Knight And Day director James Mangold is in final negotiations to direct The Wolverine .
He’s long been on 20th Century Fox’s list of potential directors, with fan favourite Darren Aronofsky having departed the sequel earlier this year.
Now Variety reports that Mangold is all but on board, with just the specifics of his contract to be ironed out.
Though Mangold’s Tom Cruise vehicle Knight And Day wasn’t exactly the greatest film of last year, Fox clearly caught his previous, more polished tension-crankers Identity and 3:10 To Yuma .
Hopefully the 3:10 Mangold will turn up on set, not the one who (valiantly) tried to resurrect Cruise’s post-sofa-hopping career.
Mangold will reportedly work from the same script that Aronofsky would have, which has been penned by Christopher McQuarrie.
If the director’s deal is confirmed soon, expect production to kick off this autumn.