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May 5, 2009

Comic Book Superhero's Past is Revealed in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
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Australian actor Hugh Jackman stars as fierce fighter with menacing
metal claws in fourth film in 'X-Men' series, based on world famous
Marvel comic books 
Hugh Jackman returns to the screen for a fourth turn as one of the most
popular superheroes from the world of Marvel comic books. This time he
gets his own movie to tell how the fierce fighter with menacing metal
claws came to be. Here's a look at X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Fans of the
venerable X-Men comic books (and there are millions around the world)
know Wolverine as the most charismatic and enigmatic of the 'mutants'
who each have unusual powers. He himself is fuzzy on the details of
where he came from: how John Logan became Wolverine with amazing
strength and a skeleton of the indestructible metal 'adamantium.' This
new film goes back to fill in that origin story. Like the three previous
X-Men movies, "…Wolverine" is bursting with explosions, chases, fights
and slam-bang action scenes. It's an introduction to the blockbuster
genre for South Africa-born director Gavin Hood, whose previous films,
like the Oscar-winning urban drama Tsotsi, have been more intimate
character studies. Director Gavin Hood with Hugh Jackman on the set of
the movie"There is a tremendous danger when you step into a movie of
this size that you will be overwhelmed and feel that you have to deliver
this action and special effects world and that you might lose sight of
what I think still is most important to an audience: to connect to a
character," notes Hood. "This movie, I hope, does two things …and it
should do two things. It needs to deliver the expected spectacle and
action and excitement and high-octane pace that a summer blockbuster
movie needs; but we have also done a rather complicated character story.
So when you are in the close-up with Hugh Jackman and it's not a special
effect or action, just an emotional moment …just a beat …it's still
the most exciting and, I think, the most dangerous moment of
filmmaking."Hugh Jackman as John Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Australian screen star Hugh Jackman, also a producer on this film,
flexes more muscles than ever before as he revisits and, in some ways,
reinvents the Logan/Wo
lverine character."Everything felt new and fresh and it was important to
me that the movie was going off on a new avenue in a fresh direction,"
Jackman says. "Let's face it, I was filling in 100 years of this guy's
life so, in a way, it was acting the wrong way around. Normally that's
where you start [but] I played a character who didn't really know
anything about his past and in this movie I was kind of evolving that
character so it felt brand-new."Brand-new in this film is the
bloodthirsty character of Sabertooth, Logan's half-brother Victor,
played by Liev Schreiber, who says sibling rivalry can make great drama.
Liev Schreiber, right, and Hugh Jackman in scene from X-Men Origins:
Wolverine"It's one of those classical things. It's [the Bible's] 'Cain
and Abel' and - I know this is a little Shakespearean - Edgar and Edmond
from 'King Lear.' It's one of those stories that, for me, is fun to
play," Schreiber says. Director Hood is hesitant to compare the comic
book superhero genre with Shakespeare. The analogy he draws is with the
gods of ancient Greek mythology."Zeus and Poseidon and Apollo. These
were the first superheroes and what made them so great, I think, was
that they had super powers - Zeus threw lightning bolts, Poseidon
conjured up storms - but they were so fueled by their human emotional
responses," Hood says. "They were jealous about who had slept with their
lover; they were demented by the betrayal of another. This is exactly
what we have here. You have a story driven by profoundly human emotions.
I'm almost nervous talking about this because what you're supposed to do
when you sell these movies is say 'guys, this is a really cool movie
with really cool visual effects and lots of action and Wolverine is
really bad and come see him kick some butt!' Of course, he does all that
so if that's what you want it's right there; but if you want to get into
a sort of socio-political-pop cultural analysis, it's there for you
too."Scene from X-!
 Men Origins: Wolverine X-Men Origins: Wolverine also features Danny Hus
ton as the duplicitous Colonel Stryker; and the X-Men mutants include
Ryan Reynolds as Wolverine's nemesis Deadpool, Taylor Kitsch plays
Gambit, rapper Will I. Am is Wraith and Lynn Collins is Wolverine's
lover Kayla Silverfox. The film was shot at locations in Australia, New
Zealand and Canada and features an action-packed soundtrack score by
Harry Gregson-Williams.


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