Hugh Jackman’s reported appearance in this year’s ‘X-Men Apocalypse’ will be the eighth time he’s stepped up to portray everybody’s favourite ‘Crazy Canucklehead’ onscreen, over a sixteen year period. Which isn’t bad going when you consider he only got the role because 1st choice Dougray Scott dropped out at the last minute…
But it won’t be his last outing in the role, as the final film in the divisive ‘Wolverine Trilogy’ is planned for release in March 2017. The as yet untitled Wolverine 3 will be helmed by returning Director James Mangold, and franchise producer Simon Kinberg has been dropping some hints about the movie as part of the recent publicity tour for the upcoming ‘Apocalypse’. So what do we know so far?
Well, not a fat lot, to be truthful. Considering we’re less than a year from the planned release date, very little has been formally released. We know that in addition to Jackman and some kind of appearance from Sir Patrick Stewart, a number of other actors have been cast. The main villain will be played by Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl, Run All Night), with rumors suggesting fans may finally be seeing Wolverine Baddie ‘Omega Red’ putting in a live-action appearance. In some slightly oddball casting for the franchise, Brit actors Stephen Merchant (Hot Fuzz), and Richard E.Grant (Withnail and I) have signed on for the project, with Grant believed to be playing some form of mad scientist. Finally, Eriq La Salle (E.R.) has also been cast in a mystery role.
In relation to other X-Men characters we might be seeing, Liev Schrieber has recently dropped a number of hints that he may be reprising his role of Sabretooth, which would be a nice touch, given Jackman’s departure. In addition to this, some casting notes that were recently leaked online in relation to the movie would also suggest that producers are looking for an appropriate actress to play X-23, Wolverine’s female clone, who may well be being prepped to inherit the role for the long-term once Jackman retires.
Kinberg confirmed in conversations this week that filming on the project had already started, and stated that this film would be unlike the previous incarnations, and was more of a ‘violent western’. This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it suggests that with the recent success of ‘Deadpool’, the studio will finally be confident enough to create an R-rated outing for the character. Secondly, one of the strongest rumours about the project so far is that it will be based on the ‘Old Man Logan’ storyline, which is set in an apocalyptic future desert, where Logan’s healing factor has finally failed, leaving him an aged and grumpy old loner, in a society where supervillains finally prevailed over the heroes.
It all sounds rather exciting, and hopefully as soon as the X-Men have managed to put Apocalypse back in his place, we’ll be seeing the publicity campaign for ‘Wolverine 3’ kicking into gear, and throwing out some artwork and set photos.
As ever, as we hear it, so will you…