We all knew that Hugh Jackman was in it. And we’d heard that Liev Schreiber would probably be playing Sabretooth, but other than that news has been quiet on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine casting front.
Until now.
First up, Joblo is reporting that Danny Huston, son of the legendary John Huston has signed up to play William Stryker, the character previously played by the great Brian Cox in X-Men 2.
IESB states that Lynn Collins, who has starred in such quality films as 13 Going on 30, The Number 23 and The Lake House will be starring as Wolverine’s love interest Kayla Silverfox.
AICN is stating that fan favorite Ryan Reynolds will be playing Deadpool, apparently a cameo that will lead to his own spin-off film.
Meanwhile, Empire magazine is saying that Taylor Kitsch from TV’s Friday Night Lights has snagged the role of Gambit, a character that X-Men fans have been waiting to see on the screen since before the birth of Christ (well, Mel Gibson’s screen version at least).
There are also reports that The Blob will make an appearance in the film. The character will be huge, so HUGE in fact that he will be a combination of an actor in a fat suit and CGI. Yes you read that correctly.
So what does all this mean?
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It means that I smell bad things cooking in the kitchen!
It looks like this film is going to be jam-packed with characters from the Marvel universe, and I don’t think that this is a good thing.
It just seems to be one big excuse to set up other film franchises rather than explore the character of Wolverine. It appears as if Hugh Jackman doesn’t care anymore about the character and he wants as little screen time possible with the biggest paycheck he can get.
Say it isn’t so Hugh!!!
Marvel obviously wants to cross-reference every character that they can. I’m waiting for Howard the Duck to be cast at any minute. Quick (Quack), get on the phone to Danny De Vito’s agent - ASAP!
Schreiber as Sabretooth I can live with. The guy is a great actor, he looks like my brother, sounds like Dustin Hoffman and I kind of feel sorry for the guy that the John Clark franchise (from the Tom Clancy novels) never panned out. Oh, and if the Sabretooth character is going to reappear, then at least he should be a good actor.
Danny Houston, looks like a Cox, so why not cast him. 
Lynn Collins is obviously generic female sidekick material, so why not. As for Ryan Reynolds… give the guy a film of his own if you want. Don’t stick him in here.
The same goes for Gambit. Better still: plonk him in another, younger and cheaper X-Men film.
As for The Blob, well the less said about this idea the better. Fat suits and CGI? What a terrible combination. Hugh, didn’t you learn anything from Van Helsing? Anything?
Lets hope that it is a bad joke, or at the very least a plan that doesn’t make it to the final product.
That’s pretty much it for now, but don’t be surprised if you see the entire Screen Rant team cast in X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the coming weeks. We all look good in Spandex!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is scheduled to open on May 1st, 2009
Sources: Joblo, IESB, AICN ,Empire and Film School Rejects
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48 Comments
Sounds like a R rating if Deadpool in it. Hope Marvel keeps the rights to Deadpool.
There’s no way it will be an R rating. I’m down with Gambit, but he’s nowhere in the early years of Wolverine, makes no sense to see him in this movie other than they F’d up by leaving him out of the X-Men trilogy. The Blob? Seriously? Maybe the lamest charecter since Toad… Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool is perfect though.
Well I just saw a picture of the guy cast as Gambit… Josh Holloway as Gambit=awesome. This baby-faced kid… not awesome. I’ve never watched “Friday Night Lights” so I have no idea what his acting is like (but let’s face it, is it really going to matter?), but he doesn’t have that square-jaw, scruffy look that Sawyer (Holloway) has, perfect for what screen Gambit should be.
Here’s hoping that all these roles end up being no more than cameos…
Vic
I happened to have really liked Van Helsing…and no I am not joking. I thought it was a fun movie with lots of action and a good sense of humor.
I think this movie sounds interesting, but then I am not a comic book purist. If it’s got a good story, good characters, well acted and produced well while sticking to the SPIRIT of the comic, then I’m good.
Damn, and you dissed my “American Gangster” review?
LOL Vic. Yup. American Gangster was one of the most boring films I have ever watched. It had good actors and was well acted, but the story was just sooooooooooooo long and boring. Not to mention they drew out the movie way too long. I feel sorry for the poor bastards who are buying the DVD and have to suffer through and extra 18 minutes of “bonus” footage.
Give me Van Helsing over that ANY DAY. Hell, give me VAN WILDER over that any day!!
Because Patrick Stewart wanted soo much to do a X4 were getting another prequel. Gawsh does it ever end.
^
With all these characters this film sounds like an X-men film.
I can’t believe they’re making the same mistakes with this one that Ratner made with X3. Ok, so I’m not surprised in the least. I mean, X3 not only had “cameos” out the wazoo, but the characters were nothing like their comic counterparts!
“Oh let’s put an omega tattoo on some random guy, yeah! That’ll be Omega Red!” and my personal favorite “‘we have an asian girl as a stand-in? put a blue wig on her, that’ll be Psylocke! Yeah!’ ‘What’s her power?’ ‘I dunno, she has blue hair! yeah!’”
No one knows who the heck the characters are supposed to be until you read the credits. It’s like a built special feature, hunting for X-men running through the forest, on-screen for 1.5 seconds. Now they’ll do it with the Wolverine spinoff? Give us all a break.
And you can’t blame Jackman… he was optioned for this one (I think). Yes he sometimes takes crappy roles, but no one in production would listen to him if he complained that Gambit has NOOOOOOOO business being in a Wolverine origin story (even if anyone who is at all familiar with X-men know this). I don’t understand this biz anymore.
Cheers Panda.
I thought Juggernaught was the best new character in X3.
(Prob spelled that wrong). I would check the dvd but I don’t own THAT film.
^
The rest were right out of Central Casting. It looked like they put out for 50 people, no acting or
superhero experience required. Then they lined them up and gave them blue hair, piercings etc.
What a horrible X-Men film.
Ok guys calm dawn. First as I heard it Blob is coing to be sabertooth’s cellmate thats it. Now Deadpool is going to be in the movie but his going to be in one sceene only. After all he was in the weapon-x program. Now for If you look closly at the computer where Mesiqe is stelling the filles from striker you will see the name Ramy Lebu including some other charachters from the x-men unevirse.
I would olso like to mention that for me I think that these movie is going to kick some serios ass I mean the best killing machines in one movie what more could you possibly whant.
I would olso like to mention that in x-men2 when Mistiqe is flerting with the guard at the bar in the tv you could see Hank Mcoy aka The Beast being interviwed juarnalist or somthing, but check it out.
Ok guys calm dawn. First as I heard it Blob is coing to be sabertooth’s cellmate thats it. Now Deadpool is going to be in the movie but his going to be in one sceene only. After all he was in the weapon-x program. Now for If you look closly at the computer where Mesiqe is stelling the filles from striker you will see the name Ramy Lebu including some other charachters from the x-men unevirse.
I would olso like to mention that for me I think that these movie is going to kick some serios ass I mean the best killing machines in one movie what more could you possibly whant.
I would olso like to mention that in x-men2 when Mistiqe is flerting with the guard at the bar in the tv you could see Hank Mcoy aka The Beast being interviwed juarnalist or somthing, but check it out.
sorry obut that.
Strange old theory:
I sure thought that the senator in X1, who had little control over his form, and who “leaked” down the drain, was going to learn how to congeal and turn out to be The Blob. This seemed to be confirmed with a line from Magneto (when Xavier mentioned that his device had killed the sanator), something like, “Are you sure you saw what you saw?”
Obviously I was wrong. So what did Magneto’s enigmatic line mean?
Well honestly
Endri I am kinda looking forward to this film and luckly I don’t know all the X-Men backstory anyway.
^
If they do screw up the character history I won’t know anyway.
Since were going backwards (gheez’)I wonder if Mystique will be in the film (I don’t even care if she does a cartwheel going by then flicking Wolfverine off) that would be cool by me.
^
Thanks for letting me know I thought my blackberry was broken.
I liked the addition of Beast in X3. True to the character.
I wonder what The Blob will be like in Wolverine? There goes the product placement for KFC, Snickers, and Weightgain 1350 (and GNC was so banking on that)
Ok Endri, I was actually going to mention the computer screen in X2 as a GOOD way to reference characters. Doesn’t slap you in the face, but us fanboys still a sqeal seeing the names on-screen (and you have to be a real fanboy to know who Ramy is).
Yes, Deadpool makes more sense than Blob. But Yuriko and Sabertooth make perfect sense. Leave screentime for them. I refuse to get excited when Wolverine says ‘Cajun’, which is the only reason I can think to have Gambit in this movie.
Endri, like I said, limit most of those to quick cameos and that’ll be cool.
I happen to think a Wolverine movie is a great idea.
Vic
Christ, can none of you people spell?
I’ve had a few beers.
If it is primarily a Wolverine fim thats great.
If it has too many characters forget about it.
I am interested in a Wolverine film,
not a miniXMen film.
I have been worried about this since they changed the title.
Panda for Ramy I am not completly shure what his past is all I know he was adopted by the chifes of theafs and traind to be agreate theif.
But for Yuriko and Sabertooth You are right. For people who dont know Yuriko is his lover but then becomes his enemy cuz she thought wolverine stole her fathers work and killed him.
Now for Sabertooth he used to be Logans partner but then he turns into his archenemy.
A Wolverine origin film must have Sabretooth, Silver Fox, Deadpool, and Silver Samurai. While I like Gambit, he should only have a few seconds of screen time, in preparation for his own movie.
I read where someone thought the Juggernaut was the best addition to X3; well, in my fanboy opinion, he was one of the worst. The Juggernaut in the comic was not a mutant but I could live with that in the movie. In the movie, he was impervious to pain yet he wore a helmet? In the comic, he wore the helmet to shield against Xavier’s psi abilities. And of all the problems I had: WHY DIDN’T THEY HAVE HIM FIGHT COLLOSUS???!!! That would have been a titanic battle.
Oh, sorry about yelling. That was the Kahless in me. :o)
Well I liked the actor that played Juggernaut. I thought they picked a good one.
^
Knowing all the comic book canon on these superheros is kinda a double edged sword, you expect alot yet are often let down by the film versions.
Myself, I’m not familiar with all the X-men canon so I liked Juggs.
The rest of the film I thought was pretty bad though.
^
Let’s hope they don’t violate Iron Man canon too much or I think this site will implode with all the posts.
“…Myself, I’m not familiar with all the X-men canon so I liked Juggs….”
I like Juggs, too, Steve….
In all seriousness, though, I don’t care if the movie sticks to the comic EXACTLY as long as the spirit of the original is there. Spider-Man and the web-shooters, for instance. In the movie he got them from the spider bite, but in the comic he made them mechanically. Either way is fine because the STORY itself was still the same Spidey we all grew up loving….although I still don’t like Kirsten Dunst as MJ….
Haha… I was waiting for somebody to agree with me that Juggernaut was cool…
^
Yea I remember the Spiderman cartoons and the mechanical web shooters. The film I think was better in a way. His powers seemed more real that he spun the web out of his arms. That’s one intense spider bite sheeeesh.
^
Yea MJ, I just fast forward thru those scenes. That’s the only thing I didn’t like about the Spiderman films.
I thought they selected a great guy to play Juggernaut. Dude was freaking HUGE!
Vic
Juggernaut was ok, Beast was still the best addition. And still too much Wolverine. Cyclops, one of the original X-Men, had about 10 minutes in X2 and X3, and Wolverine was in every scene.
Fine, give Wolverine his own movie, but limit the cameos and supporting characters to those that belong in his origin story for crying out loud.
I could even live with an appearance or reference to a young Prof X or Magneto to link the X-Men films to this one, but why-oh-why Gambit? To try to attract all the comic fans that were alienated with X3?
Next we’ll hear that Christian Slater is cast as Sinister. I think Vince Vaughn is free, give him a belt with an “A” on it so he can be Apocalypse for 3 seconds in the film. Sheesh
Agreed, they should have given Cyclops more. I liked his scenes in X2 but he was jipped in X3 but then we all were.
^
I allways had the impression that Jackman only did Wolverine because he had some input and control in the story.
He’s like the Shatner on the set allways taking all the great scenes and lines…
^
Now he’s worked himself into another 3 film deal. He must have a great agent.
I just found out that Gambit was a part of Weapon X in the Exile series.
If you go to thise place you wil see.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Gambit023.jpg
Um, I don’t think Exiles counts… but point taken: it’s a fictional universe and the creative forces can do whatever they want. I still believe that introducing Gambit smacks of effort to attract X-Men fans turned off by the last movie.
Panda, I consider my self an X-men fan.
Yet I’ve never heard of Gambit before…
^
I think you have to realise alot of us have no idea who your talking about.
Just fyi.
So there’s Wolverine, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, John Wraith, and Deadpool in this movie. There’s only one major Weapon X guy missing: Maverick! I am hoping he’ll be in this. It was rumored someplace.
I suppose if I didn’t know soo much about Juggs, I would think he was cool as well. I still believe they missed a grand opportunity by not having Collosus fight Juggs.
Kyle, didn’t Maverick just oppose the agents of the Weapon X program? He would be a good addition to the movie.
Endri, thanks for the info about Yuriko and Sabretooth.
I stopped collecting X-Men a looong time ago, some time after the original (only) Starjammers story. Dave Cockrum is one of my all time favorite artists. I think John Byrne took over…I read some of his stories too. BUT, I know very little about Gambit. Without going all Wiki, would anyone like to give a thumbnail description for us laggers?
Thanks.
Hey Vic, are you going to change the movie title (on the right side of the web page) to reflect the apparent name change?
Eh, I think I’ll just leave it as “Wolverine.” The title is a bit longish to put there and I think most people look for “Wolverine movie.”
And Steve, I just noticed this:
“Let’s hope they don’t violate Iron Man canon too much or I think this site will implode with all the posts.”
Hysterical.
Vic
Jim Carey -
Gambit has black and red eyes, and transmits energy through objects that basically makes them explode when thrown. He uses playing cards mostly. He’s known as a lady’s man and was Rogue’s love interest for a time. He is from Louisiana with a cajun accent.
I read a rumor that Singer considered having Gambit in X2 but decided not to since his power too similar to Cyclops(?)
If he’s in the movie, he’ll mostly likely have the black / red eyes and shuffle cards a lot. Probably won’t speak french though (based on how the movies have gone so far). His first appearance will probably be with some model-material under his arm.
Cool! Thanks Panda!
I don’t know about you Jim, but Gambit’s description didn’t sound all that mind blowing. Basically another Cyclops.
^
And this character showing up in Wolverine is a major deal?
Dude if you realy knew Gambit you would never say that.
Clarification - Gambit transfers energy through touch (ie. fingers), not his eyes.
Anyway, he is not known as a leader like Cyclops. I think he has more control over his power than, say, Cyclops or Rougue. Anyway, maybe he would fit in Wolverine as a young Weapon-X recruit training to control his powers in a short cameo.
Steve-
No, it’s not a big deal. The only reason I keep harping on it is because he is a popular character left out of the X-men movies so it’s a chance to get more fans to see Wolverine.
I remember an episode of Attack of the Show (pop-culture news show on G4 for anyone who isn’t familiar) where they announced a laundry list of characters with cameos in the then upcoming X3, and that Gambit was removed. I think the quote was something like “they’re casting for a bunch of chareacters that no one cares about and purposefully leaving out the one that many people want to see? That’s smart.”
I’m not some marvel purist, if it works in the movie, it works.
Gheesh Endri you make it sound like I’m in a for a ass woopin by Gambit himself. LOL.
the suits at the studio hate us. somebody please change the actors they want to play the characters. PLEASE !!!
gambit is the best xmen character
okay… juggernauts not a mutant, so leech’s power wouldnt have affected him in x3, but other than that yeah bullettooth was wellcasted, but they left a lot out of juggernauts story. beast in x3 wasnt true to the character, though very well acted by frasier, beast was part of the original team in the book, before he was blue when he joined the avengers after the xmen drafted a lot of the characters from the rest of the world in the 70s (storm/africa, colossus/russia, nightcrawler/germany, wolverine/canada, banshee/scotland, etc) it sounds like a lot of you are basing your opinions on the history you learned from the tv show. but yes, gambit doesnt make sense being in the ww2 era, he didnt even get to the books until the late 80s early 90s or something. its also recently come to light (correction, been theorized) that sinister and apocolypse helped to CREATE gambit using sinister genes among others, thus why both sinister and gambit have red eyes and are clever as hell. i dont know what to think about all the incongruence of these characters, but thats quite in parallel with the other xmen movies, which took general shells of the characters (pretty much their mutant powers, and hair colors, with the exception of wolverine) and made up their entire own story. they should have called it ultimate xmen 1-3 (if your not familiar with the ultimate marvel books they do the same thing where they recreate/alter back stories.) i hope the wolverine movie changes time periods and thats why they have all these other characters that shouldnt be around in the 30s/40s around (even though the only one people seem to be noticing as one of these is gambit.)
kyle: you said maverick is missing but he’s not, there just calling him agent zero, a name he went by before and after maverick.
‘marvel:’ gambit is your favorite xmen character, not the best.
ps endri your spelling makes my eye twitch, not limited to spelling remy lebeau ramy lebu
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