James Mangold To Direct THE WOLVERINE

Deadline is reporting that James Magnold has been hired to direct THE WOLVERINE starring Hugh Jackman. Magnold is the director behind such movies as KNIGHT & DAY, 3:10 TO YUMA and WALK THE LINE. He’ll be working from a script by Christopher McQuarrie (THE USUAL SUSPECTS).You might remember that BLACK SAWN helmer Darren Aronofsky was originally set to direct this before abruptly dropping out last March citing “personal reasons”. Personal reasons that might have included knocking up Natalie Portman.

Mangold is an okay choice, I guess. Don’t really see anything on his resume that screams that he’s the guy for what is basically a reboot of the WOLVERINE franchise (word has it that this new installment doesn’t reference what came before or the recent X-MEN: FIRST CLASS). But, then again, same could be said for original X-MEN director Bryan Singer and FIRST CLASS director Matthew Vaughn. Neither really had any experience with this genre and both did a fine job. Might be the same way with Mangold.

USELESS KNOWLEDGE: Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber were both in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. The two of them, eight years earlier, previously worked together in the rom-com KATE & LEOPOLD which was directed by James Mangold.