Following the news that Nicholas Hoult (“A Single Man,” “Clash Of The Titans,” the upcoming “Mad Max 4”) had stepped into the role of Beast and Caleb Landry Jones (NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”), had been officially cast as the Irish sonic-screaming mutant Banshee, two more names are confirmed to be joining Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class.”
Jennifer Lawrence has been cast and will take on the role of Mystique (first rumored to be a role that Amber Heard was circling; Rebecca Romijn obviously played this shape-shifter character in the original “X-Men” films). It looks like Lawrence is cashing in the notices she got for her incredible turn in “Winter’s Bone” and we think she’s a great choice for the role. She has both the looks and skills for the job, and we’re pretty thrilled. Kevin Bacon has also joined the film as the as-yet-to-be revealed villain. We’ll leave the speculation to what that villain may be to everyone else, but Bacon’s name first cropped up late last week and we think it’s a pretty interesting choice to join the film. We’ll see how appropriate (or not) he is once his character is revealed.
Lawrence and Bacon joins the previously announced James McAvoy (Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto) and Alice Eve (Emma Frost). Bacon aside, this is a great cast of on-the-rise actors and we hope the material is up to their formidable skills. Oh yeah, so what is the deal with Aaron Johnson? THR still has him listed as one of the young thesps in the film, but EW said last week he was out. Reporting reflex or is Johnson back in play? Update: THR has removed Johnson from their report. We’re told there is “conflicting reports” whether he’s in the film or not, so we should probably assume he’s out for now.
According to EW shooting on “X-Men: First Class” has moved the previously scheduled August start, to a fall date in London. Variety says Fanboy sites are speculated that Bacon’s nemesis role could be that of the character Mister Sinister. That would be a major timeline shift, but who knows, not even comics stick to chronology if they don’t want to. The trades also credits “Kick-Ass” and “Stardust” writer (both Vaughn films) Jane Goldman as being the only writer which is odd, because last we heard she was just doing a script rewrite. There’s been several names attached to this script. Maybe she’s doing a bigger overhaul then was originally reported?