Casting News

EXCLUSIVE: What other film could keep Bryan Singer from directing 'X-Men: First Class'?

From: hitfix.com
Written by: Drew McWeeny

HitFix has exclusively learned, from multiple sources, that Bryan Singer may not be directing "X-Men: First Class" despite recent press reports to the contrary, and that 20th Century Fox is actively searching for directors to step in and helm the film, with discussions with at least two other filmmakers as recently as last week.

The filmmakers that they're approaching now about directing "X-Men: First Class" are good names, guys who either have real experience in the comic book movie medium or who have heavy credibility with fan audiences. Names that would make fanboys happy from the first moment they're announced. I'm curious to see who else they meet with in the next few weeks now that their first few choices have passed. Those meetings, exclusively reported by HitFix, make it seem like no matter what public face they're putting on things, Fox is making plans as if Singer will not be free.

This is particularly interesting if you consider the timing of the interview with Geoff Boucher of The Los Angeles Times, who sat down with Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer for a story that's running in this weekend's Calendar section. Much has been made of the "confirmation" in the story that Singer's directing "X-Men: First Class." Here's the section of the story that is the most interesting:

"Before Singer can dive into casting, he has a rather large problem -- the fact that Warner Bros. has the filmmaker on the hook to direct 'Jack the Giant Killer.' Fox, flush with money from 'Avatar,' is eager to move forward with its mutant franchise in all of its permutations, so there are negotiations that need to be done.

Shuler Donner also has pitched Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established 'X-Men' franchise and Jackman had that lunch with Singer to coax him into a project as well, which may or may not be a 'Wolverine' film, which Jackman has said will be set in Japan and released in 2011. 'I wish I could be four people,' the director said with a moan. 'I could make everybody happy.'"

That "rather large problem" is an important one for Singer, and a pivotal one for Fox, who has a definite timetable for this "X-Men" reboot in mind. Singer is already scouting locations for "Jack The Giant Killer." He's deep into pre-production on the picture now, and it would seem almost actionable if he were to drop out at this point. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are counting on Singer to deliver this big-budget fairy-tale, and the earliest he's going to be free to start work on another large-scale picture will be 2012. There's no way Fox wants to wait for either "X-Men: First Class" or "Wolverine 2" for that long, so my guess is that Singer will be involved in those films as a producer of some sort, but not directing either one.

It sounds like "X-Men 4," the next full adventure of the original cast, is going to be the earliest place in the story arc where Singer's going to be able to get behind the camera again, which raises the question of why they sat for this story and what games are being played here. It's interesting... when Singer was waiting for Fox to make his deal on "X-Men 3," a process that took over a year due to some hardball negotiation, Warner Bros. took advantage of that and dangled the "Superman" in front of him. It was an awkward moment for Fox and led to some seriously difficult feelings between Singer and the studio. I'm sure Fox would be happy to undercut Warner on a big fantasy film by stealing Singer away, but this is not the same situation. Singer's already signed and in process on "Jack The Giant Killer," and I would hope he stays to see that one through before running back to the studio that treated him with such powerful contempt at least once before. Fox may be whispering sweet nothings to him now, but this is the same studio that had him thrown off the lot over "X-Men 3" a week before they had to allow him back on the lot to make the "House" pilot.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, but for fans who are celebrating his return to the series, you may want to put the hysteria on hold for a few, since it's far from a guaranteed thing at this point.

Shawn Ashmore talks 'X-Men' future

Comics - News - Shawn Ashmore talks 'X-Men' future - Digital Spy
From: Digitalspy.co.uk
Written by: Ian Mason

X-Men trilogy star Shawn Ashmore has spoken out about Bryan Singer's return to the film franchise with X-Men: First Class.

Ashmore, who played Iceman in the first three films - the first two of which were directed by Singer - admitted that it is unlikely he will ever get to reprise the role but has not given up hope.

He told Movieline: "Those films are always a blast to make, and working with Bryan is amazing. It’d be awesome to do another X-Men film and it’s too bad that there probably won’t be a role for me, but who knows?

"The universe is huge and they keep making those films. You never know - hopefully, I’ll get the chance to play Iceman one more time."

Ashmore added that fans should be confident about Singer's take on the early days of the X-Men.

He said: "Bryan is clearly very, very passionate about the X-Men films and the characters, so you know he’s going to a good job with whatever the story’s going to be."

X-Men: First Class is currently in pre-production.

‘First Class’ Advice For Bryan Singer’s ‘X-Men’ Return

‘First Class’ Advice For Bryan Singer’s ‘X-Men’ Return
by Josh Wigler

It's official, folks — Bryan Singer is returning to the mutant movie franchise he built up in the first place with "X-Men: First Class."

Singer's filmmaking journey has had its ups and downs — leaving the "X-Men" series for "Superman Returns," only to find that his vision didn't quite fly with mainstream moviegoers — but all of those experiences should only help the director as he settles back in for his take on Cyclops, Jean Grey and Professor Xavier's other gifted youths.

Still, here's hoping that Singer keeps the following few things in mind as he begins preparations on "First Class."

CHANGING HISTORY: While "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," set decades before Singer's first film, reflected the continuity of the initial "X-Men" trilogy, I hope that Singer realizes he doesn't have to adhere to that cinematic continuity. Story should come first and foremost, whether or not that means he has to break away from the universe established in the first three "X-Men" films.

ROSTER SHAKE-UPS: In an interview with Variety, Singer said that "First Class" would feature some familiar mutants, though he wasn't ready to reveal which ones. I'm all for the director swapping out some of the expected mutants — Cyclops and Jean, for example — if it serves the plot, but he shouldn't be afraid to include them, either. Singer doesn't have to be married to the previous casting of actors like Tim Pocock as Scott Summers, if he doesn't feel they have the right stuff to carry a film.

FALL OF THE LEADERS: Singer also said that "First Class" would depict the formative years of Xavier's school and his subsequent falling out with Magneto, the both of them aged in their late 20s, which essentially means that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have to sit this one out. I'm fine with that, actually. It would be far too expensive to de-age Stewart and McKellen for an entire film; that budget could be spent far better elsewhere, which brings us to...

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: A major criticism against Singer's "Superman" was an extraordinary lack of action-packed moments. That same mistake cannot be made on Singer's return to "X-Men." This is a franchise with a lot of heart and story potential, yes, but let's not forget we're talking about mutants with mutant powers. Singer is an amazing action director when he lets himself go — that absolutely has to be the case on this film.

MOST OF ALL: This is a young "X-Men" tale, so Singer has the freedom to have fun and keep things light — while taking the subject matter seriously, of course. Lauren Shuler Donner's suggestion of taking a "Harry Potter" approach is an amazing guideline that the returning filmmaker should keep mindful of. However he wants to make this movie — new team members, recasting characters, what have you — the most important thing Singer has to do is have some fun and make an enjoyable movie.

Singer Talks X-Men: First Class

Singer Talks X-Men: First Class
By Genevieve M. Blaber "ScarletScribe" on December 22, 2009

Singer Talks X-Men: First Class Director Bryan Singer is back with the X-Men, but what does that mean for the next installment in the franchise, X-Men: First Class. While Singer won't go into too many details, he did tell the folks over at the Heat Vision Blog what they could generally expect from the upcoming prequel, and what potential he thinks it holds.

Heat Vision: What is the story?

Singer: I can’t tell you that; it’s secret. But it’s basically about the formation of the X-Men. How they began and the relationship between a young Xavier and a young Magneto.

Heat Vision: Do you think the X-Men can exhaust themselves? You've got the original three, you've got Wolverine, you've got a Deadpool and Magneto in the works ...

Singer: This story would probably utilize some of the Magneto story because it deals with a young Magneto, so it might supersede that because this would explore that relationship between a young energetic professor and a disenfranchised victim of the Holocaust.

But no, I don’t see an exhaustion. The X-Men universe is boundless. These are great characters. And as young characters, they are quite different than the characters we have seen in the contemporary movies.

Bryan Singer back on X-Men duty - From Inside the Box - Zap2it

Bryan Singer back on 'X-Men' duty - From Inside the Box - Zap2it
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Bryan Singer, who directed the first two "X-Men" movies before moving on to a different superhero, Superman, is getting back in business with the Marvel Comics mutants.

Singer has agreed to develop and direct "X-Men: First Class," a prequel of sorts to the franchise that follows several characters as teenagers. Jamie Moss ("Street Kings") is attached to write the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Chuck" co-creator Josh Schwartz had taken an earlier pass at the project.

Singer mentioned his involvement with the movie, which is based on a limited-run Marvel series, at the "Avatar" premiere Wednesday night, and studio 20th Century Fox confirmed it Thursday. The comic tells the story of several of the original X-Men -- Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel -- attending Professor Xavier's school as teenagers. (In the movies, the latter two are portrayed as younger characters and probably wouldn't be featured in "First Class.")

Singer's return to the "X-Men" franchise comes six years after he directed "X2," then parted ways with Fox to helm "Superman Returns" at Warner Bros. Brett Ratner directed "X-Men: The Last Stand," and Gavin Hood helmed this year's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

Writer gets claws into Wolverine sequel

From: coventrytelegraph.net
Written by: David Bentley.

ONLY the other day, X-Men Origins: Wolverine star Hugh Jackman confirmed there would be a sequel and that it would be set in Japan.

The follow-up is obviously being fast-tracked as a writer for the project has now been announced.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to pen the screenplay.

Jackman is also producing along with Lauren Shuler Donner.

The movie's storyline will follow the early 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller miniseries, which sees Wolverine learning the ways of the samurai. He battles a ninja clan called The Hand as he struggles with whether to follow his animal killer instincts or the samurai code of honor and respect.

The story was hinted at in one of the movie's post-credit scenes in which the character is sat in a bar in Japan.

McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for writing The Usual Suspects for Bryan Singer, had worked with Singer on the first X-Men film but asked for his name to be removed from the credits after David Hayter reshaped the script into the version that was used. McQuarrie also wrote the Nazi war thriller Valkyrie, directed by Singer.

The first Wolverine movie was penned by David Benioff (Troy, The Kite Runner) and Skip Woods (Hitman, Swordfish), who are obviously not returning, and directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition), whose return to the franchise is now also in doubt.

Oddly, there has been no news yet of any movement on other X-Men projects such as X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Magneto or a Deadpool spin-off, all of which seem to be more anticipated by fans than another Wolverine adventure.

Ryan Reynolds, who played Wade Wilson - the mercenary who becomes Deadpool - in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, recently signed to play Green Lantern for Warner Bros but indicated he was still keen to appear in the Deadpool spin-off too. It's unclear whether Reynolds' move to Warner Bros has impacted on Fox's plans for Deadpool.

For fans, the real shame is that the X-Men series seems to unfold in such an ad-hoc fashion, with no overarching strategy in mind.

Bryan Singer to direct "Battlestar Galactica"

From: variety.com
Written by: Mike Fleming.

Universal Pictures has set Bryan Singer to direct and produce a feature version of "Battlestar Galactica," confirming a report on the Hitfix website.

The development is something of a surprise because the most prevailing rumor had Singer flirting with the idea of returning to the X-Men series by taking the reins of "X-Men: First Class," which focuses on the younger mutant characters seen fleetingly at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz wrote the first draft of that script.

"Battlestar Galactica" appears to be on a fast track and sources said that Singer could be looking at a $10 million paycheck to sign on to the film.

Singer has long been intrigued with "Battlestar Galactica" and flirted with relaunching it into a TV series right after he directed the original "X-Men." Back in 2001 I wrote about his plan, which involved teaming with Tom DeSanto to exec produce the series. Singer planned to direct the pilot of the new version of a series that originally launched on ABC in 1978 and ran two seasons. Here is what he said at the time, comments that certainly proved prescient:

"The lesson I learned on `X-Men' is to have a healthy respect for the fan base of sci-fi fantasy franchises, and I'm confident that the `Galactica' brand is a sleeping giant. It was a show I watched during its initial run, from the pilot to the final episode. The essence and the brand name is quite potent in a climate where there's a great deficit of scifi programming."

It is possible that the timing of the series went awry because of the World Trade Center disaster that occurred later that year. Certainly, it made a series that launched with the attack and destruction of earth unpalatable.

The director got busy on other projects. Ronald Moore came on as executive producer and oversaw the 73-episode series relaunch, which had a critically acclaimed run on Syfy.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Moore would be invited to write the screenplay, but it is clear that Singer will put his own creative stamp on the project as the studio indicates that the film will be "a complete re-imagination."

Glen Larson is aboard to produce. Singer's repped by WME and attorney Dave Feldman.

Bryan Singer on Superman Returns Sequel, X-Men Origins: Magneto

Bryan Singer on Superman Returns Sequel, X-Men Origins: Magneto
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Bryan Singer kinda wishes he had stayed onboard the X-Men train and directed the third installment of the trilogy, 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand”, which went to the much-maligned Brett Ratner after Singer jumped ship to direct the underperforming “Superman Returns”. I happened to like “Superman Returns” more than the average comic book geek, and to be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t care very much for “The Last Stand”, not because Ratner had directed it (as seems to be the case with many a fanboys), but just because, well, it wasn’t all that entertaining or interesting. Anyways, while out doing the promo rounds for his WWII drama “Valkyrie”, Bryan Singer talked a bit about “Superman Returns” and the possibility of returning to the X-Men franchise.

Says Singer to Total Film Magazine (via):

Asked whether he wished he had directed X-Men: The Last Stand, he admitted he had that feeling “before I was watching it, during watching it, after watching it.”

“It’s weird for me to watch it, because I’m so close to the universe. And also Brett is a good friend of mine. But, of course, I would love to return to that universe.

“Apt Pupil, X-Men and now Valkyrie…I’ve lived in that Nazi universe for quite a while. I just might need to take a little break before I do something like that.”

Sounds like he’s leaning towards NOT directing, despite the fact that he’d probably be welcome back with open arms by everyone, including the fans. But you gotta wonder if this spin-off will even happen. At the moment, Deadpool seems to be the only spin-off fans are clamoring for…

About the possibility of Singer returning to Supes’ world, he was even more unsure:

“I don’t know, I don’t know. There are still issues…I just…I just don’t know. I don’t necessarily…I don’t know. It’s one of those things where…It’s so weird talking about stuff unless I’m about to ramp up and shoot it.”

Basically, probably not gonna happen.

Fans call for X-Men 4 with Joss Whedon directing - do you agree?

From: coventrytelegraph.net
Written by: David Bentley

JUST OVER 1,000 people have now signed an online petition calling for a film follow-up to the 2006 release X-Men: The Last Stand.

The currently on-release X-Men Origins: Wolverine is, of course, a prequel - and other prequels are planned (X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto).

But some fans also want sequels to the existing trilogy that take forward the storylines of the cure, Xavier's survival and the return of Magneto's powers.

While petitions are very common across the internet, and 1,000 people is not that big a number relative to the global audience of the movies, the campaign does show some strength of feeling out there for further X-movies, as I had also reported earlier.

In addition, a further online petition calls for Joss Whedon - who wrote the Astonishing X-Men comic book series - to be hired to direct the fourth movie.

SFX magazine recently asked readers what they wanted to see in an X-Men 4 and the five most popular answers were:

1. Long-awaited comic book favourites, the most popular being Sentinels (mutant-hunting robots) and the evil, ancient mutant called Apocalypse
2. Less Wolverine, as he has dominated all the films so far
3. Reboot the franchise to improve the casting (Halle Berry came in for heavy criticism)
4. Give Rogue a total overhaul to make her tougher, more powerful and more in line with the comic books
5. Use the Days of Future Past storyline in which Kitty Pryde travels back from a dystopian future (where mutants are being slaughtered by Sentinels) in order to prevent it all happening...this would create an alternative reality and could wipe the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, which upset many fans!

Other readers suggested bringing back director Bryan Singer - the director of the first two X-Men films who has proved without doubt to be the best suited to the franchise - while there were also calls for the return of Nightcrawler and for boosting the role of plasma-generating mutant Jubilee who had cameo appearances in the movies.

[MORE]

Gambit: The ace card in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

From: coventrytelegraph.net
Written by: David Bentley

ONE of the ace cards in Hugh Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie is the long-awaited appearance of comic book favourite Gambit.

Taylor Kitsch plays the mutant, who has the power to charge objects with an explosive energy and often deploys a deck of playing cards and a staff.

Gambit has a huge following of comic book readers but they have had a frustrating wait to see him on the big screen.

Here I'm going to take a look at Gambit's rather unlucky card hand when it comes to the X-Men films and their multiple attempts to add him to the cast. His eventual appearance in Wolverine, along with other characters such as Deadpool and Blob, seems to have delivered the winning hand fans that have wanted for so long.

The character had been due to appear in the first X-Men movie in 2000. At the San Diego Comic Con that year, director Bryan Singer told a panel audience: "I almost had Gambit as a young boy on the basketball field, but the fear was that if he held the basketball, then released it and then it exploded, people would be like 'What's wrong with those basketballs?'. That is, people who weren't fans or didn't know the characters. But Gambit and Beast are two characters that I missed terribly."

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Wolverine May Spawn Spin-Offs for Real - Film School Rejects

Wolverine May Spawn Spin-Offs for Real - Film School Rejects

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Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I was among the lucky ones to have X-Men Origins: Wolverine open in theatres last night. So here's the review.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is hitting cinemas around the globe, but will it live up to the standard set by Bryan Singer, or end up in the dumps with Brett Ratner’s X3?

Being a fan of the franchise I was really looking forward to another film, but after X-Men 3: The Last Stand I’ve learned to keep my expectations as low as possible, and I actually managed to enter the cinema without any big expectations.

I am surprised by the amount of negativity for this film, but I think the level of expectations has a lot to do with that; personally I just went to see a movie. And I had fun. There were a few small things that bothered me, some interactions, and maybe not enough time with one or two characters, and one scene featuring a sink that seems to have been put in for cheap laughs; they really could have left that scene out of the film.

There were worries about the inclusion of so many characters in the film, but I never felt that took anything away from the story, there’s really only one or two characters I felt got pushed aside. It was actually nice to see some new faces and learn something new about the familiar characters. This is helped a lot by the strong cast, the inclusion of so many characters could have easily have been overwhelming or just plain bad if the actors didn’t put their all into the few scenes they had. I found everyone’s effort to be top notch, and many new characters endeared themselves to me despite their short screen-time

Any continuity worries I had with regards to the X-Men films were snuffed out, save maybe one or two, but that’s nothing another movie or your imagination won’t take care off.

If nothing else you’re getting a good action kick, but I can’t help but hope that there would be an unrated, slightly bloodier, version when it comes out on DVD and BluRay, as some of the more violent scenes reminded you this is a PG-13 movie.
It’s hard to compare it to the previous films in the franchise, but one thing I can say for sure, it’s much better than X3. Considering all the aspects I will say that X2 still holds the top spot, but where Wolverine lands in comparison to the first X-Men movie is hard to say, go see it and make up your own mind.

4/5

'Wolverine' Director Gavin Hood Grilled

On complex comic-book heroes, internet piracy, butting heads with Fox's CEO and living up to big expectations.
From: TheWrap.com
Written By: Jordan Riefe.

Since graduating UCLA film school in the early '90s, Gavin Hood has strung together one success after another in his native South Africa, culminating with his 2006 Best Foreign Film Oscar-winning, “Tsotsi." Here, he talks about his latest project in Hollywood, the big-budget, effects-laden summer sequel, Fox's “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” due out May 1.

“Wolverine” is not unlike “Tsotsi,” where a hardened criminal is transformed by caring for this baby. There’s a similarity there.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I think what producer Hugh Jackman (the film's star and a producer) saw in “Tsotsi” -- which is why he called me -- is that there you’re dealing with a character who once again is struggling with his own inner demons and attempting to find his better nature -- sometimes against his will.

It’s that way with all of us -- our better nature does often shine through, but we do have this tendency, as human beings, to do things that we don’t always feel particularly proud of.

So you didn't see “Wolverine” as just another fanboy character?
It very quickly became apparent to me that what drew Hugh to the character and was drawing me to the character was the same thing: that you’re dealing with someone that is uniquely emotionally complex in comic-book lore.

He's very different from the “Pale Rider” kind of hero from the days when I was growing up, where young men were subliminally taught that you should not show emotion -- you ride into town, you solve the problem, you maybe sleep with a couple of women, but you don’t get too attached to them, then you ride off into the sunset, and you don’t show any emotion.

Here you have a massaively popular character that struggles with emotion, struggles with the idea of rage. No sooner does he have his claws out that he wants to withdraw them.

There must be a lot of pressure to sustain the “X-Men” franchise and satisfy fanboy expectations.
Bryan Singer, when he started this franchise, was incredibly brave in combining great thematic ideas with a sort of fantasy comic-book genre. I’m inspired by that and impressed by that, but when you make your own movie, at the end of the day, for me at least, I can’t let that other stuff be coming into my head.

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A Wolverine Finds His Romantic Side

From: TheNewYorkTimes.

HUGH JACKMAN is a big, macho movie star. Got it?

In talking up Mr. Jackman in advance of “Australia,” his coming romantic epic, three executives at 20th Century Fox all described the actor as a “rough-hewn” throwback to Hollywood’s classic leading-man types, a “young Clint Eastwood.”

Baz Luhrmann, the director of “Australia,” which co-stars Nicole Kidman as an aristocratic cattle owner, also talked up Mr. Jackman’s manliness. “There are not many actors who have an ability to pick up a Nicole Kidman, throw her on the bed and ravish her with believability,” Mr. Luhrmann said.

Perhaps feeling that description was not vivid enough, Mr. Luhrmann added, “He is also excellent with a cattle whip.”

Here’s what Mr. Jackman’s bosses and colleagues are trying to say: Mr. Jackman, 39, is on the verge of megastardom, the kind that comes with Oscar nominations and demands for script approval. But to join the short A-list of male movie stars he must move past all that girly singing and dancing stuff on his résumé.

In Hollywood, where typecasting remains very much a force, Mr. Jackman retains a slight stigma. Isn’t he the guy who won a Tony Award for playing a flamboyant gay songwriter in “The Boy From Oz” on Broadway? Didn’t he host the Tony Awards for three years running? And didn’t he also produce and star in “Viva Laughlin,” that campy CBS musical series that bombed last year?

With “Australia,” which Fox plans to release on Nov. 26 in North America, Mr. Jackman will get the chance to prove that he can play a big-time romantic lead in a big-time movie. And with any luck, the film will be part of a one-two punch erasing any lingering worries about his ability to open a movie. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which he reprises his “X-Men” role as a hirsute mutant in need of a nail file, opens on May 1.

“I think it will surprise people,” Mr. Jackman said of his performance in “Australia” during an interview on the Fox lot. “I’m never that worried about positioning myself, and I don’t like labels personally or professionally. But this is definitely the straight-down-the-line, classic, old-school leading-man role I’ve been waiting for.”

Mr. Jackman was not Mr. Luhrmann’s first choice. Mr. Luhrmann intended for Russell Crowe to play the character, a brooding drover with no name who helps Ms. Kidman’s aristocrat drive cattle across a barren homestead during World War II. But Mr. Crowe and Fox sparred over money. (At the time the combative actor fumed to a reporter, “I do charity work, but I don’t do charity work for major studios.”)

Mr. Luhrmann, the director of critical darlings like “Moulin Rouge!” “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” and “Strictly Ballroom,” said Mr. Jackman was initially under consideration for the smaller role of a greedy land manager. “I was keen to have Hugh in the film, but I didn’t immediately see him as the drover,” Mr. Luhrmann said, adding that Fox worried about Mr. Jackman’s marketability.

Fox grew more comfortable with Mr. Jackman’s star status after “X-Men: The Last Stand” opened in 2006 with strong results (it ended up making more than $450 million worldwide), and Mr. Luhrmann had become impressed with Mr. Jackman’s gung-ho attitude. Ms. Kidman, a friend of Mr. Jackman’s wife, the Australian actress Deborah-Lee Furness, gave her approval at a party in Los Angeles.

“Nicole came bounding in and said she heard I was talking to Baz,” Mr. Jackman recalled. “I said: ‘Yes, I’m very excited. But I haven’t yet seen a script. Tell me, what is it like?’ And she responded: ‘Oh, I haven’t read the script. It’s Baz. Just sign on.’ ”

Not long after, Mr. Jackman found himself enduring intense horse training in Texas. For the role he would need not only to woo Ms. Kidman’s character, who inherits an enormous cattle ranch in a remote part of Australia, but also to ride herd over 2,000 cattle and rope horses. In one scene he would need to jump off his horse and grab a stampeding cow by the tail. Another scene called for him to stand in the center of a corral and lasso a wild horse.

Mr. Jackman played down the rigor required by most of the wrangling work. But even he was impressed with the lassoing. “The horse went ballistic when I got that rope around his neck,” he said. “My gloves ripped, the rope peeled skin off my hands. I just remember being so happy that I did it that I didn’t care at all.”

Filming took place in Australia’s barren Northern Territory. (In the film Ms. Kidman’s character owns a sprawling desert property near Darwin, a small Australian city bombed by the Japanese during World War II.) The shoot came with dust storms, scorpions and, down the side of a cliff from Mr. Jackman’s trailer, a lagoon slithering with crocodiles. The shoot lasted 157 days in total, an epic period even for an epic drama.

“I almost fainted on the first day,” Mr. Jackman said. “Incredibly hot, incredibly remote.”

It was a long way from his days starting out in musical theater in Sydney, a time when he worked as a part-time clown at children’s parties. (In another job around that time, a pre-muscled Mr. Jackman was paid to stand in the lobby of a local gym as the “before” model.)

One early role came from the Sydney production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” He played the prince. He went on to a starring role in a local tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” and eventually landed the role of Curly in an acclaimed London revival of “Oklahoma!” in 1998.

During that production, a permed Mr. Jackman had his first professional encounter with Mr. Luhrmann. It didn’t go well: he auditioned for the romantic lead in “Moulin Rouge” and was passed over for Ewan McGregor.

Mr. Jackman came out O.K., though. During the same time, he was a backup choice for the Wolverine character in “X-Men” and got the part after the original actor, Dougray Scott, backed out because of a conflicting film commitment. Aside from the “X-Men” movies, Mr. Jackman’s movie career has mostly included films that missed expectations, including “The Prestige.” Whether “Australia” will work is unclear. Fox hopes it will be an Oscar force, and the footage is lavish. Mr. Luhrmann said he was influenced by sweeping classics like “Gone With the Wind,” “The African Queen” and “Out of Africa,” which Mr. Jackman says is one of his favorite films.

But the film is commercially risky. Historical epics can be a tough sell, as “Troy,” “Kingdom of Heaven” and “King Arthur” have recently proved to the studios’ dismay. And Ms. Kidman’s recent track record at the box office (“The Stepford Wives,” “Bewitched,” “The Invasion,” “The Golden Compass”) has been scanty. (The film also represents a big departure for Mr. Luhrmann, who has developed a passionate following for his colorful visual style, which often places characters in over-the-top worlds bordering on fantasy. But “Australia” is darker and more realistic looking, and includes a subplot about the government’s forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.)

Mr. Jackman always has a backup in “Wolverine.” Judging from his reception in July at Comic-Con, the huge comic book and movie marketing convention, the action film will be a blockbuster. More than 6,500 fans at Comic-Con greeted him like a deity when he made a surprise appearance to plug the movie. People were screaming and chanting; one woman burst into tears. “It was my little rock-star moment,” Mr. Jackman said.

People who work with Mr. Jackman gush about him, too, to the degree that one starts to wonder just how badly other stars are behaving. “He is the most centered, incredibly focused actor I’ve ever worked with,” Mr. Luhrmann said. “I know everybody always says that in Hollywood, but I really mean it.”

Nina Tassler, the president for entertainment at CBS, said she had no regrets about “Viva Laughlin” because of Mr. Jackman’s involvement. “Working with him was one of the highlights of my entire life,” she said. Mr. Jackman, she added, was intimately involved in aspects of the project like script writing and marketing — rare for movie stars moonlighting in television — and said she found him humble and unassuming, an opinion echoed by others.

In wielding his charm, Mr. Jackman, whose offices on the Fox lot are located in Shirley Temple’s former dance studio and who watches “Judge Judy” in his spare time, likes to use humor. “You can’t cut my hair or my beard — but you can trim my nose hair if you like,” he said to a stylist readying him for a photo shoot.

And his looks — five appearances on People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” list and counting — don’t hurt his bankability either, as the director Bryan Singer, who hired Mr. Jackman for “X-Men,” helpfully pointed out in an interview.

As for that “rough-hewn” label? “That’s studio-speak for a lot of chest hair,” Mr. Singer said.

"Magneto" to Begin Filming Next Year.

From: WP.com

IGN caught up with David Goyer to find out what's going on with the other "X-Men" spin-off, "Magneto," which Goyer has been announced to direct.

"'Magneto' seems to be a movie that Fox still wants to make," he revealed. "They called me about it a couple of weeks ago. I'm still working on 'Unborn' through November. We said that when I finish 'Unborn,' we'll talk and maybe get that going next year."

Goyer previously revealed that the story will concentrate on the origins of Magneto and Professor X, starring with the young Magneto crushing the Auschwitz gates as seen in the Brian Singer-directed "X-Men." To find out more about his plans, click here.

Weekly Ketchup

From: RottenTomatoes.com

COOL COMIC CON CLIPS: WATCHMEN AND WOLVERINE
There was plenty of footage screened at Comic Con this weekend, but after TR2N, the two movies that seem to have been received the most positively were and Watchmen. The Watchmen footage hasn't appeared online yet (sob), but the Wolverine trailer thing has, for as long as that lasts. Presuming it will get pulled eventually, here's my quick take: the story is set up as a sort of a "regenerating buddy flick" gone bad, as Wolverine and Sabretooth seem to start off on good terms, which then turn sour as they start trying to hack each other to bits. Wolverine has a wee bit of an advantage over Sabretooth's dirty-finger-looking claws. Oh, and we see some new mutant friends like the Blob (he looks a lot like Fat Bastard, unfortunately), Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds, without nasty scars, strangely) and Gambit, who I have to admit (as a Gambit hater), was surprisingly one of the cooler things in the trailer. Interpret that however!

BRYAN ("I WASN'T A COMIC BOOK FAN BEFORE I DIRECTED X-MEN") SINGER PICKS UP TWO MORE "COMIC BOOK" PROJECTS
This week, Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) announced two separate comic book projects that he will produce, while we are still left waiting for firm news about when the next Superman movie will start filming. Well, Freedom Formula is "sort of" a comic book movie, in that it is another of those comic book titles from a company (see above, #2) that produces comic books pretty much just so they can then sell the rights to movie studios. Basically, the comic book is just a storyboard that they can also sell. Freedom Formula is described as being like Top Gun, but with mechs. Well, the Variety writer probably wasn't versed enough in nerd jargon to know that term, but that's what he meant. Basically, with both Transformers and Iron Man raking in cash, you're going to see more mech-type movies. Tobey Maguire is producing a Robotech movie, for example. The other Bryan Singer production announced this week is Capeshooting, a comedy about two guys who make their money shooting videos of superheroes in action who get in trouble when they discover one of them is actually a villain. Capeshooting is described as an upcoming comic book, but I can't find any evidence that it exists other than stories about this movie project. Again, this appears to be an example where the "comic book" is secondary to the movie based upon it. Meanwhile, there's about 70+ years worth of comic book stories that existed before Hollywood got hip to us, that struggle to get sold or produced as movies.

What happens when a toad gets hit by lightning?

It’s common knowledge that Joss Whedon was brought in to do a pass over on the screenplay for the X-Men film. It may also be common knowledge that his draft of the script was pretty much chucked because, as the telling of it goes, the studio only wanted him to spice it up with the odd witticism here and there rather than do a complete revision of the draft.

[MORE]

Young X-Men Get Gossip Girl Scribe?

From:

In some odd Friday evening news, BlackBook magazine talked to Josh Schwartz, the writer and executive producer of shows like "The O.C.," "Gossip Girl" and "Chuck" (soon to be getting his own comic book!) and found out that he'd taken over the job of writing a screenplay for a Young X-Men movie (that title still hasn't been confirmed) which originally was to be written by Zack Penn. What's even odder than that juicy news is that BlackBook then took the story down, even though you can still see the original post at the link below. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we were able to grab some of the original text which had Schwartz saying some rather unflattering remarks about his superhero peers and predecessors:

Something he can talk about, however, is news that he will pen the screenplay for the next installment of X-Men, a prequel of sorts. "I'm very well aware that I'll be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck." Of the project, he beams with excitement about the opportunity to involve lesser known X-Men characters who haven't yet been portrayed on film. It will center on teenage characters at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. "It's not like I'm adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that." Despite his enthusiam, he's cautious, given the double-edged sword inherent in the seemingly inexhaustible renaissance of the genre. "The Hulk looks like it's going to be terrible. And why does he look like he's fighting against the monster from Cloverfield? I mean, with Transformers, it's not like fans were going to come back saying, 'You used the wrong car.' This, however, is a different story." Of his predecessors and their successes (or failures), he says, "Brett Ratner didn't have a lot of credibility going in to the third X-Men movie, but I think Bryan Singer [who directed the first two installments] got a free pass on Superman Returns because of his work on X-Men."

The Hottest 100 People In Hollywood Right Now!

From:

57 HUGH JACKMAN - ACTOR: The abracadabra yin/yang twinning of The Prestige and The Fountain showcased Jackman as more than just that bloke with the claws... though of course we’re still pretty excited about his stint in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

What’s next? Wooing Nicole Kidman in Australia, destroying Ewan McGregor in The List...

35 BRYAN SINGER - DIRECTOR: Too long the geek champion, Singer managed to bring a meticulous intelligence and storytelling panache to his X-Men and Superman comic-book blockbusters. But none of them have managed to top his noir masterpiece The Usual Suspects. Which is fine, because...

What’s next? ...Singer has reteamed with The Usual Suspects scripter Chris McQuarrie on a couple of projects. First up is Tom- Cruise-as-good-Nazi thriller Valkyrie, closely followed by gay rights biopic The Mayor Of Castro Street. Superman 2 is also due in 2009, with Singer still (just about) attached.

28 ELLEN PAGE - ACTRESS: Sensational and chilling as the 14-year-old avenging angel in paedogeddon revenge-fantasy Hard Candy, Page wasted no time elbowing her way into X-Men: The Last Stand. Clever girl? No kidding. Her turn in adoption indie Juno rubber-stamped that fact: ultra-smart, ultra-smart-mouthed and totally buzzing with star wattage. And she’s only 20 years old. Precocious would be the watch word for this little miss.

What’s next? Oh, the usual. A rom-com (Smart People); a strong female drama (The Stone Angel) – and, umm, a lesbian werewolf horror. Oh yes, we’ll be keeping you posted on Jack And Diane…