X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine, due for release on May 1, 2009. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy, focusing on the mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine's skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.

Premise

Set seventeen years before X-Men,^[1] the film will focus on Wolverine's violent past,^[2] and his early encounters with William Stryker. The Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored,^[3] including his complex relationship with Sabretooth.^[2]

Cast

• Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, the mutant and future X-Man. Jackman, who played Wolverine in the previous films, has also become producer of the film, and is being paid $20 million for the film.^[4] Jackman underwent a high intensity weight training regimen to bulk up for his role. He changed the program to shock the body into change and also performed cardiovascular workouts.^[5] Jackman worked out in a Queenstown gym where he would arrive daily at 6am. He stayed in character and made noises while exercising.^[6]
  • Troye Mellet plays the young Logan. Casting directors cast Mellet after seeing him sing at the Channel Seven Perth Telethon, and he was accepted after sending in an audition tape.^[7] Kodi Smit-McPhee was originally cast in the role, when filming was originally beginning in December 2007,^[8] but he opted out to film The Road.^[9]

• Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed / Sabretooth:^[10] Tyler Mane, who played him in X-Men, had hoped to reprise the role.^[11]

• Danny Huston as William Stryker:^[10] Schreiber was originally in negotiations for the part,^[3] while Brian Cox, who played the character in X2, wanted to reprise the role. He believed computer-generated imagery, similar to the program applied to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the opening flashback of X-Men: The Last Stand, would allow him to appear as the younger Stryker.^[1]

• Lynn Collins as Kayla Silver Fox:^[10] Michelle Monaghan turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts, despite her enthusiasm to work with Jackman.^[12]

• Daniel Henney as David North / Agent Zero: A member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills.^[13]

• Will.i.am as John Wraith / Kestrel: A teleporting mutant who becomes a Weapon X test subject.^[10] It is will.i.am's film debut. Although he initially did not get on with the casting director, he got the role because he wanted to play a mutant with the same power as Nightcrawler. He enrolled in boot camp to get into shape for the part.^[14] When filming a fight, he scarred his knuckles after accidentally punching and breaking the camera.^[15]

• Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit: A Cajun thief who has the ability to charge any object he touches with kinetic energy, forcing it to explode. The size of the object determines the magnitude of the resulting explosion.^[10]

• Dominic Monaghan as Barnell: "[He] has the ability to manipulate energy and electricity."^[13]

• Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool: A wisecracking and thoroughly insane mercenary who can heal like Wolverine.^[10]

• Scott Adkins as Weapon XI: Weapon XI will feature in the end sequence fight scene against Wolverine.^[16]

• Kevin Durand as Frederick J. Dukes / The Blob: An obese mutant with an indestructible layer of fat.^[17]

Tim Pocock cameos as a young Cyclops.^[18] Asher Keddie and Tahyna Tozzi have unnamed roles.^[19][20] X-Men co-creator Stan Lee said he would cameo,^[21] but he was not in Australia during filming, so this will have to be a pick-up conducted during January 2009.^[22] Poker player Daniel Negreanu has a cameo appearance. Phil Hellmuth wanted to join him but was unable because he committed to an event in Toronto.^[23]

Production

David Benioff, a comic book fan, pursued the project for almost three years before he was hired to write the script in October 2004.^[24][25] In preparing to write the script, he reread Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" story (1991), as well as Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series on the character (his favorite storyline).^[26][24] Jackman collaborated on the script, which he wanted to be more of a character piece compared with the previous X-Men films.^[27] Benioff aimed for a "darker and a bit more brutal" story, writing it with an R rating in mind, although he acknowledged the film's final tone would rest with the producers and director.^[24] Jackman did not see the need to push the amount of onscreen violence.^[28] In October 2006 the script was finished, and Jackman stated there would be a year before shooting,^[29] as he was scheduled to start filming Australia (2008) during 2007.^[30] Before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, James Vanderbilt and Scott Silver were hired for a last-minute rewrite.^[31]

Gavin Hood was announced as director of the project in July 2007 for a 2008 release.^[32] Previously, X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer and X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner were interested in returning to the franchise,^[33][34] while Alexandre Aja and Len Wiseman also wanted the job.^[35][36] Zack Snyder, who was approached for The Last Stand, turned down this film because he was directing Watchmen.^[37] Jackman saw parallels between Logan and the main character in Tsotsi.^[38] Hood explained that while he was not a comic book fan, he "realized that the character of Wolverine, I think his great appeal lies in the fact that he's someone who in some ways, is filled with a great deal of self-loathing by his own nature and he's constantly at war with his own nature".^[39] The director described the film's themes as focusing on Wolverine's inner struggle between his animalistic savagery and noble human qualities. Hood enjoyed the previous films, but set out to give the spin-off a different feel.^[40] In October, Fox announced a May 1, 2009 release date and the X-Men Origins prefix.^[3]

Preliminary shooting took place at Fox Studios Australia (in Sydney) during late 2007.^[41] Principal photography began on January 18, 2008^[42] in New Zealand. Locations included Dunedin,^[43] Glenorchy and Milford Sound.^[44] Controversy arose as the Queenstown Lakes District Council disputed the Department of Labour's decision to allow Fox to store explosives in the local ice skating rink. Fox moved some of the explosives to another area.^[44] The explosives were used for a shot of the exploding Hudson Farm, a scene which required four cameras.^[45] Jackman and Palermo's Woz Productions reached an agreement with the council to allow recycling specialists on set to advise the production on being environmentally friendly.^[46] Filming in the country wrapped by February 21, and continued to take place at Fox (where most of the shooting was to be conducted) and New Orleans, Louisiana.^[47][3] Production of the film was predicted to generate $60 million in Sydney's economy.^[48] Principal photography ended by May 23. The second unit continued filming in New Zealand until March 23, and were schedule to continue filming for two weeks following the first unit's wrap.^[49] This included a flashback to Logan during the Normandy Landings, which was shot at Blacksmiths, New South Wales.^[50]

Hood and Fox disputed on the film's direction. The studio had two replacements lined up before Richard Donner, husband of producer Lauren Shuler Donner, flew to Australia to ease on-set tensions.^[51]

Marketing

Raven Software is developing a video game based on the film, which Activision will publish.^[52] Marc Guggenheim wrote the script.^[53]

Sequel

Hood speculated that there could be a sequel, which may be set in Japan.^[39] Such a location was the subject of Claremont and Miller's series, which was not in the first film as Jackman felt “what we need to do is establish who [Logan] is and find out how he became Wolverine".^[29] Jackman stated the Claremont-Miller series is his favorite Wolverine story.^[54] The inclusion of Deadpool and Gambit also leads to the possibilities of their own spin-offs.^[10]

References

External links

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine at Marvel.com
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine at the Internet Movie Database
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine at Allmovie
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine at XMenFilms.net
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine at Yahoo! Movies

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