Wolverine 3: James Mangold Shares His Inspiration For Logan's Intimacy
Super hero movies are often packed with gigantic set pieces. Entire cities are destroyed as heroes [...]
Super hero movies are often packed with gigantic set pieces. Entire cities are destroyed as heroes fight to stop a powerful villain. Thousands, if not millions of unnamed people are killed. Relying on action to pace a film is sometimes the case for big budget productions.
In Logan, this won't be the case. The film pairs a western style with character at the forefront for Hugh Jackman's last go as Wolverine.
For James Mangold, the inspiration for the intimate experience soon to be offered to moviegoers came from a number of places. Speaking with Mangold at a press junket for Logan in New York City, ComicBook.com investigated where the director's stylistic inspiration came from for the film.
"I think other movies," Mangold said. "I'm not sure super hero movies are a genre, to begin with. They just describe who is in it, which are super heroes."
"It's almost sad if you say 'Oh, it was so moving and intimate and interesting. I didn't think it was a super hero movie,'" Mangold said. "The reality would be, I think we need to find how to make those movies more interesting and intimate because there's only so many worlds we can destroy."
Movies, more specifically the John Wayne film The Cowboys, were not the only place Mangold drew inspiration from for Logan.
"When I was 12, 13, 14, 15 and avidly collecting DC and Marvel Comics," Mangold said. "They were moving to me. They were interesting. I saw myself in them. I felt my world in them. Every one wasn't about whether Deklopolis is going to blow up Planet Xenon. It was about these characters, their interrelationships, their rivalries, their past, their wounded feelings."
Logan has been rumored to draw from the Old Man Logan comics ever since Hugh Jackman took the stage to tease a packed Hall H in 2015. Speaking to Mangold at a 20th Century Fox showcase of their 2017 slate of films (which also included Alien: Covenant and A Cure For Wellness), ComicBook.com learned how Old Man Logan influenced the last movie we'll see Jackman donning the Adamantium claws.
"There's a kind of inspiration, an umbrella of inspiration we drew from Old Man Logan," Mangold said. "I think part of it was permission to take the character into a more Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven kind of space. Look at Logan as if he were a Bill Money at the twilight of his career. From there, I think, instead of doing what Mark did in the comic which I think was this picaresque journey with this parade of Marvel characters which we could never even do due to rights issues."
MORE LOGAN: Why Pierce Is After X-23 / Holbrook Reveals When The Predator Films / Patrick Stewart Reveals Differences In Charles Xavier / X-Men Challenging The Avengers / Logan Is Hugh Jackman's Favorite / Patrick Stewart's Favorite X-Memories / How Deadpool Influenced Logan / Hugh Jackman Rules Out Returning
Logan hits theaters March 3, 2017.
