Being a critically acclaimed indie director to jumping onto the big budget stage is quite a leap for Darren Aronofsky. If what Deadline is claiming to be accurate, Mr. Aronofsky is pretty close to signing the deal to become the next Wolverine director. After being named on the shortlist for Superman, ultimately given to Zack Snyder, 20th Century Fox was ready to capitalize on this opportunity to reunite Hugh Jackman with Darren Aronofsky.
This deal seems to be so close that they have begun scouting for locations naming New York and Japan as possible places of interest. News also reports that filming could possibly begin as soon as March 2011. Could this brilliant and dark director save 20th Century Fox from critic hell and revamp the Wolverine series. I already hope that Matthew Vaughn will pump the lifeblood back into X-Men after what happened in The Last Stand.
With Aronofsky’s track record, Pi, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and now Black Swan, this small budget indie director will have a lot of weigh on his shoulders going into this big budget franchise. Hopefully Fox will give him his freedom and not barge in as much as they did with the first Wolverine movie. As Jackman and Aronofsky are reportedly friends, this will also help the chemistry while filming and hopefully produce an awesome film. I think Fox hopes that what Nolan did for Batman/Warner Bros. is what Aronofsky will do to Wolverine/Fox.
Wolverine is a great dark/tragic hero and deserves this redemption into something better than what we have seen him in the past two movies. Aronofsky’s touch could be exactly what we need to get out of this stereotypical superhero film funk.