X-producer Lauren Schuler Donner talks The Wolverine, Deadpool and X-sequels

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Producer Lauren Schuler Donner has been around Marvel’s mutants since they first hit the big screen over a decade ago, and while out endorsing Fox’s impending Blu-Ray release of X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, she gave updates on the various sequels and spinoffs in the pipe.

As we recently learned, adamantium-laced anti-hero THE WOLVERINE is taking a bit longer to claw his way back to the screen. “Maybe summer 2012 we’ll start shooting,” Donner admits to Hitfix. “It’s based on Hugh’s schedule, frankly. When he’s available, we’ll film. …He’s doing ‘Les Miserables’, and then he has to come and train for us. So it’s all dependent on him.”

THE WOLVERINE lost director Darren Aronofsky but gained James Mangold (3:10 TO YUMA, COP LAND), and had a script by THE USUAL SUSPECTS writer Christopher McQuarrie that, of course, is now getting a rewrite. The story is reportedly set almost entirely in Japan and follows the popular 80s comic story pitting Logan against a ninja clan.

Meanwhile, Donner is optimistic about a sequel to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, which did ultimately rope in $350 million worldwide. “I hope so. We’re talking about it, you know, we’re seriously talking about it. We definitely want Matthew [Vaughn] to come back. Absolutely!“

And what about repairing the damage done to wise-assassin DEADPOOL in the first Wolverine movie? Well, Ryan Reynolds will still wear the red (“I can’t imagine…who else could play Wade Wilson?” Donner asked rhetorically) and the character will be redeemed. “We’re working on getting it ready, and presenting some things to the studio, cause we’re gonna give it a little bit of a different look,” she said. “It’s a different kind of movie. If you know ‘Deadpool’…it’s true to ‘Deadpool’. So you know, it’ll be violent, and outrageous, and funny, and all that.”

Last we heard, FX artist Tim Miller would direct the eventual solo movie.