In the latest Entertainment Weekly, actor Hugh Jackman discusses his upcoming role as “Logan/Wolverine” in Marvel’s ‘Wolverine 2’ which begins filming in Vancouver in October. The actual title of the film seems to be ‘The Wolverine’ but no official announcement has been made yet.

“It starts shooting in mid-October. You know James Mangold is directing it. You know it’s set in Japan. We have not really cast it yet, so there’s not a lot to tell you. Any other elements of the script I tell you, I’d have to kill ya,” said Jackman.

Even though 2009’s ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ was a box office success (grossing $373 million) many fans were hoping for something more from the film. By making the new film a stand alone movie that doesn’t need the benefit of the Marvel Universe it could potentially have a wider appeal. So if this one isn’t a sequel to ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ what is it?

Directed by James Mangold (‘Cop Land’, ‘3:10 to Yuma’) and with a screenplay by superstar writer Christopher McQuarrie (‘The Usual Suspects’, ‘Valkyrie’), ‘Wolverine 2’ is based on Marvel’s 1982 4-part ‘Wolverine’ series from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. In it Wolverine travels to Japan to find his love interest “Lady Mariko”. But his romance is forbidden and once there however, Logan runs afoul of a crime lord and samurais. This leads to many epic battles of course including at least one with the “Silver Samurai”.

When ‘Black Swan’ director Darron Aronofsky was still attached, Jackman said he was working hard to bulk up for the role by adding 25 pounds of muscle with advice from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The production is scheduled for October 2011 through March 2012 with no official release date currently scheduled. Jackman next appears in the sci-fi robot fighting film  ‘Real Steel’ in October.