Logan director James Mangold has shared the original test footage of the opening scene from the final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie.
During ComicBook.com’s recent Quarantine Watch Party, Mangold tweeted the previsualization version of the opening sequence from the 2017 movie, showing Logan getting into a violent altercation with a gang who leave him on the floor, before he rises to his feet, extends his claws and rips them to shreds.
And here is the video viz for the opening scene that Garret Warren (stunts / 2U) & his team & myself put together in prep. #Logan #QuarantineWatchParty @ComicBook
I had to repost, the previous post had the wrong viz! pic.twitter.com/w2At0wteY9
— Mangold (@mang0ld) May 27, 2020
As it turns out, this raw footage is not too dissimilar from the final cut of the scene, though it’s widely known that Logan nearly had an entirely different opening sequence, as Mangold previously told IGN that he originally intended the slaughter of the X-Men to be shown on the big screen in the first few minutes of the movie.
“I literally had written an opening which started with that sequence,” said Mangold. “And so it was quite literal, who was dead. But the reason we didn’t do it wasn’t to spare other films, it was that it redefined the movie. It made the movie about the X-Men, instead of being about Logan and Charles. And irrevocably, when you read the script opening that way, it became about this other tragedy, as opposed to that tragedy being something hovering like a shadow in the background for these characters.”
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While the test footage shows that the crew stuck closely to their original vision in pre-production, they deviated away from the colourful comic costumes in the wardrobe department. During the Watch Party, Mangold elaborated on why it wouldn’t have made sense for Wolverine to emerge wearing the faithful yellow and brown suit.
Sorry. He never put it on. We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting “uniform”. I’m sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there. https://t.co/FU7FrYQS6S
— Mangold (@mang0ld) May 28, 2020
“He never put it on,” Mangold tweeted in response to a question about whether Jackman ever donned the classic superhero mask. “We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting “uniform”. I’m sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there.”
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One thing is for sure, Jackman has put the character of Wolverine behind him. He recently revealed that he is at peace with the idea of Wolverine being rebooted with another actor playing the iconic X-Man in the future, though he does wish the X-Men had joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe back when he was still in the role.
For now, the X-Men’s debut in the MCU appears to be some years away while the studio continues to work on their Phase 4 slate.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Logan Director Shares Original Test Footage for Opening Scene