X-Men Origins: Wolverine4 comments

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine that will be released in most countries by May 1, 2009. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy, focusing on the mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine’s skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.

Preliminary shooting took place at Fox Studios Australia (in Sydney) during late 2007. Principal photography began on January 18, 2008[50] in New Zealand. Locations included Dunedin.[51] Controversy arose as the Queenstown Lakes District Council disputed the Department of Labour’s decision to allow Fox to store explosives in the local ice skating rink. Fox moved some of the explosives to another area. The explosives were used for a shot of the exploding Hudson Farm, a scene which required four cameras. Jackman and Palermo’s Woz Productions reached an agreement with the council to allow recycling specialists on set to advise the production on being environmentally friendly.

Filming continued at Fox (where most of the shooting was done) and New Orleans, Louisiana. Cockatoo Island was used for Stryker’s facility; the enormous buildings there saved money on digitally expanding a set. Production of the film was predicted to generate $60 million in Sydney’s economy.[55] Principal photography ended by May 23. The second unit continued filming in New Zealand until March 23, and were scheduled to continue filming for two weeks following the first unit’s wrap. This included a flashback to Logan during the Normandy Landings, which was shot at Blacksmiths, New South Wales.

Hood and Fox disputed on the film’s direction. The studio had two replacements lined up before Richard Donner, husband of producer Lauren Shuler Donner, flew to Australia to ease on-set tensions. Hood remarked, “Out of healthy and sometimes very rigorous debate, things get better. I hope the film’s better because of the debates. If nobody were talking about us, we’d be in trouble!” Hood added he and Thomas Rothman were both “forceful” personalities in creative meetings but they had never had a “stand-up” argument. Two weeks of pick-ups began on January 12, 2009, in Vancouver. These included finishing scenes with Ryan Reynolds, who had been working on two other films during principal photography. Shots were filmed at the University of British Columbia.

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