You know you’ve hit a milestone as a fan when you hear serious directors are fighting over the chance to direct a sequel of a spin-off. No longer will mainstream media scoff at the idea of super hero films. With Martin Campbell helming DC’s Green Lantern and Nolan’s Batman franchise making more money than sliced bread, there is finally some legitimacy to the genre.
With that comes an even more interesting story, as directors Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) and David Slade (Hard Candy) are currently in the running to direct the sequel to 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. From Deadline.
20th Century Fox is between David Slade and Darren Aronofsky, I’m told. Slade, who just directed the summer hit The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, met over the weekend with Hugh Jackman on location where he is shooting Real Steel for DreamWorks. Aronofsky has also been talking with Jackman, and they have a good relationship that dates back to The Fountain. Aronofsky has some momentum of his own because of Black Swan, I’d say Slade has the edge.
As exciting as it is to think that Wolverine 2 will be Aronofsky’s first super-hero film, and even first sequel, we aren’t holding our breath. It seems more believable that Fox will go with Slade, considering the success of his work on Twilight: Eclipse, and of course every executive think that those fans will translate over to a film about a furry Canadian with claws.
What this news does mean, however, is that Aronofsky is actually interested in doing a flick in this genre. That means that if he doesn’t end up working on Wolverine 2, we could see him attached to something more original, and maybe something that doesn’t have Gavin Hood’s stink all over it.
The sequel to Origins is set to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to Japan, with heavy Asian and Ninja themes throughout the film. We just hope it will set something up for Ryan Reynolds to return as Deadpool in the future.
