Movie: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine, due for release on 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.

Cast
Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, the mutant and future X-Man. Jackman, who played Wolverine in the previous films, has also become producer of the film via his company Seed Productions, and earned $20 million for the film. Jackman underwent a high intensity weight training regimen to bulk up for his role. He changed the program to shock the body into change and also performed cardiovascular workouts. He woke up each morning at 4 am to eat one of the small number of protein-based meals he was allowed each day. He wanted to portray Wolverine exactly as he did in the character's cage match entrance in X-Men, stating his inspiration was Robert De Niro in Cape Fear. Jackman worked out in a Queenstown gym where he would arrive daily at 6 am. He stayed in character and made noises while exercising. Jackman noted no digital touches were applied to his physique in a shot of him rising from the tank within which Wolverine has his bones coated in adamantium.

Troye Sivan plays the young Logan. Casting directors cast Mellet after seeing him sing at the Channel Seven Perth Telethon, and he was accepted after sending in an audition tape. Kodi Smit-McPhee was originally cast in the role, when filming was originally beginning in December 2007, but he opted out to film The Road.

Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed / Sabretooth: Logan's half-brother and fellow soldier. Jackman and Hood compared Wolverine and Sabretooth's relationship to the Borg-McEnroe rivalry in the world of tennis: Sabretooth hates him because he loved and needed his half-brother, but is too proud to admit he needs him back. Tyler Mane, who played him in X-Men, had hoped to reprise the role. Jackman worked with Schreiber before, and described him as having a competitive streak necessary to portray Sabretooth. They "egged" each other on set to perform more and more stunts. Schreiber put on 40 lbs of muscle for the part, and described Sabretooth as the most monstrous role he ever played. As a child, he loved the Wolverine comics because of their unique "urban sensibility". Schreiber had studied to be a fight choreographer and wanted to be a dancer like Jackman, so he enjoyed working out their fight scenes.

Danny Huston as William Stryker: Schreiber was originally in negotiations for the part, while Brian Cox, who played the character in X2, wanted to reprise the role. He believed computer-generated imagery, similar to the program applied to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the opening flashback of X-Men: The Last Stand, would allow him to appear as the younger Stryker. Huston liked the complex Stryker, who "both loves and hates mutants because his son was a mutant and murdered his wife. So he understands what they're going through, but despises their [destructive] force." He compared the character to a racehorse breeder, who rears his mutant experiments like children but abandons them when something goes wrong.

Lynn Collins as Kayla Silver Fox: Wolverine's love interest, who becomes a captive of Stryker. Michelle Monaghan turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts, despite her enthusiasm to work with Jackman.

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool: A wisecracking and thoroughly insane mercenary who can heal like Wolverine. Reynolds had been interested in playing the character in his own film since 2003. Computer-generated imagery is being used to create his eventually scarred visage.


Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit: A Cajun thief who has the ability to charge any object he touches with kinetic energy, forcing it to explode. The size of the object determines the magnitude of the resulting explosion.
Daniel Henney as David North / Agent Zero: A member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills.

Will.i.am as John Wraith / Kestrel: A teleporting mutant who becomes a Weapon X test subject. It is will.i.am's film debut. Although he initially did not get on with the casting director, he got the role because he wanted to play a mutant with the same power as Nightcrawler. He enrolled in boot camp to get into shape for the part. When filming a fight, he scarred his knuckles after accidentally punching and breaking the camera.

Dominic Monaghan as Barnell Bohusk: A mutant who can manipulate energy and electricity."

Scott Adkins as Weapon XI: Weapon XI will feature in the end sequence fight scene against Wolverine. Adkins was also Reynolds' stunt double.
Kevin Durand as Frederick J. Dukes / The Blob: An obese mutant with an indestructible layer of fat.

The film includes numerous cameo appearances of younger versions of characters from the previous films, including Cyclops (Tim Pocock), a Weapon X captive;Jason Stryker, William's lobotomized telepathic son who he keeps on ice; and Storm appears as a toddler. New characters include Emma Frost and Banshee, who are Weapon X captives.

Asher Keddie and Tahyna Tozzi are in the film, but did not state who they played. Poker player Daniel Negreanu has a cameo. Phil Hellmuth wanted to join him but was unable because he committed to an event in Toronto.X-Men co-creator Stan Lee said he would cameo, but he was not in Australia during filming, so this will have to be a pick-up conducted during January 2009.