The X-Men franchise has received a resurgence of late thanks largely to the prequel, X-Men First Class, released earlier this year. Now that the production for The Wolverine (sequel to the 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine) prepares to commence early next year, the question in many minds is, can it continue the momentum provided by Matthew Vaughn’s prequel/quasi-reboot or struggle to appease hardcore fans as well as mainstream audiences? Thankfully, The Playlist, during their phone interview with Mangold for the Blu-Ray release of Cop Land , was able to extract some tidbits of info about the superhero sequel. Here are some snippets of what he had to say:
Why he decided to direct the film:
JM: “I think part of the reason I’m doing this picture has been because it isn’t to me a conventional superhero movie. It isn’t an origin story, so I’m freed from that burden, and it also isn’t a save-the-world movie, which most of them are. It’s a character piece.”
Mangold also credits the new locale (the story will take place in Japan) as a reason for coming onboard as director as well, stating, “It’s a kind of adventure following such a unique character also in a really unique environment. I mean, the fact that half of the characters in this movie speak Japanese, this is like a foreign-language superhero movie that’s as much a drama and detective story and a film noir, with high-octane action as it is anything like a conventional tentpole film.”
For the full interview, you can read here.
