First Look Photo: Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine

20th Century Fox released the first photo today of Hugh Jackman from The Wolverine, the upcoming sequel directed by James Mangold.

The Wolverine opens July 26, 2013.

Source : ign[dot]com

Hugh Jackman Has Orders to Kill

X-Men star Hugh Jackman is attached to star in Orders to Kill for Millennium Films and director Lee Daniels.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the film is a thriller based on William F. Pepper's book of the same name that explores a conspiracy theory behind the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The paper says Orders to Kill "will tell the story of William Pepper (Jackman), a controversial attorney and activist who for decades has argued that convicted killer James Earl Ray, who recanted his confession and died arguing his innocence, didn't shoot MLK."

Jackman and Daniels previously tried to team for the civil rights drama Selma before that project fell apart. Jackman is currently filming The Wolverine, while Daniels' next project is the star-studded, fact-based White House drama The Butler.

Source : ign[dot]com

Jackman Talks Wolverine's End

Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold were out and about in Australia today, promoting the start of production on The Wolverine. During the press op, Jackman discussed the importance of the character to him.

"I have been working for 12 years on the Wolverine character and while the franchise will go well beyond me, it really has been the backbone of my career,” Jackman said, while adding that he will stop playing the character “when I stop loving it. … This one has certainly been the most interesting and complex of the superhero characters. I do take my career one [step] at a time and I feel like a golfer always looking for that hole in one."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the famed X-Men's sequel starts shooting next week. And to celebrate, Jackman and Mangold gave Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard a tour of the film's sets at Sydney’s Fox Studios.

The Wolverine will also shoot in Japan, but the Australian portion of the production is receiving a "one-off federal government grant of $12.8 million, boosting the location tax rebate, which normally sits at 15 percent of a production's qualifying expenditure, to around 30 percent." Bringing Hollywood productions to town with such rebates is good for the local economy; The Wolverine is expected to put $80 million back locally and support some 2,000 jobs.

As for details regarding the film and its casting, Jackman and Mangold weren't talking. In particular, they wouldn't comment on the rumors that Jessica Biel had recently withdrawn from the role of the villainous Viper. (The latest reports peg Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actress Svetlana Khodchenkova as being up for the part.)

You can get a sneak peek of the sets and production art here, however. What can you glean from those shots?

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com