‘Wolverine’ Plot Details and Bone Claws, Gosling Out of ‘Logan’s Run’ and Cooper for Crow’s Next

1.) I didn’t really mind X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Everyone else seemed to hate it. That’s fine. Now a sequel to the film everyone hated is on the way and with the new picture of Hugh Jackman sporting some bone claws as the title character in the pages of Empire magazine, director James Mangold reveals that while the first film may have been considered a prequel to all the other X-Men features, The Wolverine is not.

Mangold told the mag, “Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all. Jean Grey [Famke Janssen] is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him… I wanted to be able to tell the story without the burden of handing it off to a film that already exists and having to conform to it. The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan. For me that’s such an interesting part of Logan’s character that is nearly impossible to explore if you have a kind of league or team movie.”

The mention of Janssen’s Jean Grey is interesting considering a rumor only a day ago suggested Janssen had recently flown to Australia to film a cameo as Jean Grey. Perhaps in a flashback scene? [Empire]

2.) Without any detail, Variety‘s Justin Kroll revealed in a tweet that Ryan Gosling is no longer attached to star in Nicholas Winding Refn‘s remake of Logan’s Run. The project has been in the works for some time and I can only assume Gosling’s involvement is due to no longer wanting to leave open a large gap in his schedule. We will, however, see him reteam with his Drive director in Only God Forgives next year.

3.) Cameron Crowe‘s We Bought a Zoo was rather forgettable, but he’s moving on and is setting up his new project that currently has Emma Stone attached to star and now he’s looking to add Bradley Cooper to the mix. What’s the film? What’s it about? No one knows, but it’s expected to begin filming in spring of 2013. [Deadline]

4.) Derek Jacobi will play a role in Olivier Dahan‘s Grace of Monaco opposite Nicole Kidman as the former Oscar-winner Grace Kelly, who after already spending six years as the monarch of a European nation, the retired starlet was called upon to save Monaco from an escalating situation regarding its standing as a tax haven, with French leader Charles de Gaulle giving her husband, Monaco’s Prince Rainier III (Tim Roth), six months to reform its tax laws. Jacobi will play Count Fernando D’Aillieres, a flamboyant aristocrat and expert on all-things-Monaco who helped transform Kelly from an American movie star to a refined princess. [Variety]

RAPID FIRE AT #5: Shea Whigham has landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. David Paymer will have a small role in Jack Ryan. Heather Langenkamp (the original Nightmare on Elm Street) has a small part in Star Trek Into Darkness. No details on any of these roles are available. [Deadline / Variety / Horror News

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