Hugh Jackman Is Enthusiastic About 'Wolverine 2', Confirms Darren Aronofsky As Director

While we haven't had a press release from Fox or another final confirmation that Darren Aronofsky would direct the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it has seemed like a done deal over the past week. (We've treated it as such thanks to a variety of reports.)

Now Hugh Jackman, the returning star of the franchise, seems to have confirmed the director, and is (unsurprisingly, given that he's a driving force for the series) talking about enthusiastically about the potential for this picture.

Vulture caught up with Hugh Jackman on Monday, and he confirmed that Darren Aronofsky would direct. And he emphasized that the film wouldn't be at odds with the director's usual tendencies.

This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He's kind of dark... But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that'll give you a good clue. [Aronofsky's] going to make it fantastic. There's going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure.

He also said, perhaps inevitably, that this would be both the best of the X-Men films and a rather unusual one. (The last time we heard a star talking about how his next sequel would rock it was Shia LaBeouf talking about Transformers 3, but here Hugh Jackman at least seems to get that he's dropping into expected territory.)

This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It's going to be the best one, I hope...Well, I would say that, but I really do feel that, and I feel this is going to be very different.