Ever wonder why X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a creative train wreck, which essentially forced the semi-reboot of First Class? Director Gavin Hood is here to explain.

In a candid interview with IGN about the experience, which was essentially Hood’s first tango with blockbuster-style filmmaking (he's trying again next month with Ender's Game), he said the writing process was a total mess — so much so that he was getting rewrites up until the night before a scene was supposed to be shot. That’s not good.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview, where Hood describes the process as a true “baptism by fire.” Yeah, that’s one way to put it:

“I was making a film that — frankly — was still be worked on by scriptwriters back in L.A. while I was in Australia. I learned a great deal in that movie. For me it was, ‘Wow. This is weird. I’m getting pages the night before and trying to make it work on the day.’”

The film’s disjointedness isn’t much of a surprise when you realize they were working from an essentially unfinished script, plus the fact that Hood doesn’t seem to have had a major role in what he was directing isn’t a good sign.

It’s sad, too — because the recent Wolverine shows that, when done right, that character can kick a mountain of ass in a standalone movie. I mean, Origins managed to screw up Deadpool, for goodness’ sake?! Oh, lost opportunities.

Do you think Origins could’ve been saved with a snappier script, or was Hood’s direction really the problem?

(Via Latino Review, IGN)