I was traveling back on a train last night, playing around on my blackberry, when I read that Bryan Singer had confirmed those undying rumours that he’d signed on to direct the next “X-Men” film – “X-Men : The First Class” (If I weren't in such an inebriated state at the time, I might've even be able to post a story on it!) - man, did that get me charged!
I was giddy when I heard Singer was keen to return to the world of the monstrously-popular movie mutants, if only because he’s the one person who might possibly be able to get that franchise back on track (after the dreadful “Wolverine”, and more so, “X-Men : The Last Stand”), but just about jumped out of my sweaty, chewing-gum clad seat when Singer confirmed the news for MySpace!
This is great news. It really is. OK, so it likely means, what we all expected, that Singers well-and-truly off the “Superman Returns” sequel (that’s a given; I dare say, based on the unremitting rumours pegging them to the project line, James McTeague and/or the Wachowski’s will get that gig) but that we can sacrifice, right, if it means seeing another ‘good’ “X-Men” movie, right!?
Singer apparently pitched Fox his idea for the film, and they - not that it would’ve taken much convincing – went for it. The filmmaker’s treatment was transferred into screenplay form by “O.C” mastermind Josh Schwartz, but Jamie Moss has now taken over as the film’s penner.
Singer tells Variety that he was a little uncertain about returning to the “X-Men” franchise – until an idea popped into his head that swayed his mind.
"This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn," Singer said. "There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from 'X-Men' will figure into the plot, though I don't want to say which ones (Cyclops is already a lock - Ed). There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain."
This will be Magneto and Xavier in their twenties (Though Variety says it’s still “in development”, I reckon the long-gestating “Magneto” spin-off, chronicling the early days of the helmet-headed nasty one, will been canceled in favour of this since they’ll, I assume, be roughly telling the same story – at least in terms of how Magneto became who he was), adds the trade.
"Whether it's 'Batman,' 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Star Trek,' if the characters are good, you want to see them on their journey even if you know their destiny," Singer said. "I put myself in the fan's position, and I think this story is something I would want to see, and so will they."
Producer Lauren Schuler Donner recently told Empire that "First Class" will share similarities with the "Harry Potter" movies, but it definitely won't be a kids movie. "The First Class comics are really fun - they're funnier than any other comics I've read. Basically in each one the kids are fighting strange villains, sometimes it's aliens, sometimes it's monsters. I want to get a flavour of that world. Occasionally the kids will be in class, but more often they'll be off on adventures. Which Professor X isn't too happy about! There's nothing more interesting than a bad kid, and this is full of naughty children. Cyclops, for example - he's a tough kid that bobbed from foster home to foster home, until he ends up at the school and becomes the leader. There's also still an element of friction between the mutants and the outside world. Remember that this will be set way back before anyone knew mutants existed. Right now the script is not done''.
The trade says Fox are “moving aggressively” on the project, but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen for at least a year – after all, New Line’s got Singer attached to direct their “Jack the Giant Killer” project; Universal have him pegged down to a “Battlestar Galactica” movie, and if the rights issue is cleared up soon, Singer’s also going to be starting work on a remake of “Excalibur”.
