Darren Aronofsky Off THE WOLVERINE

Good news: Darren Aronofsky will be able to continue making personal films.

Bad news: He’ll have that availability because he’s left The Wolverine.

From the press release from Fox:

Darren Aronofsky and Twentieth Century Fox today issued the following statements about the director’s involvement in the movie, “The Wolverine”:

Stated Aronofsky: “As I talked more about the film with my collaborators at Fox, it became clear that the production of ‘The Wolverine’ would keep me out of the country for almost a year.  I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time.  I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again.”

Stated Twentieth Century Fox:  “While we are of course disappointed that Darren can’t do ‘The Wolverine’, we also understand and respect his reasons.  Having done both ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘Black Swan’ with Darren, we know he is an extraordinary talent and we look forward to working with him on other projects in the future. Hugh Jackman and Fox both remain fully committed to making ‘The Wolverine’.  We will regroup and move forward aggressively.”

I had sources tell me Aronofsky was off two weeks ago, but Fox denied it at the time. I wonder why it took so long to become official.