Directors Out Of The Running For The Wolverine?

It looks like Fox has had quite a mess on their hands since Darren Aronofsky exited The Wolverine. The promising film written by Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) and based on Frank Miller Japanese saga hasn't had much traction since. The studio still aimed at shooting on location in Japan seems to have been waiting to see how the recovery was going before proceeding with the production. Pausing the production date doesn't seem to be a problem but finding a new director however is. 

Recently it was reported that the studio had a list of hopeful directors that included Duncan Jones (rumored), Jose Padilha (Elite Squad 1-2, Robocop), Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, All You Need Is Kill), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast Five, Highlander, Terminator 5), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), James Mangold (Cop Land, Knight & Day, 3:10 To Yuma, Walk The Line) and Gary Shore.

Mark Romanek, Doug Liman and Antonie Fuqua have seemingly taken themselves out of the running.  Romanek states "That's just one of those stories that floated around. I was on their list, I received the script months ago. It didn't seem like my kind of thing...That script was a terrific version of that kind of thing, but not something I felt really passionate about." While Liman (Luna) and Fuqua (South Paw) are pursing other projects.

Jones had been the most promising name linked and confirmed meeting with the studio out of politeness. Jones has been trying to get money together for Mute and his Blade Runner homage. So it's likely he's been talking with major studios like Fox to get the films financed. Justin Lin is also linked for the film but has a three projects currently in development which includes Terminator 5, Fast Six and Highlander.So it looks like the only current directors in the running are Jose Padilha, Gavin O'Connor, James Mangold and Gary Shore.

8 Directors In The Running For The Wolverine

ShowBlitz is reporting that 20th Century Fox is circling eight directors for The Wolverine. It originally had Darren Aronofsky set to direct with a script by Christopher McQuarrie. The directors include Jose Padilha (Elite Squad 1-2, Robocop), Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, All You Need Is Kill), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast Five, Highlander, Terminator 5), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), James Mangold (Cop Land, Knight & Day, 3:10 To Yuma, Walk The Line) and Gary Shore.


My favorites of this group includes Mark Romanek, Jose Padilha, Gavin O'Connor, James Mangold and Antoine Fuqua. The likes of Lin and Liman sort of worries me as these two aren't strong visually and aren't as well liked as some of the other candidates. Even more so when compared to the likes of Aronofsky and the rumored Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code). I'd love to see Romanek take on a big genre film as he was originally set to make The Wolf Man before walking and forcing Universal to rush the project.