In a recent interview with MTV, “The Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman discusses the possibility that the upcoming James Mangold directed film may end up getting both a PG-13 and R-rated cut. Here’s what Jackman had to say about this matter:
There’s such great temptation to make an R-rated Wolverine. I’ve always felt that. I know a lot of fans would like that. I totally get it. If there was ever a superhero that was going to be R-rated, it’s Wolverine. However, in the last ten years, I’ve also met many, many 12, 13, dare I say 10, 14, 15 year-olds who, for them, Wolverine is not just cool, you see it in their eyes. He’s everything to them. So my thing is — which James Mangold and I talked about — is let’s not put it off the table. There’s even a talk of us doing two versions, as in finding a way for us to do both as you shoot it, which could be really cool. But you need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.
If this were to happen it would completely give us faith in this sequel. But at the same time I’m also a bit skeptical with regards to what they could actually do. Despite being an extremely over the top and violent character, Wolverine had always done well being a bit censored. He didn’t drop F-bombs in every other sentence nor did he ever decapitate people left and right. Behind the rage there was always a sensitive man. I guess I just have a bad feeling that if they were to go the R-rated route, the film would end up being cheezy with over the top violence just for the sake of being violent.