Lee Daniels Recalls His Disastrous Wolverine Pitch | Screen Rant
Lee Daniels reveals that his pitch for a Wolverine movie led to a memorably disastrous meeting. Daniels made his debut behind the camera with the 2005 film Shadowboxer. From there, Daniels also garnered acclaim for helming The Butler and co-creating the Fox series Empire.
But it was Precious that arguably led to Daniels’ biggest success as a director. Released in 2009, based on a novel by author and poet Sapphire, Precious followed a young woman struggling against poverty and abuse. The adaptation was met with praise and awards recognition. Hugh Jackman, who was known to X-Men fans as Wolverine, reached out to Daniels hoping that the newly-emboldened director would have an interesting take on the character.
Speaking with Collider to promote his new movie, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Daniels revealed that Jackman called him following the success of Precious and asked him to pitch a Wolverine movie. The director noted that, at that point in his career, he didn’t have the experience of helming a studio film. Still, doubts and all, Daniels went to Fox to offer his vision for the iconic X-Men character. He recalls that the experience was disastrous, ending with him going on an eating binge. You can read Daniels’ quote below:
A lot of actors call me. I remember after I did Precious, Hugh Jackman called and wanted me to do a Wolverine. And he sent me into the studio to Fox, I guess that’s where they do them at. And I had never done a studio film before and it was a disaster and I literally pulled over … Yeah, it was at Fox because I pulled over to the Kentucky Fried Chicken afterwards and ate a whole six-pack of wings. It was the worst meeting of my life. I don’t know how he gets Wolverine from Precious, but I love him and he’s a friend to this day.
Daniels concludes with the admission that he pitched himself right out of the room. Nonetheless, Jackman had the right idea by going to the director of Precious with his offer. The actor was essentially following in the direction that other studios would take regarding its franchises. To use the example of Marvel, the studio has hired relative unknowns like Jon Watts and Chloé Zhao to helm some of their biggest projects. In some cases, like with Zhao, she arrived to Eternals a reputation after directing critically-acclaimed independent features. In others, the directors came up with an approach which appealed to executives. It would be interesting to know if there was something specific about Precious that spoke to Jackman or if his suggestion had more to do with Daniels’ general filmmaking style.
It would be even more interesting, though, to know what it was that led to Daniels’ uniquely terrible meeting. It could be the case that the director got the facts of Wolverine and X-Men history mixed up. It’s also possible that Daniels presented a story for the central character that was irreconcilable with what producers had in mind. Hopefully, Daniels will have a chance to elaborate further on his Wolverine pitch. As it stands, it’s striking to hear a well-known director speak so candidly about a failed effort to sell a potential project.
Source: Collider