James Mangold recently bagged the director's chair on the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, titled simply, The Wolverine, and spoke to The Playlist (via Darkhorizons.com), giving away some interesting snippets of info on the production.
"It's actually a character piece; I actually think it has more in common with The Outlaw Josey Wales and Chinatown, what we're doing, than the conventional, 'will Wolverine and his compatriots save the world from this thermonuclear device' question. It's an adventure following such a unique character in a really unique environment." He then added, "The fact that half of the characters speak Japanese, this is like a foreign-language superhero movie. It's as much a drama and a detective story and a film noir, with high-octane action as it is anything like a conventional tentpole film. This movie is much more an intense psychological and action-packed character piece, that's much more about Logan getting lost in this very unique and insulated world of Japanese culture, gangster culture, and ninja culture."
Personally, I would've loved to see Mark Romanek tackle this world. He's not a million miles away from original director, Darren Aronofsky in terms of tone. Mangold has made some good films (Copland, Walk the Line) but has a bit of a journeyman vibe coming off of him. Doesn't mean he can't knock this one out of the park, though.