Evil Genius

Ayanami wrote:Ahhh, I see, my bad.

Yeah, Collosus is supposed to be Russian.

WOLVERINE SCREENWRITER KEEPS IT REAL

Newsarama’s friends at Comics Buyer’s Guide scores an exclusive interview with Wolverine screenwriter David Benioff in their latest issue (#1605, June 2005). The Troy scribe cops to a life-long obsession with the character, citing 1982’s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller limited series as his favorite Wolverine storyline and the moment Logan’s adamantium skeleton gets sheared of all flesh by a Sentinel blast in “Days of Future Past (Uncanny X-Men #141-142) as a traumatic moment for his as a kid.

While understandably tight-lipped on details regarding this screenplay (an assignment he calls “living a childhood dream” and aggressively pursued going back as far as 3 years ago), Benioff did tell CBG he’s writing Wolverine with Hugh Jackman very much in mind.

“Other than the height, I think Jackman was inspired casting,” he tells CBG. “Though, when he was first picked for the role, I thought, “Huh?’ at the time, probably along with most Wolverine fans. Now I can’t really imagine Wolverine being played by anyone else: Jackman’s performance obviates consideration of anyone else for the part.”

That said, Benioff did say he wants to “rough” Wolverine/Jackman up a bit, giving him an opportunity to show sides the first two movies didn’t afford the character aside from the Mansion invasion scene in X2. Promising his story will be a “bit darker and a bit more brutal”, Benioff says he’s writing an ‘R’ script and that Marvel Studios and director will have to decide where to go from there.

Finally, Benioff tells CBG that his script and vision stays away from the more “fantastical” elements associated with the X-Men franchise.

“I’m going to stay away from the ‘Four Riders’ kind of stories and the science fiction stories where he was battling aliens or demons”, says the writer. “I’m sticking with something more realistic. Of course it is kind of hard to talk realism when you’re speaking about a guy who has adamantium claws popping out of this hands. But my concept of him for this movie is the one I grew up with: He’s a gritty character, a tough, working-class Canadian guy who was born with certain special powers and granted more through a series of brutal experiments – for more that’s my Wolverine reality. I’m not going too far from that.”

The full 3-page interview which details Benioff’s thoughts on the character in much greater detail can be read in its entirety in the new issue of CBG, on sale now at comic book shops and newsstands and arriving in subscriber’s mailboxes right now.