Dear 20th Century Fox,

Please hire Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian as the composers for the Wolverine film. Both Hepker and Kilian have worked as a team with director Gavin Hood on ‘Tsotsi’ and the upcoming ‘Rendition’. They have used their skills to bring a great sense of depth and emotion to the visuals on screen in the Academy Award winning, ‘Tsotsi’.

With ‘Wolverine’ looking to come out next year, XMF believes it would be beneficial to have a music team that totally understands the director, and knows what he is looking for. Since Hepker, Kilian, and Hood are all familiar with one another, it would be a great, productive process in that aspect.

Thanks for reading

XMF

Nine MSN talked with Wolverine and Magneto producer Avi Arad about upcoming Marvel films that he hopes to film in Australia. Could Hugh Jackman’s spin-off be on that list? Not sure, but I’m betting Hugh and family would love that! Click here for the full article.

Thanks to ‘Advanced Dark’

Are the upcoming X-Men spin-off films using ‘Origins’ in their titles? Here’s something very interesting. Type in wolverineorigins.com or magnetoorigins.com and you’ll get directed to 20th Century Fox’s official website!

We’ve found that the studio registered these domain names in June of this year, so we might be looking at the preliminary names for the spin-offs of Wolverine and Magneto!

Really, it might be too early to know if these are the official film titles, but it’s definitely something to chew on.

Now that it has been announced that director Gavin Hood will be helming WOLVERINE, it’s time to answer the big question some X-Men fans may have. Who is Gavin Hood???

Born in Johannesburg, South African director Gavin Hood has worn many hats in the entertainment industry. Besides directing, he has had experience as a writer, actor, and producer.

Hood is best known for winning a Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film during the 78th Annual Academy Awards in 2005, for his film, Tsotsi. The film focused on six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader. Besides an Oscar, the film went on to win eight other distinguished awards, worldwide.

His next film is the political thriller, Rendition (for New Line Cinema), which stars Oscar winning/nominated actors such as Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaul, Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep.

In 2000, Variety named him as one of its ‘Ten Directors to Watch’. He’ll definitely be watched among X-Men fans this year, as he goes behind the camera for 20th Century Fox’s 2008 release, WOLVERINE!

Stay tuned to XMF, as we’ll be bringing you more information on the production (which begins filming in November) as it becomes available!

Information compiled using: IMDB, Variety, and Wikipedia

Variety has just reported the exciting news that 20th Century Fox has nabbed a director for their upcoming 2008 WOLVERINE spin-off film, featuring the popular character played by Hugh Jackman! The site says:

Twentieth Century Fox has set Gavin Hood to direct Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine,” the “X-Men” spin-off film that was scripted by David Benioff.

The film, which begins production in November for 2008 release, will be produced by Lauren Shuler-Donner, Jackman and his Seed Prods. partner John Palermo.

Hood is the South African director whose 2005 film “Tsotsi” won the foreign film Oscar. He was among several hot young directors vying for “Wolverine” and sources said Fox brass was swayed after viewing his latest film, “Rendition,” the politically charged New Line drama starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Peter Sarsgaard.

Using several resources that include the Marvel Comics lore, along with the more recent Weapon X graphic novels by Frank Miller, “Wolverine” mixes action with an origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws.

“I have long been a fan of Gavin’s work and know he will make a masterful film with the character intensity and action beats the fans expect,” said Jackman.

So, what do you think? Personally, it was an unexpected choice, but I’m very interested in what Hood will bring to this film. I think he can make the film something special, and not just a mindless popcorn flick. I’m very excited!

What if the X-Men appeared on The Simpsons? XMF used the new avatar maker on the official Simpsons Movie website to create Storm, Wolverine, Jean, and Cyclops (as seen above) using the animation style made famous by creator, Matt Groening.

Use the program to create your own avatars, and *if you want* e-mail us your X-Men characters! We’ll place them in this posting!

• Foenixstorm: Jean Grey, Storm, Xavier, Magneto
• Jose: Mystique
• AnastaciaX: Leech

‘The Simpsons Movie’ is in theaters, July 27, 2007!

Congratulations to Rebecca Romijn (X-Men’s Mystique), who recently married actor Jerry O’Connell!