2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine may have failed to meet the expectations of all longterm fans of the character – fan-favourite X-Men writer Chris Claremont included. However, the dream team of Hugh Jackman, the X-Men movies’ breakout star, and Liev Schreiber as his vicious mutant ally-turned-nemesis Sabretooth could have been put to much better use, as Claremont reveals, talking exclusively to SciFiNow.
“The interesting thing is, talking with him, the original draft for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it was just him and Liev [Schreiber],” explains Claremont.
“Just the two of them. I was thinking, ‘Holy shit, that I would pay to see!’ That would be one hell of a movie, Wolverine and Sabretooth just going after each other for an hour and a half – oh my goodness. And it gradually morphed into what came later, with mutants galore and I don’t know how much of it with young Stryker and all the imprisoned proto-X-Men and Charlie [Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart] showing up at the end, I mean all the fangeek stuff that ties everything into X-Men 1, but just the wish, the creative wish of “Oh my God, Logan and Sabretooth, together?”
“Especially with those two actors, that would be fun, but it would also not be in any way, shape, or form a lighthearted superhero movie. They’re both too alpha, and too gritty and too damn scary.
“The thing I love about Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is he’s just grim, ‘Ah, I wanna be somewhere else, really fast’ because this is gonna get really nasty, and to me as an audience, he and Hugh played off each other really well and I wanted to see more of that, but you know, it’s not my hundred million bucks,” he laughs, “Unfortunately.”
The Wolverine is released in UK cinemas on 25 July 2013. You can buy X-Men: The Ultimate Collection on Blu-ray for £32.68 at Amazon.co.uk.
