Gerard Butler Denies Involvement with Wolverine Movie

In a recent interview with moviesonline, Gerard Butler denied any involvement with the movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

Q: The rumor is that you’re going to be playing Sabertooth in Wolverine, are you looking forward to fighting Wolverine?

GERARD BUTLER: It’s not true. I haven’t even met on it, I haven’t spoken to anybody and I haven’t seen a script. And I think I’m working when it’s going on, so it’s not –

Q: If they were to offer it to you, would you be interested in doing it?

GERARD BUTLER: Listen, I’d be interested in anything up until I read a script.

Wolverine Filming Set to Begin in January

After reports of 'Australia', the new film by Baz Luhrmann, over-running its scheduled shoot, it was looking like the filming of X-Men Origins: Wolverine may have been delayed. However, it has been anounced that filming will still commence in January.

Luhrmann's movie (which also stars Hugh Jackman) will halt production this Friday after an overbudget shoot that has gone on for more than a month beyond its scheduled filming window.

Here's the full review from the Australian Herald Sun.

Interview with Wolverine Screenwriter, David Benioff

The following is an extract of an interview "Coming Soon" conducted with David Benioff, screenwriter for X-Men Origins: Wolverine...

CS: I've read a couple pages of the "Wolverine" script which has to be about a year old. Have you stayed involved with that up until they started shooting?
Benioff: I haven't been working on "Wolverine" since... I mean, it's been a while since the last draft, but they brought on other writers starting in like September or something, so I haven't seen whatever the shooting draft is, so I don't know exactly what it is. I think they're supposed to start shooting in January in Australia, but I have not been really in the loop on that one anymore.

CS: I'm a comic book fan myself, so did you spend a lot of time reading comics and trying to distill his origin, which is not exactly the easiest one to adapt. You got "Kite Runner" down to two hours but Wolverine has had so many origins over the years. There's a lot of them out there.
Benioff: Yeah, it will be interesting, because I know that changes have been made, so I don't know how they're handling... I don't know what's exactly in the present draft of the script, so I'm curious to see it when it gets made, but yes, I grew up a huge comic book fan. Where I grew up on Yorkville and 86th on the East End, there was a comic store called Action Comics on like 84th and 2nd, and I was there every week. Wolverine was always my favorite character, because at that time at least, most of the superheroes were still these square-jawed righteous do-gooders, and then along comes this cigar-chomping, hard-drinking rowdy little Canadian guy and I just loved him from the beginning. It was the one comic book adaptation that I always wanted to do, and I really went after it. I went into Marvel and just really pursued it aggressively.

[POSSIBLE SPOILER] CS: I love the opening scene where he's a kid being getting picked on by the bigger kids…
Benioff: Yeah, me too. That's my scene and I don't know if it's in the present draft or not. That was mine, but I don't know if that will be in the actual movie. [SPOILER ENDS]

Casting Rumours - Kayla and Deadpool

The latest X-Men Origins: Wolverine casting rumor that director Gavin Wood wants Natalie Portman for the role of ‘Kayla’.

In addition, Ryan Reynolds(Van Wilder, Blade: Trinity) has been linked to the role of Deadpool. In the comicbooks, Weapon X cured his terminal cancer by implementing a regenerative "healing factor" extracted from Wolverine, but this leaves Deadpool disfigured and mentally unstable. As a character know for his wisecracks, black humor and satirical pop-culture references, Reynolds would be a obvious chioce for this role.

Finally a possible appearance for Gambit?

Rumours are rapidly spreading across the net of an appearance of one of the most overlooked X-Men in the movie franchise - Gambit! Although most of the film is due to be shot in Australia and New Zealand, there are also reports of New Orleans being used as a location, leading the Gambit fanbase to start speculating.
Possibly Josh Holloway ("Sawyer" from Lost), who was rumored to be playing Gambit at some point in the franchise, may make a long overdue appearance on the silver screen? Here's hoping!

Casting Rumours - William Stryker

Variety reports that X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has added Liev Schreiber to its cast as William Stryker. Stryker was played by Brian Cox in the second film of the franchise, but as the new film is a prequel of some years, the studio will reportedly use the younger actor to provide a face for the character. This rumour has also appeared on the actor's wikipedia page.
Schreiber became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy.

Casting Rumours - Sabretooth

Tyler Mane, who starred as Sabretooth in the original X-Men movie had expressed interest in reprising his role, but has confirmed on his MySpace page that he will not be playing the part. Apparently the wrestler-turned-actor didn't have the range needed to carry such an important role in the new movie.

There are a couple of interesting casting rumors regarding this character, with it being reported that Gerard Butler(300, Phantom of the Opera) may be appearing as Creed, the man who will become Sabretooth. The source reports that Karl Urban(The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Doom) had been in talks to play Creed, but that talks have fallen out, opening the way for Butler to come in.

Gavin Hood discusses the Wolverine Character

Gavin Hood the director of X-Men Origins: Wolverine discusses the X-Men favorite

Revised Wolverine Release Date Announced

Fox has announced the X-Men movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a production schedule ready and a release date of Summer 2009. Originally scheduled for release in 2008, dates needed to be changed due to the Writer’s Guild strikes.
Due to go into production early 2008 (assuming the strike has been resolved), its due to hit theaters on May 1, 2009 and will be directed by Gavin Hood (Rendition, Tsotsi).
The movies will follow Wolverine's violent and romantic past, and his complex relationship with Victor Creed (Sabretooth) and the Weapon X program, as well as his encounters with other mutants. No other characters have been announced, but the Weapon X program would suggest the appearance of Maverick, Wraith, and Silver Fox.
The full cast has not as yet been announced, but Hugh Jackman is definitely reprising his role as the main character. Brian Cox and Maggie Q(further evidence of the appearance of Silver Fox perhaps?) are also rumoured to be involved.
There are also rumours that the studio is working on another X-Men spin-off about the origins of Magneto.