Fox has played it smart since Darren Aronofsky left “The Wolverine.” Instead of a rush of shortlist candidates hitting the web, and studio and its star, Hugh Jackman, have kept cool, insisting they want the right person for the job. But it appears we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg of potential candidates.
In the midst of Deadline’s report about Hugh Jackman being offered “Snow White and the Huntsman,” they briefly mention that Fox is now beginning to look at directors and that David Slade and Duncan Jones are just a couple of early names being considered.
Slade is no surprise, really. He recently admitted he pretty much had the gig until Darren Aronofsky swooped in and took it for himself. However, in the wake of Aronofsky’s departure he hit Twitter to say that no discussions had taken place between himself and Fox, but obviously, that could change. Before Aronofsky bounced, Slade signed on to direct another comic franchise for the studio, a reboot of “Daredevil,” but we’d guess that “The Wolverine” is probably the priority project between the two.
As for Duncan Jones, with “Source Code” doing respectable box office biz and earning good reviews, his name coming up is not too surprising, but whether or not he’s interesting remains to be seen. We spoke with the director and he said that while he’s flattered to be considered for these kinds of projects — he was in the running for “Superman“ — he really wants to focus on his own material. “I’m also a huge admirer of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino and those directors who have been able to build their own material and get it done on a budget where they feel they can make the films they want to make,” he said. “So ideally I would like to be in the situation where I’m writing my own scripts and making them at a budget level where I feel I can do them justice.”
Not to mention that he spent a lot of the “Source Code” press tour talking up a city-based sci-fi pic he wants to mount next. We’d wager he’ll want to turn his “Source Code” cred into fuel to get the pieces together for his next original script.
Anyway, it’s early days. These are likely just a couple of the many names Jackman and co. are putting on their list and no matter which way you look at it, Aronofsky’s shoes are going to be big ones to fill.
David Slade was there first, its only fair he takes it. Jones doesn\’t need a franchise
Jones has already done his job-for-hire with Source Code. Wolverine would be two jobs-for-hire in a row. Which would turn him from a promising director into a hack. So hopefully he avoids that route and develops Mute or the untilted Sci fi instead.
Hey OMG (aka [email protected]), You\’ve been warned, \’aight? Now, let\’s move forward amicably.
@thePlaylist Have you heard about Duncan Jones SUPER AMBITIOUS FUTURISTIC SCI FI EPIC ABOUT A GUY WHO IS MUTE, IT\’S TOTALLY HIGH CONCEPT BUT POOR JONES CANT GET IT MADE BECAUSE ITS TOO AMBITIOUS FOR HOLLYWOOD! AND ITS ALL CARS 2\’S FAULT!
I happily stand corrected. Maybe it was just the volume of The Thin White Duke the Younger stories that skewed my POV. Which I guess is inevitable in the 24/7 movie coverage world we live in now. And that I\’m addicted to the Internet.
Well, ‘aight, check this out, dawg. First of all, you throwin’ too many big words at me, and because I don’t understand them, I’m gonna take ‘em as disrespect….
Just kidding. ok, slow down hoss (meaning @hmm)
It\’s all about perspective I guess.
maybe you remember 2008 when we said, \”yeah, Moon is good, but slow down a bit geek crowd that is freaking out.\”
Maybe you remember when we said, \”Yeah, Source Code, a\’ight, but it\’s not like a game changer and we gave it a B-.
So i\’m not sure where you think we\’ve got religion. Yes, we were offered interviews with him twice and the rest of the cast and we took them — it would be dumb not too — so maybe that\’s where you though there was a lot of coverage of Mr. Bowie Jr. but anybody in this business will tell you they will also take those opportunities.
So yeah, it\’s all about perspective i guess.
So now, help me with the sale.
(Btw, not everyone loves Greta, she was good in the not-so-great Baumbach film, but haven\’t been bowled over personally by anything else).
@marko: Fair point–I was referring to the Playlist\’s more general body of journalistic coverage of Mr. Bowie, Jr.
For the record, I don\’t really blame them for playing favorites on the site–I have favorites, too, and would probably do the same thing. It just gets a little religious at times….
@hmmm
Except I don\’t Duncan Jones being heaped with tons of praise in this article. Or at least not in the saem way they would to Ryan Gosling of Greta Gerwig.
@chance @hmm :agreed with you
@chance: agreed.
Crowning Duncan Jones the greatest director since David Gordon Green (<--irony) feels a wee premature to me. \"Source Code\" had a decent script--at least for the first two acts--but I thought Jones exhibited ZERO imagination in translating that script into a visually interesting movie. The \"pod\" that Gyllenhaaeaalal was in, which turns out to be more than just a pod? That was a chance for a good director to really stretch out and come up with something we haven\'t seen before, to go beyond the page...but Jones pretty much just translated exactly what was written in the most literal manner possible. I\'m not sure how much \"directing\" he actually did--it\'s a totally faithful translation of the script, shot in a straight-forward, unimaginative way.(And frankly, with the power directors have, it\'s on Jones to fix the 3rd Act problems.) I like this site, but I just don\'t get why the writers here convulse into multiple involuntary ejaculations at the mention of his name.
Duncan Jones is a good director, but he needs a good script. Because \”Source Code\” was beyond awful, though I didn\’t really see that as any flaw of the direction, rather the story/writing.
\”Moon\” was solid, but again, I think Rockwell along with the direction were the high points of the movie rather the writing.