Comic book fans had been looking so carefully at the alleged troubles of The Punisher and The Watchmen that we took our eyes off Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine*. I call it Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine because he is the star, and because it looks like it may not be director Gavin Hood’s Wolverine.
It may in fact be Fox Co-Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman’s Wolverine!
The studio chief is apparently worried that the film will be too dark and he’s overriding the decisions of the films director in order to give it a lighter tone.
Worried?
Maybe you should be.
*technically the film is called X-Men Origins: Wolverine – but I don’t really like that title.
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According to Hollywood Elsewhere there has been a bit of friction between Hood and Rothman on the set recently. When I say a bit, what I really mean is “a hell of a lot.” Hood is supposed to have asked for a “huge” set to be painted so that it would appear “dark, dinghy and somber side”, however when the director returned to the set a few days later it had been repainted a brighter color at the behest of Rothman.
Not a big deal, I hear some of you saying. Well, directors are supposed to have a vision – that is why they are usually hired–but it looks like Rothman’s vision is all that matters here. In fact, some might say that he’s robbing Hood of his duties, but I wouldn’t be so crass as to make such a bad pun. Whoops, just did.
Rothman wants a mega grossing summer movie for summer ‘09 – which is something that the studio lacked this year (X-Files anyone) and it looks like he’ll stop at nothing to achieve that no matter how much the quality suffers. It’s not like a dark, grim and violent comic book movie could make $500 million in the US alone. Oh, wait – The Dark Knight already did that!
For X-Men fans, or film followers in general, this will leave some of you with flashbacks to how Fox treated X-Men: The Last Stand. It’s no secret that Fox has constantly displayed a lack of respect for The X-Men as a property. From rushing the films into production, to giving them a relatively low budget, Fox has treated the franchise like an unwanted obligation, which is odd considering the amount of money X-men has made.
While this painting and decorating issue could be a one time event, there are rumblings that there have been other problems on the set. With a bit of luck it could be that everyone has so much passion for the project that they want it to succeed – because if it’s successful it would launch a huge (Jackman?) franchise.
Fingers crossed folks. When there’s more news you’ll get it here!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens on May 1, 2009
Source: Hollywood Elsewhere
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28 Comments
wolverine is a dark character, his past is painted with death and sorrow he lost his family his friends, they all died. If they take this away from the story you lose the “wolverine” of the movie. xmen itself is about being hated and seeing your comrades killed while rising above it, they had nothing like that in the movies
Fox just seemed to be screwing everything up, huh? I’m not an X-Men fanatic, but I did watch the trilogy and can say what happened with X-Men: The Last Stand was dreadful. From the quality Singer brought with X-2 to the cluttered third installment, I don’t know who’s exactly to blame but if it’s Fox’s fault, I wouldn’t be surprised.
you say on the set recently. But didn’t filming wrap up 5 weeks ago? (3 weeks before comic-con)
Anyways, this just adds more to Fox being the worst run studio ever, and the studio that treats its property the worst.
I’m really getting a hate on for Fox and I’m approaching the boycott line, lol.
Lighter tone? I’m tired of lighter tones. I like the darker shades. I wear my sunglasses at night.
I don’t wanna see goofy yellow jumpsuit wolvy, I wanna see spill the baddies guts all over the floor wolvy.
oh for god’s sake
after seeing the character list for the film, my hopes started to drop (Deadpool, Gambit, etc….)
Now after reading this, I really feel we will be getting Last Stand Part II
GAWD Fox is raping what started out as such a great series of flicks (thanks so Singer)
It could have been SO damn simple to make a knock-out Wolvy movie – adapt the Wolverine 4 ish limited series Miller and Claremont did.
Simple story with great action and drama and no completely silly or over the top characters. Plus it shows a die of Wolverine that, at the time, we hadn’t seen.
You don’t want dark? Well I got news for ya, bub! It’s dark in hell (snikt)… and that’s where I’m sending ya!!
You tell ‘em, wolvie! Fox needs to get a grip. Or better yet, let Marvel handle Marvel’s material.
I have been worried about this one for awhile .
Fingers crossed.
Let Tim Bradstreet paint it.
Rev
One reworked set should not a drama make lol the director could make it look darker in post production or with lens filters etc anyway!
I’m seriously confused these days at the films being toned down for kids, T4, TDK, “day the earth stood still”
(I’m surprised Street Kings wasn’t PG-13).
X-Men, and for that matter Wolverine are voilent films, and they would thrive as R rated films.
TDK would have been BETTER if it was R rated !!!
Let’s get real, Wolverine’s gonna cuss and kll ppl.
Why would any parent want a semi violent film to take their kids too ???
(Who are these parents?)
What’s with all the violent films catering to children. Double wtf/wtf ???
Rob, I’m with you on the hate-train to FOXville.
I’m really getting sick of this PG-13 reach-around tampering. :-/
Let the director shoot his cut !!!
*#€»head !!!
noooooooooooo… please don’t ruin the wolverine movie
Remember that abomination that was Robocop 3?
from R to PG – he was friggin shooting guns out of people’s hands and shooting stuff so it would fall on people – rather than SHOOTING PEOPLE…….
Good point Dave, the film also contained scenes of corrupt police officers shooting down civilians, CEO’s blowing their heads off and large robots going after ppl.
I was rated PG, but would you take a kid to see that ????
I guess if you didn’t care or have no clue about what kids take away from films, Sure !
this movie deserves to be dark, just the thought of the weapon x project is dark. The problem is the parents, parents want to take their kids to the wolverine movie, it’s a kids movie, it’s a comic book movie, i don’t think people have realized that comics have been pointing to adults since the sixties.
Good points Michael,,,!
Just a sec.
Let me break out my soap box,,, uhhemm
IMO/ ,,,
Its all about conditioning kids to accept violence.
FOX is a corrupt media outlet and that’s what they do. Its the same with all of um.
Putting soap box behind cash register,,,,,
yes can I help you ???
If they (fox)screw up Wolverine the way they did X3, I will scream!!! Let the director do what he needs to erase the painful memory of X3 from our minds. I have kids that love these movies, but they know whats real, whats not, and I’m a responsible enough parent to know what movies they should and should not be watching. It’s us adult fans that break out the cash to support the movies. We deserve to be happy with what we see!!
X3 wasn’t all that bad, but it could have been SO MUCH better. I’m getting tired of Rothman and is meddling in these films.
Lighter note???? Geez, obviously, he’s never read a wolvie rag.
Why is it so hard for movie companies to make a descent comic book movie? Iron Man was good and TDK was great, but I still felt the producers still held back.
If FOX screws this up, I will not only join the boycott, but will spread the word to all my non-geek friends who don’t read comics or websites to not support fox shows or movies.
Sorry Hugh, but as much as I’m drooling to see your pic, FOX will pay and unfortunately, you’re going to feel the backlash on this.
I want to hear what Hugh Jackman thinks about the movie. Maybe it should be designed a little more with HIS interests in mind.
On a little different note. Post production is going on in New Orleans so maybe the story legitimately goes there, Gambits home turf.
Maybe they should release 2 movies: Wolverine: The Lighter Side and Wolverine: Slicefest.
Rob and the rest of you guys, I totally agree with you. I cant’t wait to see the movie, I hope it will be better than all X-Men films, judging from the trailer it seems dark and moody and badass, exactly as everyone wishes for a Wolverine film. Reading words like ‘lighter colours’, ‘rated PG-13′ and all that stuff makes me feel so sad and dissapointed… Damn FOX will ruin the movie and neither Wolverine nor his fans deserve that. Please Fox, let Hood do his job right!!! The man knows what he does!!! F***K you and your money!!! Don’t you see you’ll make more with a somber, dark movie???!!! My hopes now rest on Hugh Jackman. I too want to see what HIS opinion is. I admire him a lot, he’s my favourite actor and I hope he won’t let me down… Hope that stupid Rothman will read these posts. OK, I know he won’t, but he should, really…
He, Jackman is listed as one of the producers for the film. Maybe somebody will ask him soon..
More on the Fox Studios nonsense, this time with Bablyon A.D., absolutely screwing the director over.
Fox Studios is at it again! Why are the executives at that company so out of touch with the industry and consumer-base.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/16113/1/NOT-EVEN-THE-DIRECTOR-OF-BABYLON-AD-LIKES-IT/Page1.html
that article talks about how the director of Babylon A.D. doesn’t like his own film and that Fox screwed him. Here we go again, its happening to Wolverine as we speak, and it happened to Joss Whedon’s Firefly
WOW I though fox read the comic books before they made a movie, boy are they dumbass. I don’t ever remeber there being a non Darkside to Wolverine, Hell isn’t Wolverine just has Dark Has the Punisher Witch was Rated R. Isn’t wolverine that dark and Badass, and Cussing and pissed off. how can you make a kids movie with a guy who just wants to cut some’s open? FOX couldn’t make a desent movie if it bit them in the ASS.
FOX SUCKS.
rothman needs to take a look at the batman flick which just came out. the reason why that movie is ranked number 2 as the biggest grossing movie on the planet is because they made that flick into a darker tone–more serious–leave the kids at home–type flick.
all directors need to take a look at the bat flick and study it, in order to come to the conclusion that just because the story is about a comic book superhero that doesn’t mean that they have to make it for 10 year old kids.
The Fantastic 4 films were all classic examples as to what happens when you make these types of movies appealing for children–they bomb. About the batman flick, one critic was telling the parents that they should leave their kids at home. fact of the matter is this, it is not toddlers or even teenagers that generate money into marvel and DC, but fans that have been around for decades. when will these filmmakers and studio heads realize this?
Honestly, i think the guys that made all 3 x-movies, superman returns, both ff movies, and other comic book flicks that didn’t even come near the box office take that bat’s took, are all scratching their heads wondering just how did this batman movie become number 2 on the planet.
there is nothing light about wolverine. the character can become a raging animal when he wants to, and if he has to. even when he is in a good mood, wolvie is still rough.
Honestly after X-Men Last Stand and its horrible storyline especially regarding Jean/Phoenix, I haven’t been looking forward to Wolverine. I’ve never been a fan of Hugh Jackman as wolverine, I think they could’ve found a better person to play him. I am looking forward t magneto’s movie.
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