Before
touching on The Wolverine sequel with the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, director James Mangold spoke about the first, which was just released on blu-ray and DVD today. "With the movie I just finished, I think that I very much focused, when I went to Fox and presented, I told them I was interested in making a movie about someone who feels like anyone they love will die, not only that they are cursed but that anyone they become attached to becomes cursed," said Mangold. He continued, "That film was about Logan’s jaundiced view of society."
So where does that leave Mangold and Hugh Jakcman, in terms of exploring new themes and ideas in the recently announced sequel? Not giving away any specifics, Mangold stated, "I would just say it is always going to be about his relationships to other characters. We are very much trying to work with existing text. There are other great Wolverine stories out there but suffice it to say there are great texts about his connections to others, villains, characters from the lore and from the comics that we can bring out and have another great and meaningful adventure."
Undaunted, Speakeasy continued to try to get some details out of Mangold on the sequel, specifically if we'll see the iconic costume? "A lot of fans keep asking about when he’s going to wear his uniform," began Mangold. He went on to add, "It’s a struggle for us in relation to question, because Logan’s personality as developed onscreen and in comics is one in which he hates publicity. The filmmakers, even on X-Men, have struggled with an outfit. Finding the rationale for a uniform when the character disdains self promotion, why he would put on some outfit that promotes himself as some kind of hero? It’s like Dirty Harry didn’t walk around with special outfit."
When asked about whether or not the next Wolverine movie would once again avoid telling a story of a "superhero out to save the world", Mangold didn't give a definitive yes or no answer but his response implies that he'll avoid that "cheat" once again. "The simple thing is when the world is in danger. I think it is a cheat that a lot of movies do to create stakes, about how the world will blow up or a stadium or a planet or a region will blow up if x and y doesn’t happen by this time. Much more than the genre being tired, when every movies is about the destruction of the universe or the globe, it makes it hard to tell a meaningful story when the scale gets so huge, it dwarfs the characters."
RELATED CONTENT: James Mangold Confirms THE WOLVERINE Sequel Will Be Based On An Existing Comic Six Stories James Mangold And Hugh Jackman Could Use In THE WOLVERINE Sequel Running Time: 2 hrs 6 minutes
Release Date: July 26, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Brian Tee, Will Yun Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto
Directed by: James Mangold
Written by: Mark Bomback (screenplay) Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay) Frank Miller (comic book) Chris Claremont (comic book)
"Hugh Jackman returns as The Wolverine and faces his ultimate nemesis in an action packed life-or-death battle that takes him to modern day Japan. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his limits, Logan confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality; an epic fight that will leave him forever changed."