With shooting just a few short weeks away, “X-Men: First Class” producer Lauren Schuler Donner is still engaging in a few moments of press.
While her conversation is nowhere near as revealing as the one that Bryan Singer recently had with AICN, there are still some interesting nuggets of info strewn throughout.
First and foremost is reiterating the obvious. Singer himself said half a year ago that a ‘First Class’ movie would likely render the “X-Men Origins: Magneto” film obsolete (written by David Goyer and Sheldon Turner of “Up In The Air” fame; separate drafts it seems). Considering what we already know about ‘First Class’ this seems like a given, but in case you’re curious or out of the loop, there’s likely no chance of a ‘Magneto’ film now.
“No. You know, there’s internal discussions but probably not. It kind of got incorporated into this one [X-Men: First Class”], a lot of it.”
Also producing “Deadpool,” Schuler Donner takes pains to stress that Ryan Reynolds is still interested in the role (as recent reports suggest). In fact, she says that Reynolds is so keen on the role he has helped “Zombieland” writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick pen the script (or more likely has offered feedback and his two cents; the idea that he has actively written the script with these two sounds very dubious). Frankly, after the financial failures of “Kick-Ass” and “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” we’re not sure why any studio would move forward with a film adaptation of a comic book no one knows, but perhaps they’re banking on Reynolds being a huge star after “Green Lantern” (remember even “Watchmen” — likely the most well-known, non-cartoon-show-related “obscure” comic tapped out at $107 million domestically and the budget, not including marketing and advertising was $130).
Screencrave even asks Donner — or at least hints — about “X-Men: First Class” director Matthew Vaughn’s first go round with “X-Men,” something all press has failed to do so far (or been too meek to broach; Vaughn bailed on “X-Men: The Last Stand” nine weeks before it was supposed to start shooting. Her answer is kind of cagey.
“That was a different movie. He’s a fan of the franchise obviously. He’s a really good director. He brings a very stylish and sort of out of the box vision. He is also very set on casting the best actors possible so the characters become real and the story.”
Other tidbits include the fact that ‘First Class’ will try and use as little CGI as possible (in-camera effects as often as can be done) and that the “Wolverine 2” (the Japanese Saga, with Mariko) will follow that mini-series as closely as possible (Wolverine falls in love and fights a bunch of ninjas in bloody battles).
The mutant retelling (in the vein of the rebooted “Star Trek” by J.J. Abrams) stars James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, January Jones as Emma Frost, Caleb Landry as Banshee, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Rose Byrne as Moira Taggert, Kevin Bacon as an the villain Sebastian Shaw, Oliver Platt as the Man In Black, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Zoe Kravitz as Angel, Lucas Till as Havoc, “Twilight” star Edi Gathegi as Darwin, and Jason Flemyng as Azazel (Nightcrawler’s father). Child actors Bill Milner and Morgan Lily will play the young versions of Magneto and Mystique respectively. “X-Men: First Class” hits theaters June 3, 2011.