This title will be released on September 15, 2009.
You got to add this one to your superhero collection!
The film is the fourth installment of the X-Men film series, and serves as a prequel to the previous installments, being primarily set roughly ten to seventeen years before the film X-Men. The film focuses on the violent past of the mutant Wolverine and his relationship with his half-brother Victor Creed. The plot also details Wolverine's early encounters with Colonel William Stryker, his time with Team X, and the bonding of Wolverine's skeleton with the indestructible metal adamantium during the Weapon X program.
The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand, with Canada also serving as a location.
* Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: The mutant and future X-Men member. Jackman, who played Wolverine in the previous films, has also become producer of the film via his company Seed Productions, and earned $25 million for the film. Jackman underwent a high intensity weight training regimen to improve his physique for the role. He altered the program to shock his body into change and also performed cardiovascular workouts. 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 infused with adamantium.
Troye Sivan as James Howlett: Casting directors cast Sivan as the young Wolverine 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: 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: Victor hates him because he loved and needed his 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, in the 2001 romantic comedy Kate & Leopold 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 lb (18 kg) 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.
o Michael James Olsen as Young Victor Creed
* 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 drove his wife to suicide. 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 Silverfox: Wolverine's love interest and later captive of Stryker. She has the powers of tactile telepathy/hypnosis. Michelle Monaghan turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts, despite her enthusiasm to work with Jackman. In the film, Silverfox is the sister of Emma Frost.
* 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. He is also skilled in the use of a staff, happens to be very agile, and durable enough to take Wolverine's elbow to his face and return to fight moments later. When asked about his thoughts on the character, Kitsch had said, "I knew of him, but I didn't know the following he had. I'm sure I'm still going to be exposed to that. I love the character, I love the powers, and I love what they did with him. I didn't know that much, but in my experience, it was a blessing to go in and create my take on him. I'm excited for it, to say the least."
* will.i.am as John Wraith: A teleporting mutant. It is will.i.am's major live-action 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.
* Kevin Durand as Fred J. Dukes / Blob: A mutant with an indestructible layer of skin and the ability to create his own gravitational field. In the film's early sequences, he is a formidable fighting man, but years later, due to a poor diet, has gained an enormous amount of weight that gives him an invulnerability. A fan of the X-Men movies, Durand contacted the producers for a role as soon as news of a new film came out. The suit went through six months of modifications, and had a tubing system inside to cool Durand down with ice water.
* Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson: A wisecracking mercenary with lethal swordsmanship skill and athleticism, who later becomes Deadpool. Reynolds had been interested in playing the character in his own film since 2003. Originally, Reynolds was only going to cameo as Wilson but the role grew after he was cast. Reynolds did sword-training for the character, and also worked out to get his physique comparable to Jackman's.
o Scott Adkins as Weapon XI / Deadpool: Weapon XI is the final antagonist of the film, having been genetically altered to be the ultimate mutant killer. He has powers taken from other mutants killed or kidnapped in the film, as well as retractable blades in his arms. In the comics, Weapon XI and Deadpool are two entirely different characters, but they decided to incorporate this new take into the film. Ryan Reynolds portrays Weapon XI for close-ups, standing shots, and simple stunts while Scott Adkins is used for the more complicated and dangerous stunt work.
* Daniel Henney as Agent Zero: A member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills. An X-Men fan, Henney liked the role of a villain because "there are no restrictions playing it, allowing you freely to express it, so you can act how you want to". He described the film as more realistic and cruder than the X-Men trilogy.
* Dominic Monaghan as Chris Bradley: A mutant who can manipulate electricity and a technopath. It was originally reported that Monaghan was going to play Barnell Bohusk / Beak.
* Tim Pocock as Scott Summers: A younger version of Scott Summers, who will later become Cyclops and leader of the X-Men. He is shown as a Weapon X captive as he is caught by Victor Creed. He is freed by Wolverine and leads the Weapon X captives to safety, telepathically guided by Professor Xavier. He has the power to emit powerful beams of energy from his eyes. Pocock is a debuting screen actor who previously had over one hundred performances with Opera Australia, decided to play the character as "his own" instead of following James Marsden's performance in the X-Men trilogy, feeling that "he's a very different human being at that point in time. He's a teenager. What teenager is the same when they're 30 years old?". Pocock also described Wolverine as being Cyclops' "big transition moment", with the character going from a troubled teenager to a leader throughout the course of the film.
* Tahyna Tozzi as Emma Frost: A mutant with the power to turn her skin into diamond. X2 writer Dan Harris said that Sigourney Weaver would have played Emma Frost in X-Men: The Last Stand if Bryan Singer had stayed on to direct. The film depiction of Emma does not exhibit the character's traditional telepathic abilities. Film credits list the character as "Kayla's sister/Emma" as opposed to "Emma Frost"; however, trailers and television ads identify her by full name as "Emma Frost".
* Peter O'Brien as John Howlett: James' alleged father, shot by Thomas Logan in the film's opening.
* Alice Parkinson as Elizabeth Howlett: James' mother.
* Aaron Jeffery as Thomas Logan: Victor and James' real father, who ends up getting killed by James.
* Max Cullen and Julia Blake as Travis Hudson and Heather Hudson: An elderly couple who take care of Wolverine after his adamantium bonding. The Hudsons are heavily adapted from the comics' James MacDonald and Heather Hudson.
The film includes numerous cameo appearances of younger versions of characters from the previous films, including Jason Stryker (William Stryker's lobotomized telepathic son whom he keeps in cryogenic suspension). There was a cameo for a young Storm, which can be seen in the trailer, but was cut out of the film as released. A digitally rejuvenated Patrick Stewart also makes an uncredited cameo as a younger Charles Xavier.
Asher Keddie played Dr. Carol Frost. 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 ended up not appearing in the film. __________________
I really hope there is a commentary I always enjoy those don't you? __________________
Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by,For you may be the next to die.
Posted: 10 Sep 2009 18:44
Administrator Currently Offline
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Join Date: May 2005
One of those things I like, but never take the time to watch the whole movie again with it on. I think I like watching a regular extra feature commentary better than one over the top of the movie. __________________
