HN Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
  • Videos
    The Mandalorian: Season 1 Storyline Recap

    The Mandalorian: Season 1 Storyline Recap

    Lovecraft Country: The Kumiho Spirit EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: The Kumiho Spirit EXPLAINED

    The Mandalorian: The New Republic Era EXPLAINED

    The Mandalorian: The New Republic Era EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: Shoggoth Monsters EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: Shoggoth Monsters EXPLAINED

  • Features
    • All
    • Editorials
    • Interviews
    • Lists
    • Retrospectives
    Revisiting The Venom Flick

    Revisiting The Venom Flick

    Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

    Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

    How Marvel Studios is Building The Ultimates Instead of New Avengers

    How Marvel Studios is Building The Ultimates Instead of New Avengers

    How Marvel Studios is Building a NOVA Movie

    How Marvel Studios is Building a NOVA Movie

    Top Star Wars Ideas For Disney+ After ‘The Clone Wars’

    Top Star Wars Ideas For Disney+ After ‘The Clone Wars’

    Five Marvel Characters That Deserve A Disney+ Series

    Five Marvel Characters That Deserve A Disney+ Series

    How Secret Invasion May Happen in the MCU

    How Secret Invasion May Happen in the MCU

    Santa Muerte – Everything You Need To Know | Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels

    Santa Muerte – Everything You Need To Know | Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels

    How Ironheart Can Be Introduced To The MCU

    How Ironheart Can Be Introduced To The MCU

    How the MCU Can Introduce Sentry

    How the MCU Can Introduce Sentry

  • Reviews
    • All
    • Movie Reviews
    • TV Reviews
    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Genre

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Genre

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Mother of Exiles

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Mother of Exiles

    ‘The Invisible Man’ Review – Universal Monsters Done Justice

    ‘The Invisible Man’ Review – Universal Monsters Done Justice

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 3 Review – The Absence of Field

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 3 Review – The Absence of Field

    ‘The Gentlemen’ Review – Guy Ritchie’s Return To The British Crime Genre After A 12-Year Hiatus Is A Little Rusty

    ‘The Gentlemen’ Review – Guy Ritchie’s Return To The British Crime Genre After A 12-Year Hiatus Is A Little Rusty

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 2 Review – The Winter Line

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 2 Review – The Winter Line

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 1 Review – Parce Domine

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 1 Review – Parce Domine

    Onward Review – Pixar Hits Another Home Run With Their Latest Magical Adventure

    Onward Review – Pixar Hits Another Home Run With Their Latest Magical Adventure

  • More
    • About HNE
    • Advertise With Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Policy
    • Terms of Use
  • Register
  • Log In
NEWSLETTERS
PODCASTS
  • Videos
    The Mandalorian: Season 1 Storyline Recap

    The Mandalorian: Season 1 Storyline Recap

    Lovecraft Country: The Kumiho Spirit EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: The Kumiho Spirit EXPLAINED

    The Mandalorian: The New Republic Era EXPLAINED

    The Mandalorian: The New Republic Era EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: Shoggoth Monsters EXPLAINED

    Lovecraft Country: Shoggoth Monsters EXPLAINED

  • Features
    • All
    • Editorials
    • Interviews
    • Lists
    • Retrospectives
    Revisiting The Venom Flick

    Revisiting The Venom Flick

    Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

    Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

    How Marvel Studios is Building The Ultimates Instead of New Avengers

    How Marvel Studios is Building The Ultimates Instead of New Avengers

    How Marvel Studios is Building a NOVA Movie

    How Marvel Studios is Building a NOVA Movie

    Top Star Wars Ideas For Disney+ After ‘The Clone Wars’

    Top Star Wars Ideas For Disney+ After ‘The Clone Wars’

    Five Marvel Characters That Deserve A Disney+ Series

    Five Marvel Characters That Deserve A Disney+ Series

    How Secret Invasion May Happen in the MCU

    How Secret Invasion May Happen in the MCU

    Santa Muerte – Everything You Need To Know | Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels

    Santa Muerte – Everything You Need To Know | Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels

    How Ironheart Can Be Introduced To The MCU

    How Ironheart Can Be Introduced To The MCU

    How the MCU Can Introduce Sentry

    How the MCU Can Introduce Sentry

  • Reviews
    • All
    • Movie Reviews
    • TV Reviews
    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Genre

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Genre

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Mother of Exiles

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review & Recap – Mother of Exiles

    ‘The Invisible Man’ Review – Universal Monsters Done Justice

    ‘The Invisible Man’ Review – Universal Monsters Done Justice

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 3 Review – The Absence of Field

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 3 Review – The Absence of Field

    ‘The Gentlemen’ Review – Guy Ritchie’s Return To The British Crime Genre After A 12-Year Hiatus Is A Little Rusty

    ‘The Gentlemen’ Review – Guy Ritchie’s Return To The British Crime Genre After A 12-Year Hiatus Is A Little Rusty

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 2 Review – The Winter Line

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 2 Review – The Winter Line

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 1 Review – Parce Domine

    ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 1 Review – Parce Domine

    Onward Review – Pixar Hits Another Home Run With Their Latest Magical Adventure

    Onward Review – Pixar Hits Another Home Run With Their Latest Magical Adventure

  • More
    • About HNE
    • Advertise With Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Policy
    • Terms of Use
  • Register
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
HN Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
Home Features Retrospectives

The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘X-Men’ (2000)

We take a look at the development of the original X-Men film and who almost took the Wolverine role.

Christopher Marc by Christopher Marc
May 2, 2020
Reading Time: 5min read
0
0
The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘X-Men’ (2000)

RELATED POSTS

Revisiting The Venom Flick

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘The Wolverine’ (2013)

Buy JNews
ADVERTISEMENT

We’ve seen Hugh Jackman play the role of Wolverine in nine feature films, six main X-Men movies (including two cameos), and three of his solo films. We decided to breakdown Wolverine’s history on the big screen starting with the failed film in the early 1990s and the first installment directed by Bryan Singer. 

WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN (1991)

Carolco, the studio behind stuff like Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Total Recall, Rambo 1-3, Universal Soldier, and Basic Instinct once tried to put together a live-action feature film based on the X-Men with James Cameron producing, Kathryn Bigelow directing (Point Break, Near Dark), and Gary Goldman (Navy Seals, Big Trouble In Little China, Total Recall) writing the script. 

The film was titled Wolverine & The X-Men.

X-Men writer Chris Claremont said he wanted to see Bob Hoskins (The Long Good Friday, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) as Wolverine and Angela Bassett (Boyz n The Hood, Bigelow’s Strange Days) as Storm which would make perfect sense for that era. 

CLAREMONT: “At the same time, when I was looking at the pairing of Ororo [X-Men’s Storm] and Logan, to me it seemed perfectly rational to have Angela Bassett and Bob Hoskins, because the image I had of Hoskins was from the films he made in England where they emphasized, in terms of his character, the harshness, the Cockney, the brutality of him. There was a film he did called Lassiter with Tom Selleck, and if you look at the two of them together, Tom Selleck is this 6-foot-plus powerful, handsome, glorious leading man and Hoskins is this little cop.”

 

I’m old enough to remember when Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson had been rumored for the part of Wolverine at some point in the early 1990s. This wouldn’t be surprising given that Jack had earned a lot of praise from critics/audiences for his role as The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman from 1989 and likely due to that positive experience was open to the idea of another comic book role. 

He also ended up playing a feral character in the film Wolf in 1994 co-starring with Michelle Pfiecher and James Spader, both would eventually land their own Marvel Comics roles with Janet van Dyne/Wasp and Ultron. His character in Wolf when transformed happened to use Wolverine’s signature facial hair. 

This potential X-Men role was seemingly given a nod in the opening scene of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed when Frank Costello (Nicholson) gives the young version of Matt Damon’s character Colin Sullivan some comics that included a solo Wolverine comic.

James Cameron’s participation is interesting given that his 1984 film The Terminator, directly lifted themes and visuals (Wolverine’s metal skeleton used for T-800) from the X-Men comic run Days of Future Past which had been published in 1981. 

In 1993, Gary Goldman moved on to developing a sequel to Total Recall adapting Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report with the intention that Arnold Schwarzenegger would return along with director Paul Verhoeven as the Precogs would be mutants in this version (mutants in Total Recall being a contribution of former director David Cronenberg). It eventually was reworked as an original property for Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise as the Total Recall elements were stripped away. 

The project ultimately didn’t come together with James Cameron pivoting his attention to a Spider-Man film for Carolco Pictures instead that Jim would write and direct after completing his 1994 spy flick True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis.

X-MEN (2000) 

Moving on to the Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer era of the franchise starting with the first installment that debuted in theaters on July 12th, 2000. 

Andrew Kevin Walker (8mm, Event Horizon) was one of the first screenwriters to take a crack at the 20th Century Fox incarnation, a consistent collaborator of director David Fincher the pair worked together on Seven, The Game, Fight Club, and Panic Room. Andrew’s version included the Sentinels something that we wouldn’t get on the big screen until X-Men: Days of Future Past despite intentions to include them in original versions of X-Men: The Last Stand. The versions Bryan Singer in Days of Future past ultimately used looked nothing like their comic book counterparts. 

There were rewrites from Laeta (Avatar, Ghost In The Shell, Shutter Island, ), John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall, The Last Samurai, Spectre, Alien: Covenant), Josh Whedon (Toy Story, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Alien: Resurrection, The Avengers), and ‎James Schamus (The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hulk). 

Christopher McQuarrie also did some uncredited work on the script, who had previously worked with Bryan Singer on The Usual Suspects. David Hayter ultimately got the screenwriting credit on the film. Hayter would also work on the sequel X-2: X-Men United. 

Some of the early directors offered the film included Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner (directed X-Men: The Last Stand), Desperado’s Robert Rodriguez (also offered Deadpool). Bryan Singer coming off the success of Oscar-winner The Usual Suspects was given the job. 

While I don’t think most people can picture anyone else in the Wolverine role besides Hugh Jackman there was a point in the casting phase that Scottish actor Dougray Scott was originally cast in the role but due scheduling conflicts with John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II he eventually had to turn down the project and the studio had to quickly find a replacement. 

Hugh Jackman recalls that Russell Crowe turned it down as well allowing him a shot at the role. The pair would eventually work together on Tom Hooper’s version of Les Miserables. 

Crowe telling Howard Stern that Hugh was perfect for the role and really didn’t think he would have done as good as Jackman did. 

CROWE: “There’s no way I would have ever done that. Even if I’d done the film, I wouldn’t have carried it through with the grace and the direction that Hugh gave it.”

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator released the same year as X-Men and earned Russell an Oscar for Best Actor. I think he managed to get over it. 

The film would go on to earn $296.3 million on a budget of $75 million and helped launch Hugh’s Hollywood career. Not to mention being one of the key factors as to why superhero films have become such a dominant force at the box office. 

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man would help push the genre even further.

0 0 vote
Article Rating
Tags: 20th Century FoxBob HoskinsBryan SingerCarolcoChristopher McQuarrieDavid HayterGladiatorHugh JackmanJack NicholsonJames CameronKathryn BigelowMinority ReporterMission: Impossible IIPoint BreakRetrospectivesRussell CroweSpider-ManThe DepartedTotal RecallTotal Recall 2True LiesWolfWolverineWolverine and The X-MenX-Men
ShareTweetShare
Christopher Marc

Christopher Marc

Hailing from Canada, Christopher Marc has been a writer and blogger in the film/fan community for ten years writing for various outlets and personal websites. Including co-founding film news outlet Omega Underground (now incorporated into Geeks World Wide) and writing bylines for IGN. Christopher has a knack for covering film/television production news. He also has a deep passion for film franchises such as Alien and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Related Posts

Revisiting The Venom Flick
Retrospectives

Revisiting The Venom Flick

July 2, 2020
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy
Features

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Revisiting The First Trilogy

May 28, 2020
The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘The Wolverine’ (2013)
Retrospectives

The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘The Wolverine’ (2013)

May 2, 2020
The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (2009)
Retrospectives

The History of Wolverine on The Big Screen: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (2009)

May 2, 2020
The Shifting Sands of ‘Dune’: A Franchise Retrospective
Retrospectives

The Shifting Sands of ‘Dune’: A Franchise Retrospective

May 18, 2020
An Extensive Look at The ‘Halo’ Movie That Never Happened 
Features

An Extensive Look at The ‘Halo’ Movie That Never Happened 

May 18, 2020

Recommended Stories

Adam Driver And Bill Murray Take On Zombies In The First Trailer For ‘The Dead Don’t Die’

Adam Driver And Bill Murray Take On Zombies In The First Trailer For ‘The Dead Don’t Die’

April 1, 2019
Original ‘Red Sonja’ Actress Brigitte Nielsen Suggests ‘Bird Box’s Susanne Bier or ‘Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins Should Direct The Reboot

Original ‘Red Sonja’ Actress Brigitte Nielsen Suggests ‘Bird Box’s Susanne Bier or ‘Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins Should Direct The Reboot

March 15, 2019
Why ‘Man of Steel 2’ May Still Happen With Henry Cavill & J.J. Abrams

Why ‘Man of Steel 2’ May Still Happen With Henry Cavill & J.J. Abrams

November 25, 2019

Popular Stories

  • EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ To Begin Production Spring 2020, Additional Details Revealed

    EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ To Begin Production Spring 2020, Additional Details Revealed

    384 shares
    Share 384 Tweet 0
  • Captain Marvel vs Thor With Stormbreaker In The MCU – Who Would Win?

    15 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The New ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Has Begun Production

    1370 shares
    Share 1370 Tweet 0
  • Taika Waititi’s ‘Akira’ Movie Officially Casting A Young Asian Cast To Play Kaneda’s Gang and The Espers – Character Breakdowns Leak

    35 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Channing Tatum Spotted On The Set of Ryan Reynolds’ Action Flick ‘Free Guy’ As He Takes An Undisclosed Role

    4 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
HN Entertainment

© 2020 Hybrid Network LLC

Navigate Site

  • Register
  • Log In
  • About HNE
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Videos
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
    • About HNE
    • Advertise With Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Policy
    • Terms of Use

© 2020 Hybrid Network LLC

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

wpDiscuz
0
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
| Reply
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?