News: Aronofsky Leaves "The Wolverine"

     You may have heard the news yesterday, but in case you missed it, Darren Aronofsky (who most recently received his first Oscar nomination for "Black Swan") left what was to be his next directing gig, "The Wolverine", a prequel to the X-Men series that was going to study chronicle some of the character's early years in Japan. The film is going to star Hugh Jackman (the man who has brought the comic book character to life in all his on-screen appearances) and the buzz on street about the script is very positive, but for now the film has no director. The reason behind Aronofsky's departure is somewhat unclear. The official press release from Aronofsky said that he wanted to "spend more time with his family", and could not be out of the country for about a year (the film is going to be mostly shot in Japan). He is in the middle of divorce proceedings with his wife, actress Rachel Weiz, and in order to do better in the custody battle over their child it has been said that he needed to stay in the states. Today though, contrary rumors have surfaced that he split over creative differences. After "Black Swan"'s success with multiple Oscar nominations, Aronofsky was apparently feeling his oats, and demanded complete and total creative control over the film (the sort of control that Christopher Nolan has over the Batman films). According to the rumor, the studio than offered Aronofsky more money in an attempt to satisfy his ego, but money was not something that Aronofsky was interested in. After this, Fox told him walk, as they where unwilling to completely hand over the reigns of the comic book series to the independent director.

    If this is true, I find it incredibly disappointing. If one thing has been proven true time and time again in the world of cinema, it's that truly great films only occur when the person with the artistic vision is allowed to implement things the way that they see it (of course, someone with a blog called auteurfan would think that). It is true that films without much studio input where total creative freedom is given to the director can also be enormous flops, and given what must be a large budget for "The Wolverine", I can't say I am to surprised to hear that the studio is antsy about letting go of the reins, but films made by committee will always produce safe, conservative mediocre films that will make the usual blockbuster money, but won't reach the heights of culturally relevant films such as "The Dark Knight" and "Avatar". If you read the article I linked to about the sad state of the Hollywood studio system (it's under the news story, "A System in Shambles"), this news is yet another tragic example of the lethargy that has set in Tinseltown. I don't know if it will ever be fixed, but until the studios are willing to bet more on artistic talent, I'm afraid we will have to settle for the usual formulaic slop we have been getting for the last decade or so.