Darren Aronofsky Leaves "The Wolverine'

One of my favorite directors is Darren Aronofsky. He has a unique vision that he brought to some of my favorite films ('Requiem for a Dream', 'The Fountain'. 'The Wrestler' and 'Black Swan'. I was overjoyed to hear that he was the director chosen to film the sequel to 'Wolverine' called 'The Wolverine'.

Anyone who knows this character from the comics knows that the greatest Wolverine stories are the ones that take place in Japan. Just as the character was gaining fame in the comics, Chris Claremont and Frank Miller teamed up to tell THE quintessential Wolverine tale involving his Japanese love Mariko, her disapproving criminal father, the ninja assassins known as the Hand, protector and teamate Yukio, and mutant enforcer Silver Samurai. All that you need to know about Logan comes from that story.

Since Aronofsky's movie was set in Japan, we all assumed this story was the one that was going to be filmed. If you have read the mini-series you know how fantastic the combination of Aronofsky's visual style with cutting edge effects would have been.

The official reason for Aronofsky's departure from the project is that it appeared he would have to be in Japan, away from his family, for more than a year. This was not acceptable to the director. I assume that with the recent earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown, the experience of filming in Japan seemed less and less appealing.

I am more mad at the produces of this film and the studio than I am at the director. In this day and age you can pretty much make anyplace look like Japan with computer effects. Send a second unit director over the sea to capture images if you need to but you do any and EVERYTHING to make the director feel comfortable with the movie's working conditions.

If he want's a re-write, you give him one. No way do you lose a guy whose singular and personal vision made 'Black Swan' an Oscar nominated film and it's star, Natalie Portman, an Oscar winner. That is worth tens of millions in box office to you and after the last 'Wolverine' movie, you owe all us fan boys out there the film we all DESERVE.


I also feel bad for Hugh Jackman. When he was first cast as the Canadian mutant we can all agree it was one of the best choices and performances ever brought to a comic book character in a live action film (next to Tobey McGuirre in Spider-Man).

This would have been Jackman's fifth movie as the character he made iconic and he deserved to go out on a high note. The character himself may be immortal but Jackman is not. I read over at 'Cultural Compulsive Disorder' that Hugh was packing away 6000 calories a day to build up the muscle on his 6'2 frame (so he could look a muscular 5'3 like Wolverine in the comics). You don't just crap on that kind of commitment by your star.

This clip is from the 'Wolverine' video game. There are times that I feel that character is overused in comics but I can't deny how cool he is when you see him in action. No wonder he is the most popular character in comic today and in the top five of all time.



So if you don't know much about the character and would like to I would recommend the following trade paperbacks which I am sure are at your local library and have been well read.

Origin by Jenkins/Kubert -(Origin of 'Logan' from childhood)


'Weapon X By Barry Winsor-Smith - (How he got his famous claws and unbreakable skeleton)


The Claremont/Miller Wolverine mini-series (Love and revenge in Japan)


'Old Man Logan' tale by Mark Millar - (Wolverine as one of the last heroes on Earth - with great Steven Niven art)