THE WOLVERINE (Production begins)

• THE WOLVERINE

Hugh Jackman, director James Mangold and Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday announced the start of production on the sequel to X Men Origins; Wolverine, after Jackman had shown Gillard around the art and make up departments and the sets currently under construction.

The $100 million-plus sequel will begin filming at Sydney’s Fox Studios next week.

“Hugh’s certainly spoken to me about the importance of this, for getting these big movies, these real blockbusters here in Australia. It is something that Minister Crean is working his way through as he deals with our cultural policy,” Prime Minister Gillard said of the possibility of an increased location offset.

Hugh Jackman

She said that The Wolverine will put $80 million back into the local economy and support around 2000 jobs during the films five month shoot.

Gillard said: “We decided it was a good investment. The NSW Government played its part and I think for our industry – Hugh said to me very consistently as we have walked around, these people with their very special skill sets, they’ve got to work and if we’re not able to provide them with something that holds them in Australia, then they have got to go where they have to go to get work.”

For his part Jackman, also a producer on the film, said he was thrilled to return home to make the film. “I am so happy to be home, to be shooting a movie of this magnitude here at home is one of the great privileges I have had in my career,”

The international cast already includes Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto.

"It speaks to the incredible craftsmanship [here] that we can make so much of Japan - feudal Japan, urban Japan, sets - all here on our soundstages in Australia," Mangold said.

And Jackman is keen to add to the Wolverine franchise.

"I have been working for 12 years on the Wolverine character and while the franchise will go well beyond me, it really has been the backbone of my career,” he said, adding that he will hand in his Wolverine claws “when I stop loving it.”

“This one has certainly been the most interesting and complex of the Superhero characters. I do take my career one (step) at a time and I feel like a golfer always looking for that hole in one.”

Here is to hoping that one oday Jackman will do the Old Man Logan series! Now that will truly be awesome!!

The Wolverine is slated for release by Fox on July 26, 2013.