The Wolverine

The Wolverine (2013)

Timing: 2:6 (126 min)

6.431/10
10212

6.485/10
219196

6.7/10
522000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 127

Actors and characters

Release date

2013-07-21

Country

United States

Production

20th Century Fox, The Donners' Company, Marvel Entertainment

Genre

Action, Science Fiction, Adventure

Budget

$120 000 000

Revenue

$415 440 673

Website

https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-wolverine

Director

James Mangold

Actors

Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hal Yamanouchi, Brian Tee, Ken Yamamura
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Hugh Jackman, Lauren Shuler Donner, Hutch Parker, Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr., Stan Lee

Operator

Ross Emery

Composer

Marco Beltrami

Artist

Audition

Suzanne Crowley, Lisa Beach, Sarah Katzman

Editing

Michael McCusker
All team (104)

• Hugh Jackman has already portrayed Logan on screen six times. This is a record for one actor playing a comic book hero.
• During preparation for his role, Hugh Jackman worked closely with the well-known stunt team 87Eleven, honing various ninjutsu and other Japanese martial arts techniques.
• Filming lasted only 80 days and took place in Japan and at the Fox studio in Sydney, Australia.
• Cinematographer Ross Emery used an Arri Alexa digital camera with an anamorphic lens to create the film, allowing for maximum flexibility and cinematic sharpness.
• One of the most challenging sets for the film was the Ice Village, which the set designer meticulously recreated in the suburbs of Sydney, based on their impressions from visiting three mountain villages in the Japanese prefecture of Nagano.
• Although Logan has only about five costumes, nearly a hundred separate pieces of clothing had to be made for Jackman, considering his numerous and difficult adventures that his clothes experienced along with him.
• Producer Lauren Shuler Donner offered to have Simon Bofoy write the screenplay, but he lacked the confidence to agree to participate in the project.
• Hugh Jackman is a fan of Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's comic book “Wolverine” (1982), especially the Japanese saga. “I like the idea of such an anarchic character, an outcast who is in a world full of honor, traditions and customs. He is the one who is really against all of this and tries to do everything his own way. The idea of samurai and tradition there is just magnificent. In the comic, my character gets a good beating from a couple of samurai who aren't even mutants.”
• Darren Aronofsky was initially slated to direct the film, and he even worked on the project for about six months, but then he turned it down, citing that lengthy overseas shoots prevented him from seeing his family (at that time he had recently separated from Rachel Weisz, the mother of his child). During his involvement in the project, he rewrote Christopher McQuarrie's screenplay, and the real reason for his departure from the project may have been the studio's unwillingness to approve his version of the script, which would have received an R rating due to scenes of sexual content and brutal violence.
• This is the first time Wolverine appears in a film whose title does not include X-Men.
• Jessica Biel was offered the role that eventually went to Svetlana Khodchenkova.
• Togo Igawa was considered for the role of Shingen.
• Guillermo del Toro, being a fan of the Japanese saga from the Wolverine comics, expressed his interest in the director's position for this film. He met with James Gianopulos and Hugh Jackman to discuss directing the film, but ultimately decided he didn't want to spend two or three years of his life working on it.
• In May 2011, Fox studio had a list of eight candidates for the director's position: José Padilha, Doug Liman, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Romanek, Justin Lin, Gavin O'Connor, Gary Shore, and James Mangold. Mangold was ultimately chosen as the director.
• To prepare for his role, Hugh Jackman contacted Dwayne Johnson to get advice on how to gain muscle mass. Johnson told Jackman that he could gain a pound a week for six months by consuming 6,000 calories a day (a lot of chicken, steaks, and brown rice).
• Hugh Jackman confirmed that he discussed with director James Mangold a screening test of both a 'PG-13' and an 'R' rated version, but declined to comment on filming different scenes for these versions. And although it was announced that a 'PG-13' version would be released, James Mangold wrote on Twitter: “It’s ‘PG-13’. But don’t worry, it’s not ‘Bambi.’”
• Cinematographer Amir M. Mokri was replaced during filming by second unit cinematographer Ross Emery.
• James Mangold said that Japanese samurai films such as '13 Assassins' (2010) and Hiroshi Inagaki's samurai trilogy had a strong influence on him while creating the film. He was also influenced by Westerns 'Shane' (1953) and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976), crime films 'The French Connection' (1971) and 'Chinatown' (1974), and dramas 'Black Narcissus' (1947), 'Floating Weeds' (1959), 'Chungking Express' (1994), and 'Happy Together' (1997).
• Hugh Jackman said that in this film he finally achieved the physique he believed Wolverine should have. He said that for various reasons, in all five previous times he played the character, he didn't have enough time to get into the necessary shape, but in this film he managed to do so. Actor Will Yun Lee also noted that in this film, Jackman was in the best physical shape of all the Wolverine films.
• According to Hugh Jackman, the main theme of the film is Wolverine surrounded by death, while being unable to die due to his healing ability: "He realizes that everyone he loves dies, that his whole life is full of pain. So, for him, it's better to just run away. He can't die and just wants to escape everything."
• The first film in the 'X-Men' series released in 3D and IMAX.
• Hugh Jackman said that for the topless scenes he wanted to look as sculpted as possible. To achieve this, he followed a dehydrating diet (commonly used in bodybuilding), according to which he did not drink any liquids for 36 hours before filming. Because of this, he experienced headaches and weakness, but was pleased with the results. Dehydration strongly emphasized the relief of his muscles and blood vessels, which is what he wanted to achieve.
• The film has the subtitle "Immortal" in Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, and Italy. In France, the film's subtitle is "The Battle of the Immortal", in Japan – "Samurai", and in Germany – "The Way of the Warrior."
• The extended version of the film (rated R) runs for 138 minutes.
• The Silver Samurai's mechanical suit was developed from scratch. A team of specialists created it in Sydney over five months. This suit includes over 600 parts, each of which was individually designed and modeled on a computer.
• According to James Mangold, this film is a sequel to 'X-Men: The Last Stand' ('Jean Grey is gone, and most of the X-Men are disbanded, so there's a sense of Wolverine's isolation'), but with a lot more different memories.
• According to James Mangold, he initially wanted to shoot a prequel to 'X-Men' (2000), but later decided to make a sequel to 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006): 'I wanted to tell a story that didn't need to lead into an existing movie and be tailored to it. The idea of immortality is very important in this story, and it's a heavy burden for Logan. For me, this is a very interesting part of Logan's character that is almost impossible to reveal in a prequel.'
• All scenes of Famke Janssen's cameo role (the character of Jean Grey) were filmed in three days.
• The Silver Samurai in this film is a combination of Kenutio Harada (an experienced samurai with a tachyon blade) and Shin Harada (who possessed technologically advanced armor).
• Hugh Jackman confirmed that he discussed with director James Mangold screening tests of versions rated 'PG-13' and 'R', but declined to comment on filming different scenes for those versions. And although a 'PG-13' version was announced for release, James Mangold wrote on Twitter: “It’s ‘PG-13.’ But don’t worry, it’s not ‘Bambi.’”