THE WOLVERINE

• KATE & LEOPOLD & THE WOLVERINE?????

              James Mangold                 Hugh Jackman The Wolverine

It looks like the new director for The Wolverine has been found. Deadline is reporting that both 20th Century Fox and Hugh Jackman have decided they want James Mangold to direct the film and that negotiations are about to get underway to secure Mangold's deal.

Deadline says production on the Japan-set The Wolverine, which was delayed after Darren Aronofsky departed the project, will finally begin, come September. Mangold apparently beat out the final short list for the Wolverine gig, which included Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) and Antoine Fuqua (Training Day).

Mangold's rather eclectic career includes Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma and Knight and Day. Amusingly, this will be his second film with Hugh Jackman, after the less than fanboy friendly Kate & Leopold, which also starred Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine costar Liev Schreiber.

Schreiber is not expected to return for the Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) penned The Wolverine.  This will be a completely different Wolverine film, with Logan being the star player, and no other X-men to be seen. This will finally be the characters stand alone movie, and its based on Frank Millers 1980’s comic of the character, where he goes to Japan and has some awesome adventures.