James Mangold to Direct ‘The Wolverine’

Since Darren Aronofsky left the project earlier this year, there’s been a lot of speculation over who would take the reigns on Fox’s latest X-Men project. And there has been talk of major delays for The Wolverine due to the search for a new director.

Over the past few months, names like Duncan Jones, Mark Romanek, Antoine Fuqua and Gavin O’Connor have been bandied about, but it has now been announced that James Mangold will direct The Wolverine. Mangold’s last film was the Tom Cruise action vehicle Knight and Day, and his resume includes 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line, Girl, Interrupted, and Identity.

Production for The Wolverine is planned for autumn, but whether that gives Mangold and his team enough time to turn the movie out for next summer remains to be seen. (However, this year’s X-Men: First Class was on a similarly tight schedule.)

(via Deadline)