While it’s taken awhile to come to fruition, it sounds like The Wolverine is finally on track and heading towards production. After Darren Aronofsky abruptly dropped out of the director’s chair this past March, the project and its 2012 release date were left in a state of limbo. Following an extensive director search, Fox and Hugh Jackman finally settled on James Mangold to take the reins of the superhero flick. Production is now set to begin next spring, straight after Jackman wraps Les Miserables.

Steve recently got the chance to speak with Jackman about the upcoming sci-fi pic Real Steel, but the actor also provided an update on The Wolverine during the course of the conversation. He revealed that the current iteration of the script is about 85% the same as Aronofsky’s version, and commented on Mark Bomback’s rewrite of Christopher McQuarrie’s initial script, saying that he thinks it’s as strong if not stronger than the Aronofsky/McQuarrie version. Hit the jump to check out what he had to say.

Jackman commented a bit on how much of McQuarrie’s script remains intact and what Bomback and Mangold have brought to the material:

“We had a script that was under Darren Aronofsky’s directorial—it’s 85 percent the same. Darren took it in a Darren Aronofsky way and it’s a version I know fans would have liked to have seen – I would have loved to have seen it. James Mangold’s version of the script brought Mark Bomback on. We always had a strong base there. This is the best script we have had, which is precisely why Darren signed on. I tried to get Darren to do X3 and Wolverine and he was always like, ‘It’s not really for me.’ I knew he was looking for a comic book movie and he read this one and he goes, ‘Hey, this is the best one I’ve ever read.’ So there is a lot of meat on the bone there. Now, Mark and Jim have taken it and I think that it as strong, if not stronger, than what we would have had with Darren.”

It’s nice to hear that Bomback and Mangold haven’t completely thrown out Aronofsky’s version of the film, but it’s still disconcerting that the Black Swan director had to drop out. I think we all still long for an Aronofsky superhero pic. Jackman also confirmed that filming begins as soon as he’s wrapped on Les Miserables, and even said that The Wolverine is all reared up and ready to go; everyone’s just waiting on the actor to finish Les Mis. Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the stage play is working towards an awards season 2012 release date, so there was no way that The Wolverine could be fit in before the musical.

if you missed what Jackman said about his X-Men: First Class cameo and how it came about, click here, and to see Jackman’s comments on Les Miserables (including the possibility of 3D) click here.