'Black Swan' director moves to 'Wolverine 2'

By Sarah Sluis

Director Darren Aronofsky has a thing for characters who physically self-destruct. The drug addicts in Requiem for a Dream, the aging competitive fighter in The Wrestler, the self-mutilating perfectionist ballerina in Black Swan. So where does a comic book action hero fit in that picture?

The director is in negotiations to helm his first big franchise film, the sequel to Wolverine. This is a property that's been around the block a few times, and word is Aronofsky actually was more interested in Spider-Man until Zack Snyder was selected for the re-boot. Sure, Wolverine was a blockbuster that earned over $300 million worldwide, enough to greenlight a sequel, but its buzz was nowhere near that of a Spider-Man or Dark Knight. Will Aronofsky be able to turn the franchise around, or will this just be a paycheck project before he jumps back into the indie world again?

Thinking more about Wolverine as a hero, however, Aronofsky could bring a dark sensibility to the franchise. As a refresher, the Wolverine character is a human who is given a metallic skeleton and Edward Scissorhands-like talons. Is that so different than the ballerina in Black Swan sprouting black feathers, or Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler prepping his body to bleed so his performance onstage becomes more captivating? On the other hand, Wolverine is blessed with a "healing factor" that protects him from germs and quick-cures his wounds--not the kind of extended suffering that Aronofsky is into.

The Vulture blog that reported the story also points out that Aronofsky may direct a Los Angeles-set 1940s organized crime film, Tales from the Gangster Squad. Ben Affleck has been named a frontrunner for that film as well. The movie centers on a group of mercenary police officers tasked with chasing mobster Micky Cohen out of town. This project seems like a better match with Aronofsky's knack at showing brutality, violence, and flawed characters.

Here's hoping that Aronofsky can move from tiny budgets to big budgets like Chris Nolan moved from Memento to Dark Knight and Inception.

Golden Globes Recap: Brit takeover

By Sarah Sluis

The Hollywood Foreign Press gave out its Globes last night, and the winners were decidedly global. Brits in particular seemed to rule the night, with Kate Winslet winning both Lead Actress (Drama) and Supporting Actress categories, Sally Hawkins and Colin Farrell topping the Female and Male Lead Actor

(Comedy) categories, and late Australian actor Heath Ledger winning the Best Supporting Actor. Mickey Rourke was the only American of the bunch to win a motion picture award, taking home a statue in the Best Actor (Drama) category. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Brit Danny Boyle and shot in India, won four awards: Best Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Winslet's double win in the acting category, the first of its kind, came as the result of a bit of finagling by production company/distributor Weinstein Company. Kevin Lally wrote earlier about lead roles being recast as supporting ones twice this year (how, exactly, did The Priest in Doubt count as a supporting role?). Certainly if Winslet were nominated in both categories as "Lead," voters might have split their vote between her two performances, giving her a majority of the votes without winning enough to carry either of her performances, which also seems unfair. If the Globes miraculously magnified her presence by giving her two awards, could the Oscars move in the opposite direction, viewing her as "overexposed" and looking closely at the other top performances of the year?

While the Kate Winslet double coup seems unlikely to be repeated at the Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire's quad-win bodes well for its Oscar reception. The win most likely to be repeated is that of A.R. Rahman for Best Original Score. With over 109 credits to his name, calling him the Bollywood John Williams doesn't really do him justice. His prominent, easily applauded score in Slumdog (and collaboration with hip artist M.I.A.) made me wonder why I haven't heard him in more Hollywood films.

Director Danny Boyle's cross-genre filmmaking sets him apart from most other filmmakers. Whether he's

working in horror, romantic comedy, crime, fantasy, or drama, his films are packed with motion--"lots of running," a friend noted, one eyebrow raised. Like all great genre filmmakers, he makes a point to subvert our expectations. His characters achieve a goal (like getting on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", the compound in 28 Days Later, the Beach in The Beach, the bag of money in Millions) but find their needs still unfulfilled, their goals still out of reach.

I applaud Danny Boyle, and hope the Academy will second the Globes and give Boyle Oscar recognition. A true crowd-pleaser, Slumdog Millionaire, which I saw months ago, gave me a warm feeling that actually held up, without descending to maudlin sentimentality (the one critique I see levied against the film). Compare that to my initial shock-sadness of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which turned sour a few weeks out--EW calls it "Honey, I Gassed the Kid"

Academy members turn in their ballots today, if they haven't already (making a Globes influence, at least during this round, less probable)--to be tallied and announced January 22, 2009 at 5:30 a.m. PST--which, like every year, will lead to stories of nominees peeking out from under their sleeping mask to answer a phone call from an agent or publicist.