Darren Aronofsky is pulling out of directing The Wolverine, 20th Century Fox’s sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. His reason for backing out of the project is that a large portion of the production will be shot overseas, particularly in Japan, and with his other commitments, he couldn’t afford to be out of the country for a significant amount of time.

In a press statement issued this morning, he said that:

“As I talked more about the film with my collaborators at Fox, it became clear that the production of The Wolverine would keep me out of the country for almost a year,” Aronofsky said in a joint statement with Fox.

“I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again,” he continued.

Stated Fox: “While we are of course disappointed that Darren can’t do The Wolverine, we also understand and respect his reasons.  Having done both The Wrestler and Black Swan with Darren, we know he is an extraordinary talent and we look forward to working with him on other projects in the future. Hugh Jackman and Fox both remain fully committed to making The Wolverine.  We will regroup and move forward aggressively.”

This is a pretty big blow for the production, with many fans stating that Aronofsky was the primary reason that they were interested in the sequel, and with him pulling out there’s a lot of very annoyed fans out there. I wonder who Fox will pull in to replace him, it better be a big name - perhaps Matthew Vaughn?

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