Director Watch: Jackson on The Hobbit's 48 FPS, Cooper's Out of the Furnace, Jones Eyes Wolverine

- Crazy Heart writer-producer-director Scott Cooper (pictured in Vanity Fair with his film's Oscar-winning star, Jeff Bridges) will write and direct Out of the Furnace for Relativity. The film will be based on Brad Ingelsby's script, The Low Dweller, in which an ex-con -- just out of prison -- seeks revenge for his brother's death. Relativity production president Tucker Tooley states: "Scott Cooper drew raw emotion from the story and inspired amazing performances from his actors in Crazy Heart. We are excited for him to shepherd this project." Relativity will share producing credits with Appian Way and Scott Free with Energy Entertainment.

- Joining James Cameron in abandoning the 24 frames per second standard, Peter Jackson shares an update (and this picture) on Facebook about shooting The Hobbit at 48 fps. He will post a video within the next "day or two." Below, an excerpt from his explanation of using 48 fps and its benefits, in which he explains that film purists on his set "are now converts":

"The key thing to understand is that this process requires both shooting and projecting at 48 fps, rather than the usual 24 fps (films have been shot at 24 frames per second since the late 1920's). So the result looks like normal speed, but the image has hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness. Looking at 24 frames every second may seem ok--and we've all seen thousands of films like this over the last 90 years--but there is often quite a lot of blur in each frame, during fast movements, and if the camera is moving around quickly, the image can judder or 'strobe.'

...Shooting and projecting at 48 fps does a lot to get rid of these issues.  It looks much more lifelike, and it is much easier to watch, especially in 3-D. We've been watching HOBBIT tests and dailies at 48 fps now for several months, and we often sit through two hours worth of footage without getting any eye strain from the 3-D.  
 
...Now that the world's cinemas are moving towards digital projection, and many films are being shot with digital cameras, increasing the frame rate becomes much easier.  

…Film purists will criticize the lack of blur and strobing artifacts, but all of our crew--many of whom are film purists--are now converts."  

- Source Code and Moon (pictured, Sam Rockwell), director Duncan Jones is considering The Wolverine (which Darren Aronofsky left in March) in preparation for his meeting with Fox when he touches down in LA. He says: "Who knows what’ll be coming up next? I have a lot of meetings and catching-up to do when I get back to LA.”

The Wolverine needs both a director and a new location. It was meant to be shot in Japan, where the plot has Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) train with a Samurai master. But that was before the post-earthquake disaster. No word yet on whether screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie will rework the story. [TheWrap via IGN]

Jones also has an original project, Mute, in development, about a mute bartender who goes against local gangsters to find his missing partner. The project is listed as a UK/Germany co-production.