A few Darren Aronofsky updates today. One is completely insane and the other is an interesting factoid. We will get the likely bullsh*t out of the way first as Deadline is reporting that Fox is looking to Aronofsky as a canditate for directing the X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel. They report that Aronofsky has been talking with his The Fountain star Hugh Jackman about the project. Although Aronosfky was interested in jumping into bigger budget territory with the now-dead Robocop reboot, I could never really see him taking this on. Instead, Deadline reports that the gig will likely go to David Slade, who most recently directed The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Aronofsky also spoke with MTV recently about his upcoming ballerina thriller Black Swan and how it had early roots with his last feature, The Wrestler. Check out his quotes below.

“I’ve always considered the two films companion pieces. They are really connected and people will see the connections. It’s funny, because wrestling some consider the lowest art — if they would even call it art — and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves.”

“At one point, way before I made ‘The Wrestler,’ I was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, and then it kind of split off into two movies,” he said. “So I guess my dream is that some art theater will play the films as a double feature some day.”

He also has high praise for his star Natalie Portman:

“One of the best things about the film is the casting of Natalie,” he explained. “She took the part and ran with it. I don’t know if when I was working with the writers we were consciously channeling Natalie or Natalie somehow transformed herself to the part, but they grew together.”

Black Swan opens the Venice Film Festival tomorrow. Wolverine 2 is expected to begin shooting this January in Japan.

Could you ever see Aronofsky directing Wolverine 2? Are you looking forward to Black Swan?

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The trailer for one of the most anticipated films of the year is finally here. Darren Aronofsky has made some of the best films of the previous decade with Requiem For a Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler. Kicking off this new decade with a supernatural ballerina thriller, Black Swan, he looks to continue his greatness. Read the full story

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Fox Searchlight has just announced that the psychological ballet thriller from Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream) will hit limited release on December 1st before expanding the following months. It will open next to Julian Schnabel‘s Miral. Check out the synopsis below. Read the full story

E-mail Jordan Raup here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest TFS updates!

The Toronto International Film Festival will be celebrating its 35th year this September and it has announced today the first batch of big premieres. Some highlights include Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan, Robert Redford‘s The Conspirator, John Madden‘s The Debt, Tom Hooper‘s The King’s Speech, and Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go. Check out the initial line-up below. Read the full story

E-mail Jordan Raup here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest TFS updates!

With recent news that the much anticipated new film by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan, will open the 67th Venice International Film Festival, fans are dying to catch an early glimpse of what this psychological ballet thriller might look like. Well fret not as the first batch of images from the film, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis (dream duo), have hit the internets and they are spectacular. Being both a die-hard Aronofsky and Portman fan, this is like a fantasy football pairing between two of my favorite working actors and directors. And coming off the success of The Wrestler (which won the Golden Lion in 2008), Aronofsky is poised to make a big comeback and re-claim the cinematic throne he once held.

The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance.

Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship. Source USA Today.

Check out the photos below:

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Acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky introduced his talent to the world largely through his feature debut Pi (1998), a film that starred Sean Gullette as the genius mathematician Maximillian Cohen (Gullette also worked on the story with Aronofsky). Though Aronofsky has gone on to great heights, Gullette, other than a sinister cameo in Aronofsky‘s astounding Requiem for a Dream, has fallen off of the map. Read the full story

If you check my Flickchart you will find three Darren Aronofsky films in the Top 30 (The Fountain, Requiem For A Dream, Pi). He is arguably, when I argue with myself, my favorite auteur. Likewise, Brad Pitt graces the higher bounds of my list on more than one occasion. Sadly, while the two nearly teamed up for The Fountain (which seemingly would have made it leaps-and-bounds better than any movie ever made), they never have actually made it on to the same project together.

This could change, and I am beside myself with anticipation over it. IESB is reporting that the two will be working together on The Tiger, an adaptation of a John Valliant nonfiction story about a man-eating tiger in Siberia who appears to have a method and a reason for his killings. Pitt would play the conservationist in charge of hunting down the serial killing feline and disposing of it. Guillermo Arriaga (Babel) will pen the script.

This appears, however, to indicate Aronofsky‘s remake of Robocop is on the back burner. I’m okay with that. After The Wrestler fell a little short of expectations, I’m hoping that his upcoming Black Swan and perhaps The Tiger will solidify him at the forefront of filmmaking.

What is your favorite Aronofsky flick? What do you think about this duo?

The Steven Spielberg-produced Jackie has found a director and lead, EW reports. Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain, Requiem For a Dream) will direct his fiancee Rachel Weisz as she plays Jackie “about the immediate days following President Kennedy’s assassination.” Noah Oppenheim, development head at Reveille, the TV production company, wrote the script. The film will take place over four days “between JFK’s assassination and his burial, showing the beloved Jackie at both her most vulnerable and her most graceful.” Read the full story

In this episode of the The Film Stage podcast Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca review Kevin Smith‘s Cop Out and Breck Eisner‘s The Crazies. We also talk about Zoolander 2, two cinematographers on Danny Boyle‘s 127 Hours and Darren Aronofsky‘s next project. You can stream the episode below or download it here. (right click + save as…) Read the full story

The Hollywood Reporter has informed us that both Darren Aronofsky and Angelina Jolie are in talks to adapt Ron Rash’s novel “Serena.” Set in 1929, the novel follows newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton as they travel through mountains in the northeast to create a timber empire. George has been fathering an illegitimate child for quite some time at this point, and when Serena learns that she cannot bear a child herself, she hatches a plan to murder the boy that George has fathered without her. Read the full story