The Wolverine Filming Pushed Back Again

Looks like it’ll be starting in spring 2012 now

Fox desperately wants a Wolverine sequel, there’s little doubt about that. But it looks like filming has been pushed back yet again, according to Deadline.

Although Fox has made official statement about the start of filming, various internet pundits were claiming that the film would start shooting in autumn 2011. Certainly as recently as last week, The Vancouver Sun was reporting, “Hugh Jackman and the cast of Wolverine 2 (sic) will be heading to Vancouver in November to round up a star-studded year of Hollywood blockbusters filmed here. Filming of the action flick is set to take place 11 Nov 2011 to 1 March 1 2012 at Canadian Motion Picture Park in Burnaby, where scenes from Twilight, Supernatural and Fantastic Four were filmed.”

Now, apparently, the more likely start date will be spring 2012. The reasons appear to be two-fold.

First, the current script takes place primarily in Japan, but “studio insiders” tell Deadline that “it’s hard finding just where to shoot in Japan these days because of weather-related considerations”. We assume “weather related conditions” is a euphemism; Japan has been going through a very rough time recently with nuclear disasters, tsunami and earthquakes.

So while the Vancouver Sun story had people thinking it was just the studio work that was being filmed in Canada, with Japanese locations, now, says Deadline, the rumours are that “the location might switch to Canada or become a combination of the two countries”. It’s unclear if they mean that the script will be rewritten to set it in Canada (which would seem bonkers – it would change the whole essence of the movie, which is about Wolverine falling for the daughter of a Japanese crime lord) or simply that Canadian locations would double up as Japan (hell, it doubles up for everywhere else).

But Deadline also says, “the start date will wait until after Jackman finishes making Les Miserables.”

The film is currently set to be directed by James Mangold (Walk The Line) after Darren Aronofsky left the project for personal reasons.