Eight is Enough: Fox Searches for 'Wolverine' Director

Variety is reporting tonight that Fox is still hot on The Wolverine, a film that seemed near derailment after the departure of Darren Aronofsky (who couldn’t have seemed hotter after last year’s indie-darling Black Swan).

According to the trade, no less than eight directors are on the short list to bring Hugh Jackman back to the screen for a fifth time as the world’s most famous mutant.

José Padilha (Elite Squad), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), Justin Lin (Fast Five), Gavin O’Connor (Pride and Glory), James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) and Gary Shore (no major film credits, but has an extensive resume of directing commercials).

These directors’ films are incredibly varied in their styles. I’d like to offer up a name that I’ve mentioned in a previous article and on our podcast: Katherine Bigelow. The Academy Award-winning director is as big on characterization as she is on action. While I would like to see what could be done with this property, I want to see a film by a director who doesn’t get pushed around by the studio—which is what seemed to have happened on the lackluster X-Men Origins: Wolverine.