Its a road-trip movie, its western, its neo-noir, its science fiction.

But overwhelmingly, its a portrait of three outcasts and how they interact.

Its some specialty of the house that I had a couple of days ago and I thought, Wow.

I cant do avocados.

Dear me, no.

But theres that amazing line in the film about avocados.

Im not a box of avocados!

I thought that was great.

I found the tone really refreshing a superhero film with that gritty, western kind of tone.

Theyve become platforms to sell things including the next movie.

They become adverts for themselves.

Because they bought into the idea that youre supposed to cut all these movies into some giant mega-movie.

Then theyre all supposed to fit together in a way that the fucking comic books never fit together.

I mean, the comic book authors reinvented their worlds 28 times they even drew the characters different.

They changed the outfits, the looks, the height, the muscularity they changed these characters.

In comic books, from Frank Miller to Joe Quesada, thats different.

Do you think the internets partly to blame for that?

Even true life stories.

Its very hard, because I only have 120 minutes.

Thats the tricky thing.

Its interesting that you talk about cohesion.

A lot of superhero films tend to be plot-driven, but this is character-driven.

Im guessing that was another of your stipulations early on.

I just wanted to make another film likeWalk The LineorGirl Interrupted,where the plots are simple.

Its just watching the characters wrestle with themselves.

We didnt really establish a supervillain in this movie, with a diabolical plot of any grandness.

All that goes hand in hand with what were saying.

Theyre trying to create higher and higher stakes, as though that will make the film more exciting.

Thats not including titles or action sequences.

So youre talking about each character having an arc the size of Elmer Fudd in a Warner Bros cartoon.

Then people are wondering why; theyre complaining that the arcs are too thin.

Well, of course theyre thin.

Theres no fucking time!

Plus, its attention-deficit theatre.

All that stuff is what were very intentionally contradicting in this movie.

Some people may not like it, but it was an effort to do something different.

You said that the studio was very supportive.

So do you think theres a realisation at Fox that something needs to change?

I think all the studios are realising that.

But I think theyre all recognising that the stylistic consistency of all the films doesnt matter to the public.

What matters is, are they good?

And thats not a coincidence.

My greatest focus in getting an R-rating was not being able to jam a claw through someones skull.

That was an added asset!

But the real thing and it helped that the fans wanted to see Wolverine unleashed, the berserker rage.

That helped me make the argument.

The scenes can go deeper, and can be written for adults.

The ideas can be more complicated.

Also, the film comes under no pressure to be a platform for the sale of toys.

Because theres going to be no kids to see it.

Was there some of that onThe Wolverine,in your experience?

But I do think there was a bit of a regime change at Fox, between the two movies.

The people running Fox now have a clearer understanding that their audiences have changed.

I dont think, when I madeThe Wolverine, have gone as far as I have on this film.

I think times have changed now.

I think we came out in August.

AThorfilm [The Dark World] and all the other films that came out before us.

Even some blockbusters that werent comic book-themed.

But I felt a kind of exhaustion by the time we got to our release date.

But the marketplace was changing at that moment so fast, that pressures changed.

The old way of doing things just isnt going to work anymore.

This is a violent film, clearly.

But I liked the theme that the violence has a corrosive effect on Logan.

He wears his history on him.

Theres the quote fromShane Theres no walking away from a killing.

At what point did that whole thing cohere in your mind?

What youre talking about came in my mind when I was making the last Wolverine.

But I tried to go further with the idea in this one.

There was already a script that existed.

Scott Frank and I rewrote it, but its still like getting on board a train thats already moving.

And from Hughs position, there wasnt even a sense that he wanted to make another one.

Thats what the movie should be about.

Therefore, not about a supervillain, not about a diabolical plot.

Not about planets exploding.

Thats a great film.

That movie was always in my mind.

That movie, andLa Femme Nikita.I saw all this potential in her [Laura].

You have this idea that Charles is sick.

How is he sick?

Im thinking about Logan; Whats the thing Logan fears more than anything?

Well, I was thinking, what would the worst way for Charles Xavier to be sick?

And I thought that would be Alzheimers or dementia.

Hell Or High Waterwas a recent film I really liked.

AndLogantaps into that same sense of a nation in decline.

I love that film, by the way.

I find it interesting, how you thread that theme into this film.

Its Scottish director, right?

I think theres a mood out there.

This movie happened fast.

I had another movie that ended suddenly.

I was makingThe Deep Blue Good-bywhich was a Travis McGee thriller with Christian Bale.

He tore all the ligaments in one of his knees, and the movie was suddenly cancelled.

I was dying to make a film, so I went hells bells into this.

We finished shooting in late August.

So the speed with which we made this movie is maybe how we got away with it!

Youre talking about every department and every person, to a man, Id worked with before.

So we were really effective at moving quickly, but the reality was that it helped.

So has making this film left you hungry to make a film about Laura?

[Pause] I will say this…

Yes is the simple answer.

Id love to figure out a story for that character.

But I will say more because of the actress.

Shed be like, What do you want to feel?

Or shed say, What am I supposed to feel?

And she could handle the rest.

I cant lie that would be exciting.

James Mangold, thank you very much.

Loganis out in UK cinemas on the 1st March.