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?