When it comes to big, lucrative properties, studios tend to be worried to the point of over-fussing every detail of the process. It’s why the blockbuster game isn’t for every director, because if you have a distinct vision, you’ll need to know which battles to fight and where to compromise to keep everyone happy. Lately, however, 20th Century Fox has been taking some creative chances. The R-rated “Deadpool” brought sass and snark to the superhero story with huge success, and it certainly made Fox more comfortable about taking a risk on “Logan,” which trades in Wolverine’s standard quips for adult oriented, wearied brooding. But that doesn’t mean that everyone on the Fox lot were keen on the idea.
“Inside, there was real consternation about the intensity of the tone of the film,” Fox chairman Stacey Snider said during a Q&A at the Recode Media conference (via Variety). “It’s more of an elegy about life and death. The paradigm for it was a Western, and my colleagues were up in arms. It’s not a wise-cracking cigar-chomping mutton-sporting Wolverine, and the debate internally became, isn’t that freakin’ boring? Isn’t it exciting to imagine Wolverine as a real guy and he’s world-weary and he doesn’t want to fight anymore until a little girl needs him?”
The reason execs are often hesitant to try something new is because if it fails, their job could be on the line. That’s why reboots and remakes and sequels are preferable to original properties, or why some at Fox just wanted the Wolverine we’ve already seen in numerous movies, rather than this version.
Will it pay off? We’ll soon find out. The first wave of “Logan” reviews arrive this week, but Fox were confident enough to bring the picture to the Berlin Film Festival. “Logan” opens on March 3rd — check out a new promo clip and IMAX poster for the film below.
…laura.mov pic.twitter.com/ZbcNiN8Jzl
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 15, 2017
