'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.