Hugh Jackman spoke to Vulture recently and claimed that he has already started eating “six meals a day” in order to bulk up for his role in Wolverine 2, which is expected to begin filming next March.
Jackman went on to essentially confirm that Darren Aronofsky is set to direct the Wolverine sequel, which was scripted by Christopher McQuarrie of The Usual Suspects fame.
McQuarrie’s screenplay is based off one of the more famous Wolverine Marvel comic book stories, which was penned by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller back in the 1980s. Wolverine 2 will follow its adamantium-clawed protagonist – who lost his memory at the conclusion of X-Men Origins: Wolverine – to Japan for a new adventure.
Aronofsky has a penchant for directing dark, emotionally-tumultuous dramas, a quality that has Jackman – who worked previously with the filmmaker on The Fountain – all the more excited for Wolverine 2. As he put it in his Vulture interview,“This is ‘Wolverine’. This is not ‘Popeye’… [With ‘Wolverine 2’] there’s going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure.”
The Wolverine spinoff was a box office success, but it left a lot of film critics and general moviegoers alike grumbling. The combination of solid source material and respectable talents like McQuarrie and Aronofsky being involved behind the camera is not only something for X-Men fans to be excited about, but it’s a good indicator that Wolverine 2 could actually be, well, good.
Aronofsky has never helmed a big-budget action flick before – much like Gavin Hood was foremost a small-scale filmmaker prior to his working on the first Wolverine movie. The screenplay for Wolverine 2 should hopefully contain far fewer clichés and be more solid than its predecessor – plus (and yes, this is just our opinion) Aronofsky has already proven himself to be a much better director than Hood.
Wolverine 2 will likely be released in theaters by Summer 2012.
