Though its release date is only a few months away, James Mangold‘s summer tentpole “The Wolverine” has yet to boast a trailer (a fact likely to be remedied soon). There are a ton of images and descriptions to satiate fans in the meantime, but now, rather than just unveil another sneak peek at the film, the director has revealed a few of his key pieces of inspiration for the project, and they are intriguing.
The film, which Mangold has described as finding Hugh Jackman‘s Logan as a “soldier who is cut loose” and a “samurai without a master” in Japan, is already shaping up to be a unique entry to the “X-Men” franchise while still hewing close to the comic’s origins. Mangold’s batch of cinematic influences wholeheartedly contributes to that thought too, as they draw on example from westerns (“The Outlaw Josey Wales”), samurai epics (“13 Assassins”), and Wong Kar-Wai (“Chungking Express”).
The themes of isolation and longing discussed by Mangold definitely come through strongly in his selection, which you can view below with a series of trailers. Take a look to see where the director is coming from before “The Wolverine” hits theaters July 29th. [via Rope of Silicon]
1. “Chungking Express”
2. “The Outlaw Josey Wales”
3. “The Samurai Trilogy”
4. “Floating Weeds”
5. “Black Narcissus”
6. “Happy Together”
7. “13 Assassins”
8. “The French Connection”
9. “Chinatown”
10. “Shane”
