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Hugh Jackman Praises Wolverine Screenwriter David Benioff

by Alex Billington
August 7, 2007
Source: The Big Picture

Although the San Diego Comic-Con wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, it doesn't mean that comic book movies will always still be at the forefront of the most exciting news. In June, news hit that the upcoming X-Men spinoff of Wolverine had picked up Oscar winning director Gavin Hood - probably the best news anyone could ever hear. Following that up this week via an interview at Wizard Universe, star Hugh Jackman praised the film's writer, David Benioff, saying that "he's the most passionate Wolverine fan."

This discovery in the interview came initially from The Big Picture, one of the better movie-related podcast websites out there. Jackman praised Benioff's involvement and dedication quite a bit, practically saying he is the perfect choice for a writer on Wolverine.

"He's probably the hottest writer going around town. He was beating down our door to write this movie because he's the most passionate Wolverine fan. He's followed all of the books since he was 9 years old. For us, it's one of those rare combinations where you have a writer who has all these Oscar-winning directors wanting to work with him and he's like, 'I want to do Wolverine!'"

Benioff followed up as well, admitting that he's "been reading Wolverine comics for 23 years." Although he won't go into the details of the story in Wolverine, he did mention a few of his favorites: "I went back and reread the Chris Claremont and Frank Miller miniseries, and the Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X."

This is probably the best news we could hear on top of Gavin Hood being the director. Is this going to become strong competition for best comic book movie ever made over Batman Begins?

The listing on IMDb states that Wolverine is slated for a 2009 release, but production is gearing up this winter, so it may even be pushed into a late-2008 release if they're confident enough. We'll be following this one the full way through, so as always make sure to keep coming back for the latest news.

Filed under Hype, Movie News

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