Producer of the X-Men trilogy, Lauren Shuler Donner, recently spoke to SHH about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, director Gavin Hood and her hopes for a Deadpool movie.

CS/SHH!: What’s the latest you can tell us about “Wolverine”?
Lauren Schuler Donner: May 1st, 2009! I guess it’s closer to the first “X-Men” in tone because it’s a little darker, but there’s a lot of action. It’s his origin story. It’s really good. I’ve been in the editing room the last couple of weeks and I think that it’s good and that audiences are going to like it. But it’s a little darker.

CS/SHH!: How is Hugh Jackman’s interpretation of the character different or new, compared to what we’ve seen in the “X-Men” films?
Schuler Donner: Well, you haven’t seen this side of him. It’s darker and sadder and it’s kick-ass. There’s a ton of action. It’s really kick-ass.

CS/SHH!: How was working with Gavin Hood as the director?
Schuler Donner: It was fun. It was good. I like taking someone out of the indie world and bringing someone into the action world because it grounds the movie. It gives it a reality. It gives it an emotional core, and then you can have as much fun and action in it as you want.

CS/SHH!: This was Gavin’s first time playing with really big cinematic toys. Was there a learning curve on that for him?
Schuler Donner: Yeah. He had a learning curve, but the thing basically for the director, honestly, it’s sort of like, “Here’s what I want…” and then the visual FX guys create that. Then it’s like, “No. I want it more like this or like that.” A director doesn’t have to know how to do it. They have to know about lighting and shooting someone against green screen and that sort of stuff, but in terms of actually creating it, we do that.

CS/SHH!: And Ryan Reynolds is playing Deadpool.
Schuler Donner: Yes. Ryan Reynolds is playing Deadpool… he plays Wade Wilson.

CS/SHH!: Is that in hopes of a “Deadpool” spin-off film?
Schuler Donner: I hope so. I really hope so. He’s so good at it.

She also said that Stan Lee wouldn’t be having cameo appearance in the film, mainly because they were filming in Australia. However, she said they were filming more scenes in January so he could end up make an appearance.