Ah, to be a hot director in Hollywood. Surely every successful filmmaker remembers the damp days when rejection was just another meal in the day, and no one cared about your vision except for you. But when studios come knocking at your door, to direct their movies, the feeling has gotta be sweet. That’s what’s happening to DJ Caruso, after breaking out with the surprise hit DISTURBIA.
IESB.net is reporting that Caruso is on a shortlist of two directors that 20th Century Fox has in mind to take command of their planned WOLVERINE spin-off. But apparently Caruso is also being seduced by Dreamworks for a mystery project, so Fox has another man on the list who goes by the name of Len Wiseman. Wiseman’s LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD has yet to be tested on the open market, but Willis has been talking him up in the press, and he’s married to Kate Beckinsale, so there’s no denying the man has got something that most people don’t, namely, a reason to live.
I think the studio is making two good, but safe choices here. You’re not likely to land a visionary to helm this thing, and you’re not likely to need one either. Just get a guy with some dark sensibilities who knows how to shoot a killer action scene, and then let Hugh Jackman and his claws take care of the rest. A good script, which David Benioff has apparently written, can’t hurt either.