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X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine, due for release on 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, and his early encounters with William Stryker (Danny Huston). The Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored, including his complex relationship with Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).

Cast

Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, the mutant and future X-Man. 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. 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. He woke up each morning a 4am to eat one of the small number of protein-based meals he was allowed each day. Jackman worked out in a Queenstown gym where he would arrive daily at 6am. He stayed in character and made noises while exercising.

Marketing

Raven Software is developing a video game based on the film, which Activision will publish. Marc Guggenheim wrote the script.
The official trailer of the film has been confirmed to be released on December 12

Sequel

Hood speculated that there could be a sequel, which may be set in Japan. 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". Jackman stated the Claremont-Miller series is his favorite Wolverine story. He added another Wolverine film would be a follow-up rather than continuing on from X-Men: The Last Stand. The inclusion of Deadpool and Gambit also leads to the possibilities of their own spin-offs.

Profiles

News

Wolverine 'heartbroken' over stolen film - 8th April 2009

SYDNEY - The Hollywood star who plays superhero Wolverine said he was "heartbroken" that his new X-Men movie was leaked on the Internet a month before its official release.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who plays the mutant in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," is also angry and determined that the bad guys who stole the film and leaked it will be brought to justice.

"It's a serious crime and there's no doubt it's very disappointing -- I was heartbroken by it," Jackman told reporters at a promotion for the movie in Sydney.

The leaked version of the 20th Century Fox Films action movie was reportedly downloaded tens of thousands of times within a day of being posted on file-sharing websites at the end of March.

"Obviously, people are seeing an unfinished film," Jackman said. "It's like a Ferrari without a paint job."

The 40-year-old star, named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine last year, said he was convinced the culprit would be tracked down.

"The FBI (US Federal Bureau of Investigation) are on to it and they're taking it very, very seriously," he said. "Rest assured that person will be found."

Jackman unveiled 20 minutes of completed footage from the film to about 600 fans and media on Sydney Harbour's Cockatoo Island at the start of a global promotion tour ahead of the film's official release at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the film industry's response to the leak has already claimed at least one casualty -- a US entertainment columnist fired for reviewing a stolen copy downloaded from the Internet.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns both 20th Century Fox Films and Fox News, said it had "promptly terminated" writer Roger Friedman for the column posted on Fox News' website last week.

"We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy," News Corporation told AFP in an emailed statement.

"When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr Friedman," it said.

The "X-Men" film, based on the eponymous comic book characters, was apparently spread with BitTorrent file-sharing technology that lets people exchange large data files between computers in a fashion called peer-to-peer.