X-Men Origins: Wolverine will open on April 30

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first chapter in the X-Men saga, unites Wolverine with several other legends of the X-Men universe, in an epic revolution that pits the mutants against powerful forces determined to eliminate them.

Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar, as the fierce fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, adamantium claws, and a primal fury known as berserker rage. X-Men Origins: Wolverine stays true to the tone of the X-Men motion picture franchise, continuing the films' balance between spectacle and reality, while heightening the emotions and relationships.

While the three previous X-Men films were set in the not-too-distant future, the main story of X-Men Origins: Wolverine—as the saga's first chapter—is set prior to the events of those pictures, in the not-too-distant past, sometime in the 1970s. But the epic sweep of the new film also encompasses flashbacks that span 150 years. It has a scale and ambition new to even this high-reaching series. "We wanted to exceed expectations in every way," sums up star and producer Hugh Jackman. "We couldn't just make a very good movie; it had to be much more than that."

To that end, Wolverine provides a great roller coaster ride of adventure and action, while tapping into complex themes and rich and powerful emotional conflicts that have been hallmarks of the X-Men films.

"Yes, the film needs to be visually stunning, and the action has to be amazing and hard-hitting," says director Gavin Hood, whose 2005 film Tsotsi won the Academy Award® for best foreign language film. "But you've also got to buy into the story and characters. The core idea of the film is that it's about someone who is not comfortable with who he is, who's at war with his own nature. That's an interesting character to explore. The theme of being at war with one's own nature, fuels and energizes the film so it becomes more than just action for its own sake."

Jackman was convinced that Hood was the right man for the job after he viewed Hood's modestly-budgeted Tsotsi, a penetrating drama set in Johannesburg about a hardened teenage criminal whose life is changed when he becomes emotionally attached to an infant left in the back seat of his car. "The character Tsotsi was at war with himself, just like Wolverine is," says Jackman. "I got carried away by Tsotsi's journey, and by Gavin's instincts for character and story.

"The characters have always been at the heart of the X-Men comics and movies," Jackman continues. "People connect with and relate to them."

X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens April 30 in theaters nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.