X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine that will be released in most countries by May 1, 2009. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy, focusing on the mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine's skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.
Premise
Set roughly twenty years before X-Men, the film will focus on Wolverine's violent past,[1] and his early encounters with William Stryker (Danny Huston). The Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored,[2] including his relationship with his half-brother Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).[3]
Cast
* Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: The mutant and future X-Men member. Jackman, who played Wolverine in the previous films, has also become producer of the film via his company Seed Productions, and earned $20 million for the film.[4] Jackman underwent a high intensity weight training regimen to bulk up for his role. He changed the program to shock the body into change and also performed cardiovascular workouts.[5] He woke up each morning at 4 am to eat one of the small number of protein-based meals he was allowed each day. He wanted to portray Wolverine exactly as he did in the character's cage match entrance in X-Men, stating his inspiration was Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.[3] He noted Wolverine had mellowed during the previous film and looked forward to revisiting a darker time in the character's life.[6] Jackman worked out in a Queenstown gym where he would arrive daily at 6 am. He stayed in character and made noises while exercising.[7] Jackman noted no digital touches were applied to his physique in a shot of him rising from the tank within which Wolverine has his bones coated in adamantium.[8]
o Troye Sivan as James Howlett: Casting directors cast Sivan as the young Wolverine after seeing him sing at the Channel Seven Perth Telethon, and he was accepted after sending in an audition tape.[9] Kodi Smit-McPhee was originally cast in the role, when filming was originally beginning in December 2007,[10] but he opted out to film The Road.[11]
* Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed / Sabretooth: Logan's half-brother and fellow soldier. Jackman and Hood compared Wolverine and Sabretooth's relationship to the Borg-McEnroe rivalry in the world of tennis: Sabretooth hates him because he loved and needed his half-brother, inspired by Dog Logan, Wolverine's sibling in Origin, but is too proud to admit he needs him back.[3] Tyler Mane, who played him in X-Men, had hoped to reprise the role.[12] Jackman worked with Schreiber before, and described him as having a competitive streak necessary to portray Sabretooth. They "egged" each other on set to perform more and more stunts. Schreiber put on 40 lb (18 kg) of muscle for the part,[3] and described Sabretooth as the most monstrous role he ever played. As a child, he loved the Wolverine comics because of their unique "urban sensibility". Schreiber had studied to be a fight choreographer and wanted to be a dancer like Jackman, so he enjoyed working out their fight scenes.[13]
* Danny Huston as William Stryker: Schreiber was originally in negotiations for the part,[2] while Brian Cox, who played the character in X2, wanted to reprise the role. He believed computer-generated imagery, similar to the program applied to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the opening flashback of X-Men: The Last Stand, would allow him to appear as the younger Stryker.[14] Huston liked the complex Stryker, who "both loves and hates mutants because his son was a mutant and [drove] his wife [to suicide]. So he understands what they're going through, but despises their [destructive] force." He compared the character to a racehorse breeder, who rears his mutant experiments like children but abandons them when something goes wrong.[3]
* Lynn Collins as Kayla Silver Fox: Wolverine's love interest and later captive of Stryker.[3] Michelle Monaghan turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts, despite her enthusiasm to work with Jackman.[15]
* Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit: A Cajun thief who has the ability to charge any object he touches with kinetic energy, forcing it to explode. The size of the object determines the magnitude of the resulting explosion.[3]
* Daniel Henney as David North / Agent Zero: A member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills.[3]
* will.i.am as John Wraith: A teleporting mutant. It is Will.i.am's major film debut. Although he initially did not get on with the casting director, he got the role because he wanted to play a mutant with the same power as Nightcrawler. He enrolled in boot camp to get into shape for the part.[16] When filming a fight, he scarred his knuckles after accidentally punching and breaking the camera.[17]
* Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson: A wisecracking mercenary who can heal like Wolverine. Reynolds had been interested in playing the character in his own film since 2003.[18] Originally, Reynolds was only going to cameo as Wilson but the role grew after he was cast.[19]
* Scott Adkins as Weapon XI/Deadpool: Weapon XI has powers "pooled" from many other mutants killed and/or kidnapped in the film, including Wolverine's healing factor and Cyclops' optic blasts.[20]. He's the final antagonist of the film, having been genetically altered to be the ultimate mutant killer.[3]
* Kevin Durand as Frederick J. Dukes: A mutant with an indestructible layer of skin. In the film's early sequences, he is skinny, but years later, he has gained an enormous amount of weight.[3]
* Dominic Monaghan as Chris Bradley / Bolt: A mutant who can manipulate electricity. [21]
* Tahyna Tozzi as Emma Frost: A mutant with the powers of telepathy and turning her skin into diamond.[22]
The film includes numerous cameo appearances of younger versions of characters from the previous films, including Cyclops (Tim Pocock), a Weapon X captive,[23] and Jason Stryker, William's lobotomized telepathic son whom he keeps on ice. New characters include Banshee, who is a Weapon X captive.[24] There was a cameo for a young Storm, which can be seen in the trailer, but it was cut out.[25]
Asher Keddie is in the film, but did not state who she played.[26][27] Poker player Daniel Negreanu has a cameo. Phil Hellmuth wanted to join him but was unable because he committed to an event in Toronto.[28] X-Men co-creator Stan Lee said he would cameo,[29] but he was not in Australia during filming, so this will have to be a pick-up conducted during January 2009.[30]
Release
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due for release on April 29, 2009 in the UK, April 30, 2009 in Australia, and May 1, 2009 in the United States and Canada.
Video game
Raven Software is developing a video game based on the film with the same name, which Activision Blizzard will publish.[68] Marc Guggenheim wrote the script.[69]
Sequel
Hood speculated that there could be a sequel, which may be set in Japan.[46] Such a location was the subject of Claremont and Miller's series, which was not in the first film as Jackman felt “what we need to do is establish who [Logan] is and find out how he became Wolverine".[37] Jackman stated the Claremont-Miller series is his favorite Wolverine story.[70] He added another Wolverine film would be a follow-up rather than continuing on from X-Men: The Last Stand.[71] The inclusion of Deadpool and Gambit also leads to the possibilities of their own spin-offs.[72] Before Wolverine's release, Lauren Shuler Donner approached Simon Beaufoy to write the script, but he did not feel confident enough to commit.[73]
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