The Best At What They Do: 5 Directors To Replace Darren Aronofsky In The Wolverine
Since Darren Aronofsky recently decided to vacate the director's chair of The Wolverine (presumably to tend to his fabled scarf collection), there hasn't been too much buzz as to who might replace him at the helm of the mutant -prequel sequel reboot -whatever it is. Because we here at Movieline are nothing if not servicey, allow me to offer up five suggestions as to who might take over America's favorite Canadian mutant as he travels to Japan, fights ninjas and falls in love with the daughter of Yakuza crimeboss.
The Wachowskis
Ever since the candy-coated nightmare called Speed Racer, Andy & Lana Wachowski have laid low, only occasionally popping up their heads for bit of scuttlebutt of possible movie production. Which is a pity because as the creators of one of the most influential action movies in history, they deserve another shot in the sandbox. Besides, they're admitted comic geeks and clearly have a yen for ninja action sequences. It's a perfect fit.
Matt Reeves
As the director of the woefully-underappreciated Cloverfield, Matt Reeves showed he had some serious action chops. And the underseen Let Me In proved he could handle the small moment in between the 'spolsions with similar aplomb. Wouldn't it be great to see what he could do with a bigger budget and iconic character like Wolverine?
Takeshi Kitano
If you're gonna do a movie about the Yakuza crime families, you might as well go right to the source. Kitano has made some of the best and most acclaimed Japanese crime movies and knows his way around a samurai sword as well. It'd be an off-kilter choice, to be sure (and I'm not really sure how good his English is), but he'd guarantee some authentic Yakuza drama.
Edgar Wright
Scott Pilgrim was one of the best comic book adaptation in recent memory and about 15 people went to see it in the theater unfortunately. So why not reward Wright with a chance to expand his superhero repertoire? Besides, when your movie is about an angry little Canadian who has claws shooting out from his knuckles, a little sense of humor can only help.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Let's all agree to ignore The Tourist and instead concentrate on von Donnersmarck's other movie, The Lives of Others, a smart, thrilling and touching look at Communist East Germany. And since The Tourist showed he's hungry to make a good 'ol fashioned thriller, why not see what he could do with Wolverine? I will admit however that about 45% of the reason I included him was just to type out his name. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It's so lyrical! It's the like the name of an evil baron who demands the right of primae noctis. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
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Comments
Who cares about "The Wolverine", those scarves are awesome.
Lars Von Trier.
Win.
None of those. Bring a proven ACTION director. Joe Carnahan, even Len Weisman (sp?).
What's Brian Singer doing these days?
Guillermo Del Toro might be available and willing to travel. He's great at story and violence (Labyrinthe, Devil's Backbone) but he needs an ear for english dialogue. Nevertheless, probably a safer bet than any of these, and he has a well deserved following.
Having said that, nothing would make me happier than Mel Gibson in the chair with Aronofsky staying on as consultant/vanguard of creative control.
Don't laugh: Braveheart was alright by me. At the very least, Mel would guarantee that the action in Wolverine is more scrambling violence than wire work, and Riggs (also too cool for the uniform) was very much the 80's Wolverine.
No
No
No
No
& No!
Hopefully staying far ... far away.
"Which is a pity because as the creators of one of the most influential action movies in history,"
Except they're not, which is why they can't do anything good post-Matrix. They cribbed everything cool about those films from Oshii, Woo, and Lam, among others. 🙂
who directed punisher warzone maybe they could do it
Park Chan Wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengence)
or
Takashi Miike (Ichi The Killer)
Go all out! Best 2 for the job. Definitely Park Chan Wook though. The hallway fight scene in Old Boy is completely from a Wolverine comic.
Probably flying his party boy plane coast to coast?
Shane Acker. _9_ was a mostly minor pleasure, but he sure showed an affinity for directing coherent action sequences that were easy to follow but still thrilling and effective.
I thought about Del Toro, but he's got his own Asian epic going right now with Pacific Rim. Plus, he's at his best when there are fantastical creatures or magical elements in the mix. The Wolverine might be a little too prosaic for Del Toro's tastes. Which, again, is a funny thing to say about a self-healing mutant with retractable claws, but there you have it.
I don't think there's enough instances of women degraded, dehumanized or brutalized in the script for good ol' Larsy.
Worst idea yet.
Joe CarnaHAM??? Haha.....Smokin Asses sucked and The A-Team was lame and a major worldwide flop with 176 million total B.O which is laughable. Movie cost 120 million to produce and another 100 million to market. Keep him far away.
I would definitely check out a Park Chan Wook "Wolverine".
Hand it over to Yoshihiro Nishimura
Len Weisman (sp?)???? = HACK.
Francis Lawrence who did constantine and I am legend, both great looking films with bad scripts.
He's got a David Fincher like style and can do action, he just needs a good script to direct and he will be fine.
Matt Reeves would also work, I think the director of Tron Legacy wouldn't be bad if he had a good script.
Please put Tetsuya Nakashima on the short list.
Look here is the bottom line. Getting a good director is one thing, having a shitty script is another. Spielberg could direct wolverine and it would still have a high probability of being crap. There isn't anything all that interesting about this character to make a really good movie and this is just straight truth. This is a hugh jackman vehicle and I love mr. jackson but honestly we need to just let wolverine rest. On a side note First Class just makes me feel tired of ALL x-men related movies in general which I think means we need to let it go...
Yeah I agree, Lawrence does a good job with his movies he just needs that golden script that puts him up there with the really good ones.
zack syner ,300 and watchmen would do an epic ob to a wolverine movie
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