Hugh Jackman was speaking with MTV and got to discussing The Wolverine, the sequel to X-Men: Origins: Wolverine, which Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) was once attached to direct, but will now be helmed by 3:10 to Yuma and Knight and Day helmer James Mangold.
The discussion turned to the film’s content and more specifically the rating and Jackman even alludes to potentially filming two separate versions, one PG-13 and the other R-rated. The curious thing is when he refers to the legions of younger fans and says, “[You] need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.”
Here’s the complete exchange:
“There’s such great temptation to make an R-rated Wolverine,… I’ve always felt that. I know a lot of fans would like that. I totally get it. If there was ever a superhero that was going to be R-rated, it’s Wolverine. However, in the last ten years, I’ve also met many, many 12, 13, dare I say 10, 14, 15 year-olds who, for them, Wolverine is not just cool, you see it in their eyes. He’s everything to them. So my thing is — which James Mangold and I talked about — is let’s not put it off the table. There’s even a talk of us doing two versions, as in finding a way for us to do both as you shoot it, which could be really cool. But you need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.”
As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to making a movie, the only “really good reason” to do anything is if it’s going to make a better movie. Of course, that’s not how Hollywood films are made. They are made for commercial reasons and commercial reasons alone. This isn’t to say the people involved don’t want to make the very best movie they can within those Hollywood constraints, but it is to say “really good reasoning” has nothing to do with it.
Check out the video below. Currently The Wolverine is expected to go into production next year for a 2013 release.
The Wolverine is expected to take its cue from the early 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller miniseries, which is set in Japan and features Wolverine dealing with ninjas as he struggles whether to follow his animal killer instincts or the life under a samurai’s code of honor and respect. The setting shouldn’t be much of a surprise to fans who caught one of the two alternate post-credit endings which featured Wolverine in Japan and speaking Japanese with his bartender who asks him if he’s drinking to forget. He replies in English that he’s, “Drinking to remember.”
