Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek has passed on directing The Wolverine, narrowing down the short list of directors to seven.

We reported last month that 20th Century Fox had short-listed directors José Padilha, Doug Liman, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Romanek, Justin Lin, Gavin O'Connor, James Mangold, and commercials director Gary Shore. Here's what Mark Romanek had to say about why he turned down the offer.

"That's just one of those stories that floated around. I was on their list, I received the script months ago. It didn't seem like my kind of thing. That script was a terrific version of that kind of thing, but not something I felt really passionate about."

The Wolverine directing gig opened up in March when Darren Aronofsky stepped away from the sequel. There is no word on who the front runner to direct The Wolverine may be. Hugh Jackman is still slated to reprise his role as the title character.