Trivia
This is the first film to be produced by Hugh Jackman and John Palermo's new production company, Seed Productions.
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David Benioff aimed for a darker and more brutal story, and wrote the script with an R rating in mind. Producer Hugh Jackman did not see the need for an R rating, however, and the script was toned down to a safer PG-13 level.
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Bryan Singer (who directed the first two X-Films), Brett Ratner (who directed the 3rd and previous X-Film), Len Wiseman, Alexandre Aja, and Zack Snyder all expressed interest in directing the film before Gavin Hood was hired.
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This is the first time the mutant Gambit appears in an X-Film. He was planned to make appearances in the previous X-Films, but was always cut out.
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The characters depicted in this movie are the result of 3 generations of X-Men creators - Wolverine and Sabretooth were created by Len Wein & Johnny Romita and Chris Claremont & John Byrne respectively back in the '70's; Deadpool is a product of Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld's work on the title during the '90's, and; John Wraith was created by Larry Hama in the '90's, and the Weapon X program was first introduced into X-men by Barry Windsor-Smith in his classic story "Weapon X", originally published in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 from 1991. In addition, characters created by Stan Lee make cameo appearances toward the end.
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A "Deadpool" movie had been in the works since 2004, with David S. Goyer directing and starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Reynolds himself had dreamed of playing Deadpool, and when he heard Deadpool was given a place in the script, he immediately approached the filmmakers for the role.
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Liev Schreiber was originally considered for the role of Colonel William Stryker, but he requested to take the role of Victor Creed as he found that role more interesting.
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In the comics, David North uses the alias of "Maverick". However, he has also used the alias "Agent Zero" in recent times.
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Ryan Reynolds (as Deadpool) and Wesley Snipes (in the Blade movies) are the only two actors with roles in Marvel Comics film adaptations to have not gone through an audition prior to signing.
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Both the Comic Con and Official Trailers feature scores from films that were released in 2007. The Comic Con Trailer features "Come and Get Them!" from Tyler Bates' 300 score, and The Official Trailer features "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)" from John Murphy's score to Danny Boyle's Sunshine.
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Liev Schreiber was given a muscle suit to wear for his role as Victor Creed, similar to what Vinnie Jones (Juggernaut) wore in X-Men: The Last Stand, to make his physique look comparable to Hugh Jackman's 220 lb. figure. The suit made Schreiber feel "humiliated", and he requested for a chance to gain real muscle. He trained for three months while filming Defiance in Lithuania, and continued to train alongside Jackman during filming. Jackman also made Schreiber add a great deal of protein to his diet, which Schreiber called "the genocide of chickens." In the end Schreiber gained 40 lbs. and had to buy several new suits due to his back gaining several inches in width: "I can't fit into my favorite suit now! But I felt like I owed it to the genre to be big."
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On March 31 2009, a bootleg copy of the film was leaked online. The copy had no watermark, unfinished/alternate VFX and a different font for the credits; but by the time the film officially released in theatres on 2009 (weeks later), it had been downloaded about 4.5 million times. Roger Friedman, a reporter for Fox News, wrote an adverse review of the film based on the leaked copy - he even described how easy it was to find and download the film. His review was immediately removed and he got fired.
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Remy LeBeau (Gambit)'s last name is French for "the handsome" ("le beau"). In the comics, Gambit is well-known for his good looks and charm (in fact the comics it's considered a tactile hypnosis).
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William Stryker tells Wade Wilson (Deadpool): "If it weren't for that mouth you'd be the perfect soldier." Deadpool is branded in the comics as "The Merc with the Mouth."
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In the week prior to the film's release, Marvel Comics published the Wolverine: Weapon X Files one-shot comic book featuring profiles of many of the characters in the film - including Wolverine, Sabretooth, Deadpool, Agent Zero, John Wraith, Silver Fox, Gambit, Blob, and Stryker - despite some of the characters not being involved with Weapon X in the comics and some characters (like Stryker) being vastly different in the film than their comic book predecessors.
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In the rear window of the Hudson's truck is a sticker reading "Not all who wander are lost", paraphrasing Bilbo's verse about Aragorn from the J.R.R. Tolkien series 'The Lord of the Rings'.
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Throughout the film, Logan wears a brown/yellow motorcycle jacket. In the comics, Wolverine wore a brown/yellow costume.
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In one scene a black vintage Mercedes Benz can be spotted moving around. This was the vehicle Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr used in the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand.
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Team X is comprised of James Logan (Wolverine), Victor Creed (Sabretooth), Wade Wilson (Deadpool), David North (Agent Zero), Chris Bradley (Bolt), John Wraith (Kestrel) and Fred J. Dukes (Blob). From these, only four of the members have their titles mentioned in the film:
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- North is referred to as "Zero" by Stryker;
- Logan asks for new dog-tags inscribed with "Wolverine" on them, after the folktale he heard;
- Dukes mistakes Wolverine's calling him "bub" for "Blob" (as a joke it enrages him);
- and Stryker refers to Wade as "the Deadpool."
In the flashback to Africa, a young black girl with white hair can be seen. This is the young Ororo Monroe (Storm), the future X-Men member. This scene was removed from the final film, but appears as a deleted scene in the DVD.
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The old couple Logan encounters are named Travis and Heather Hudson. These are the civilian names of Guardian and Vindicator, the leaders of Alpha Flight, a Canadian governmental mutant team (in the comics however Guardian's name is James MacDonald Hudson).
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In James Howlett's bedroom a picture of a wolverine can be seen, foreshadowing his mutation and later title.
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Michelle Monaghan was offered the role of Silver Fox, but though she wanted to work with Hugh Jackman she had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. The role eventually went to Lynn Collins Both Monaghan and Collins appeared on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' at the beginning of their careers.
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In response to criticism from fans over Lynn Collins being cast as the Native American, Silverfox, Collins reassured fans by claiming to have distant Native American ancestry.
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Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber are the only Tony Award winners in this film, as well as the only ones to also be nominated for a Golden Globe.
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Hugh Jackman recommended Gavin Hood as director, noting parallels between Logan and the hero of Hood's previous film, Tsotsi.
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Kodi Smit-McPhee was originally cast as the young James Howlett, but turned it down to film The Road and was replaced with Troye Sivan.
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Tyler Mane, who played Sabretooth in X-Men, requested to reprise the role, but he was turned down by the filmmakers who wanted a younger actor for the prequel.
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Brian Cox was interested in reprising his role as William Stryker from X2, using the digital skin-grafting VFX used in the last film on Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The filmmakers thought it would be easier and cheaper to cast a younger actor instead and hired Danny Huston.
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Gavin Hood compared the relationship between Logan and Victor Creed to the tennis rivalry between players Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe: Victor hates Logan because he loves and needs his brother, but is too proud to admit he wants him back.
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Danny Huston compared his character of William Stryker to a racehorse breeder, who rears his mutant experiments like children but abandons them when something goes wrong.
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Screenwriter David Benioff and actors Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Kevin Durand and Daniel Henney are fans of the "X-Men" comics.
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Composer Harry Gregson-Williams used stanzas from an ancient Norse poem to underscore the theme "Logan Through Time."
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Hugh Jackman recommended his Kate & Leopold co-star Liev Schreiber for the role of Sabretooth, describing him as having the necessary competitive streak to portray Sabretooth. During filming, they dared each other to perform more and more of their own stunts.
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Will i Am accidentally punched the camera while filming a fight scene and scarred his knuckles.
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Liev Schreiber had studied to be a fight choreographer, and wanted to be a dancer like Hugh Jackman, so he enjoyed developing and filming the Logan-Creed fights.
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Daniel Henney relished his villainous role as David North: "There are no restrictions playing it, allowing you freely to express it, so you can act how you want to."
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Gavin Hood wanted to make Wolverine suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from his army years, but Fox Studios vetoed the idea as too heavy a theme for a comic-book film.
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In some scenes Wolverine's claws were created through computer-generated imagery since the props being used in those scenes looked obvious.
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Poker player Phil Hellmuth Jr. was going to have a cameo alongside fellow player Daniel Negreanu at Gambit's table, but he was committed to a game in Toronto and couldn't be present for filming,
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Gavin Hood described the film's central theme as Wolverine's inner struggle between his animalistic and human qualities: "I realized that Wolverine's great appeal lies in the fact that he's someone who, in some ways, is filled with a great deal of self-loathing by his own nature and he's constantly at war with himself."
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In Africa, William Stryker carries out an interrogation as to the location of adamantium. Adamantium (or in its raw mineral state, vibranium) is located in the African kingdom of Wakanda, ruled by T'Challa, the Black Panther (a superhero).
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Gavin Hood gave pictures of favelas (Brazilian shantytowns) to VFX company Hatch Productions to assist the company in developing accurate matte-paintings for the Africa scenes.
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The final scene (a destroyed Three Mile Island) was achieved with five different matte-paintings.
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William Stryker's lab was shot at Cockatoo Island, at New South Wales. The enormous buildings at that location were perfect for the designers, and the filmmakers saved money on digitally creating a set.
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Production went into difficulties due to creative conflicts between director Gavin Hood and the studio. Richard Donner, producer Lauren Shuler Donner's husband, had to fly to the set to ease tensions.
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Hugh Jackman collaborated with the writers on the script, as he wanted the film to be a character piece compared to the other X-Films.
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According to David Benioff, the script was influenced by the Wolverine-centred comics "Wolverine" (1982), "Weapon X" (1991) and "Origin" (2001); the former being Benioff's favourite comic.
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Gambit's portrayal in this film is inspired by his "Ultimate X-Men" version, where he was a retired thief and carries a Southern/Cajun accent.
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When Deadpool first accesses Scott Summer's Optic Blast power, the skin around his eyes burns in a diamond pattern. Deadpool's mask in the comics has a diamond pattern of a contrasting color around the eyes.
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For the X-Men trilogy, when the 20th Century Fox logo fades away, the 'X' in the logo stays for a second longer before it also fades away. For this film, the 'X' disappears with the rest of the word.
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In the film, Logan fights in the American Civil War, WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War. In the comics, he participates in WWI and WWII, even teaming up with Captain America in the latter.
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Cameo
Daniel Negreanu:
The only other poker player shown at the table other than Gambit and Wolverine when they first meet, is Daniel Negreanu, a popular real life Canadian professional poker player. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles.
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Spoilers
With this film, Hugh Jackman emerges as the first actor to be credited as playing a comic book hero in four consecutive films since Christopher Reeve as Superman. (Patrick Stewart also appears in this film and the 3 previous X-Men films, though his appearance is uncredited, with CGI used to make him appear younger, as was used in X-Men: The Last Stand.)
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Patrick Stewart plays Xavier in an uncredited role at the end of the film. The scene is shot on the grounds of Hatley Castle, Victoria, BC the original location of the Mutant school in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand.
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Weapon XI is portrayed by two actors, Ryan Reynolds and Scott Adkins. Reynolds portrays Wade Wilson/Weapon XI for close-up/standing shots and simple stunts and Adkins handles the more complicated and dangerous fights in the final battle.
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The telepathic mutant Emma Frost was going to have a major role in X-Men: The Last Stand, but when Brett Ratner replaced Bryan Singer as that film's director, she was removed from the film. To make up for her removal, she appears in a cameo in this film and has a major role in X-Men: First Class. She has been revised to be Kayla Silver Fox's sister; this indirectly explains Kayla's telepathic abilities, when in the comics Kayla only has a healing ability and weapons skills (ironically Emma herself shows no indication of telepathy in this film).
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The film's version of Deadpool is in line with his comic version (a member of Team X, a wacky mercenary who is experimented on), with the revision that he gains the powers of other mutants and Stryker has his mouth sewn shut (a move Lauren Shuler Donner disliked). Although, in the post-credits scene, it's shown that the seal that was covering his mouth was broken, allowing him to speak again (he even brakes the fourth wall, an ability he has in the comics, to tell the audience "Shh....").
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Some of the mutants William Stryker has captured and encaged are recognizable:
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- the tongued boy is Mortimer Toynbee (Toad, who was seen in X-Men);
- the teenager with the tornado is Sofia Mantega (Wind Dancer), who can summon winds;
- the boy vibrating in his cage is Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver, son of Magneto), whose power is super-speed;
- and the boy with the tape over his mouth is Sean Cassidy (Banshee, who appears in X-Men: First Class), whose power is sonic-level screaming.
In New Orleans, Victor Creed (Sabertooth) asks Logan (Wolverine) if he even knows how to kill him to which Logan responds "I'm gonna cut your goddamn head off!" In the comics Wolverine actually killed Sabretooth that way (it doesn't happen in the film though).
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Stryker kills General Munson to prevent his project from being shut down. In the comics, Stephen Lang did the same thing for similar reasons.
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Tim Pocock (Scott Summers - Cyclops) describes this film as Scott's big transition moment, when Scott goes from a troubled teenager to a leader in the span of the film.
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Logan is shot in the head by Stryker and the trauma from his wound blanks out his memory. In the comic "Origin", Wolverine's healing ability is what blanks out his memory (in the comics though it's short-term and done to combat mental stress; in this film he loses all memory of his life).
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There are two different ending scenes that can be viewed after the credits end. In one, Wolverine is in a bar, possibly in Japan, drinking to remember his past. This scene is likely set not too long before X-Men. In the other, Deadpool's severed hand retracts its claw and moves through the rubble to his decapitated head, whose eyes open up, and cautions all those who see this with an ominous "Shhhhh...". During the original theatrical run, which scene you saw was random depending on your theater. The home video version features the Deadpool scene after the credits. However, the Japanese bar scene is available on the two-disc DVD as a deleted scene. The version shown on Cinemax in March 2010 has the Wolverine bar scene.
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