out, one of the very best scenes in the entire movie largely came about through improvisation and was not scripted.


The Scene In Question



A little over halfway into the movie, Logan, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and Laura (Dafne Keen) find themselves enjoying the kindness of strangers that they helped on the road after their horses got loose on a rural highway. The trio join the family for dinner on their farm and plan to stay the night before hitting the road again. Gathered like a big, happy family, they sit down, and for a few minutes, things feel normal. They seem happy. And we get to relive some "X-Men" history in a rather sweet fashion. Here's the scene for those who might need a refresher:





Speaking to The Independent, Patrick Stewart revealed, rather surprisingly, that this scene was improvised, at least partially. The actor explained:

"There were occasions in one scene where [director] James Mangold said, 'Just improvise'. It's the scene where the family is talking about wanting to have a vacation and the kid says, 'I'm ready to drop out of school,' and Logan says something like, 'Well, you know, be careful what you say, because [Xavier] used to run a school.' James said, 'When you get to that moment, why don't you talk about your history a little bit more? Fill it out with something. Whatever feels appropriate to you.' So we did an eight or nine-minute improvisation, Hugh and myself."


The fact of the matter is that Jackman and Stewart had a long history together on these movies, representing a large chunk of both their lives. It makes sense, knowing they were both coming to the end of their journey with these characters, that taking some time to reflect naturally would pay off. Fortunately, Mangold had the vision to let it happen naturally. As Stewart tells it, one line from this improvised moment made it into the final cut.

"Only one line of that improvisation actually makes it into that scene. It was then that I realized that I really have a history. Again it's not in the movie, but I talked about Jean Grey and what she meant to me. I'd never talked about this before, and it was all coming out. We loved it, it was terrific – and the [actors playing the] family were saying: 'Where did all that stuff come from?'"

The Reason It Works



It's one thing for an actor to improvise in a scene with a character they are playing for the first time. It is another thing entirely for two actors who have lived in these characters' shoes for nearly two decades to improvise in long-form in such an intimate setting. Even if only one line from that improvised moment made it into the final cut, the genuine history that both actors had with these characters informed much of what was captured, and it allowed them to make this entire scene feel more authentic.


The reaction from the "Logan" co-stars speaks volumes about just how in tune the film's stars were with their characters after all those years. Since so much of this movie is pretty brutal, it's a sweet moment for them to recall that there were many good times for both Wolverine and Professor X, not just as mutants but as friends. It also serves as a calm before one hell of a storm, as things get especially ugly after this scene, with Charles meeting his demise at the hands of X-24.

This is but one of the little touches that helps make "Logan" what it is. It's a movie that transcends the genre to become more than your average superhero movie.

[jo]

[jo]

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of LOGAN ( world premiere at the Berlinale - Feb 2017) and released in cinemas on March 3, 2017!

WOLVERINE WEEK

5 YEARS AGO, 'LOGAN' PUT MARVEL STUDIOS TO SHAME
“DON’T BE WHAT THEY MADE YOU.”


ALEX WELCH
6 HOURS AGO

EVERY GENRE HAS ITS TROPES. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a noir that doesn’t have a single fedora or cigarette, or a Western that doesn’t have cowboy hats and gunfights. Likewise, there aren’t many modern superhero movies that don’t show exploding buildings and oversized CGI spectacles. Violence and action are as integral to superhero stories as shadows and corruption are to noir.

Viewers and critics have spent years discussing how repetitive and numbing the superhero genre’s reliance on climatic CGI battles can be, but not many creators have tried to make a comic book movie about the genre’s fetishization of destruction. That’s what makes Logan unique.

Directed by James Mangold, Logan doesn’t just function as a farewell piece to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but as a meditation on the superhero genre itself. The film’s script, which was co-written by Mangold, Michael Green, and Scott Frank, dares to show what too much violence and conflict can do to a man. The result is a film that not only acts as a commentary on the highs and lows of superhero stories, but also makes death real in a genre that refuses to let its characters die.



FIVE YEARS AFTER LOGAN'S SWAN SONG, INVERSE CELEBRATES ALL THINGS WOLVERINE.

Hugh Jackman Wolverine Logan
Hugh Jackman stands alone as Wolverine in 2017’s Logan.20th Century Fox



At the start of Logan nearly all the X-Men are dead, Wolverine is dying, and Professor X (Patrick Stewart) is suffering from dementia. Both men are old and waiting for the end.

What neither realizes is that a corporation called Alkali-Transigen has secretly created a new generation of heroes to replace the old by using mutant DNA to imbue children with superpowers. When Logan agrees to transport Laura (Dafne Keen) to a sanctuary inhabited by her fellow Transigen escapees, he’s forced to step back into the fray one last time.

In doing so Logan finds himself face-to-face with a bloodthirsty corporation, as well as a cloned copy of himself in the vicious X-24 (also played by Jackman). Unlike Laura, who has Logan’s powers but also her own personality and emotions, X-24 is Logan at his most superficial: A killing machine who does whatever his corporate creators tell him to do.

Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan
Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan.20th Century Fox
THE SUPERHERO GENRE has always had a problem with death. The ongoing, never-ending nature of comic books means that characters aren’t allowed to ever truly die. From a business standpoint, that makes sense. But on a narrative level, the lack of resolution brings an air of cynicism to most long-running superhero stories. Are these characters meant to do nothing but fight and suffer?

Many of the movies and TV shows inspired by comics have, for better or worse, adopted a similar mentality. Despite spanning nearly 30 films and a growing number of TV shows the Marvel Cinematic Universe has killed surprisingly few heroes, many of whom have somehow been brought back after their “deaths.”

That fact is something Logan grapples with from start to finish. The film exists in a genre overseen by companies that demand their franchises keep going at all costs, so it only feels fitting that Logan forces its hero to battle a greedy corporation hellbent on keeping superheroes alive and profitable. Similarly, at a time when superheroes have never been more at risk of being flattened into violent, two-dimensional figures, there’s no better villain for Logan to face than an emotionless, physically perfect version of himself.

But Logan doesn’t fight Transigen and X-24 for his own sake; he does it for Laura and the other children Transigen abused. That detail allows Logan to become both an investigation of the comic book genre and a deconstruction of the superhero itself.



Hugh Jackman looking out a window as Wolverine in 2017's Logan
The scarred, dying central hero of Logan.20th Century Fox
The film makes Logan not a perfect superhero in a snazzy costume, but a dying, increasingly frail figure whose skin is covered in scars and wrinkles. And his victory at the end of the film doesn’t come from killing X-24 or his corporate overlords, but from saving Laura and her friends. His peace comes not from knowing that his enemies are dead, but that those he wanted to save will be safe after he’s gone.

Unlike Avengers: Endgame, which is more concerned with bringing the overarching plot of the MCU to a close than saying anything about the genre, Logan isn’t interested in its hero “winning” a climactic fight or contributing to some all-consuming lore. Wolverine gives his life to save a generation of children just like him and dies quietly in a forest. As a result, the film proves that the best heroes aren’t the ones who fight to win, but to make sure that those who come after them don’t have to fight at all.



Dafne Keen and Hugh Jackman in 2017’s Logan
Dafne Keen and Hugh Jackman in 2017’s Logan.20th Century Fox
BEFORE LOGAN CAME OUT, a lot of attention was given to the film’s R rating. The consensus seemed to be that Logan was going to give comic book fans what they’d always wanted: A violent movie that shows Wolverine actually sinking his claws into heads and slicing off limbs. Logan delivers on all of that, but it isn’t just violent for the sake of it.

On the second page of the script, Green, Frank, and Mangold make their intentions clear. Just before the film’s opening limousine fight kicks into high gear, the writers speak directly to the script’s reader. “Now might be a good time to talk about ‘fights’ described in the next 100 or so pages,” the script notes. “Basically, if you’re on the make for a hyper choreographed, gravity defying, city-block destroying, CG f***athon, this ain’t your movie.” The script goes on to promise that “should anyone in our story have the misfortune to fall off a roof or out a window, they won’t bounce. They will die.”

It’s a mission statement that Logan delivers on. The film makes the violence of the superhero genre bloody and real, showing you what it might actually look like if the ending of a Marvel movie weren’t artificially bloodless. By the time Logan’s final setpiece is winding down, it’s hard not to feel exhausted and horrified by the endless nature of the film’s violence. But that’s the point. We’re meant to feel that way because Logan does.



Hugh Jackman standing as Wolverine in 2017's Logan
By the time Logan’s final setpiece is winding down, it’s hard not to feel tired, numb, and horrified by the endless nature of the film’s violence.20th Century Fox
Logan is a character study about a superhero on his last legs, and in constant pain because of the very thing that makes him indestructible. Mangold and Jackman confront the most familiar beats of every superhero movie and show what experiencing them too many times can do to someone. And then Logan ends with not just the death of an era, but the start of one free of the same pain and violence that so often defines the superhero genre.

It’s a future where, per Logan’s final request to Laura, a superhero’s story doesn’t have to be like those that came before it. Instead, it can be something new. Something better.

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

Twitter is awash with messages re LOGAN and Hugh Jackman and the XMen.

[jo]

Five years have not dimmed the swell of emotional memories that this movie elicited with its audiences.

[jo]

[jo]