Darren Aronofsky No Longer Directing The Wolverine

In a surprise announcement today Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan) has dropped out as director of The Wolverine. The film, a follow-up to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has been ramping up in pre-production though the recent tragedies in Japan may have had an effect on plans. The story finds Wolverine traveling to Japan to train with a samurai warrior and filming was slated to take place in the country. The official reasoning for Aronofsky’s departure is that he did not want to be out of the US for such a long period of time.

As I talked more about the film with my collaborators at Fox, it became clear that the production of The Wolverine would keep me out of the country for almost a year. I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again.

This is a big loss for The Wolverine, getting Aronofsky was considered to be something of a coup. It seems like a possibility that Fox was putting pressure on him to change his vision for the film, which would probably be a significant departure in tone from previous X-Men entries. It’ll be interesting to see who they now turn to in order to take over sequel. This would seem to be a pretty appealing project for many directors out there.