Here's that iconic and recognisable image of the
X-Men franchise that if I were 20th Century Fox, I would certainly have made sure it was released first over everything else. As I said
a few hours ago, it does seem like Fox are scrambling around, desperately trying to erase that badly Photoshopped
Fantastic Four style image from our minds and finally, we are starting to peak behind-the-curtain of their most ambitious X-movie yet. Speaking to
/film last night, director Matthew Vaughn revealed of his anger at this week's leak...
I freaked out on them yesterday. I dont know where the hell that came from. I dont think its a Fox image. Its not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. Its like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didnt reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like Jesus Christ Im a fan of X-Men. Were not bastardizing X-Men, Im trying to get them back to being whole again."
The great thing about the situation for us X-Men fans is that Fox and Vaughn are now shooting off both barrels of X-Men coverage just to please us. We saw those new images yesterday, and now /film have that iconic look at Magneto above, as played by
Michael Fassbender, which gives us a good look at the costume from a real official still. Long time X-fans will probably notice the yellow and blue's of the Stan Lee/Marvel original designs of the 60's. Interestingly, if you scroll up to the image, the suits seem to have straps like a life support. Vaughn says;
The costumes are blue and yellow as well, because fuck it, lets take it back it the original. Also, by the way, those costumes are hardly in the movie. The main costumes are like these cool 60s James Bond
Apparently the costumes won't be seen until the final act of the movie as the film is very much about the early days in the formation of the group, set firmly in the 60's;
Imagine the Cuban Missile crisis and discovering that mutants exist, both at the same time. The actors are so great. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are very very hard to replace. When Im watching Fassbender and McAvoy you just think, it sort of reminds me of Daniel Craig doing Bond, you kind of forget there were other people playing him. And thats what I feel about these two.
Encouraging stuff of course but everytime I see McAvoy, he seems to be trying his damned hardest to pull off a Spock impression. There's nothing natural here about him trying to recapture Patrick Stewart and the stills of him have underwhelmed me so far;
Over the misleading that the leaked costume photo has caused among the public, thinking it might be Fantastic Four style movie, Vaughn says;
Its definitely more serious and more realistic, and I think thats something that had to happen. Thats my feeling about the world we live in right now. I think the glossy colorful superhero film sorta had its day. I think Batman Begins started it, Dark Knight, dare I say Kick-Ass was fun and it had some real pop to it, but at the same time we grounded it in reality as much as possible. I think thats what the audience wants. And that why that image is more Fantastic Four than it is X-Men. And I say that with all due respect to the Fantastic Four team. That was then and this is now. Its a different time. I mean, look at me Im not exactly mister light.
On the level of action scenes;
Its funny that you say that because if you watch there isnt as much action as youd think. I think X-men 3 had the most action. But X1 and X2 had cool set pieces. But for me, I think its boring watching CG and big explosions. Im sorta over that. Id say its got more character-driven action than action for the sake of action.
And is a reboot or isn't it?
"Id say this is more like Casino Royale than Star Trek. If you think about it, Casino Royale just totally rebooted Bond they kept what they wanted and got rid of what didnt work. You sort of saw Bond become a double O for the first time and yet it didnt seem to matter . I think my rule is to make a stand alone movie that is as good as possible and do as many nods and winks towards the comics and the other films, but not get tied up in knots worrying about that. Its sort of a stand-alone movie in my mind with a reboot being a real reboot. Because if youre a stickler for continuity, in X3 when you see Patrick Stewart. well, I dont want to give away anything about the plot but weve been as respectful of the other movies and comics as we I can feasibly can be without compromising the story.
Last night's X-Men: First Class charm offensive also spread to another popular fanboy site. Whilst Matthew Vaughn called /film from his editing bay in London, X-Men producer Bryan Singer was doing his damage limitation duties by calling a hospital ridden
Harry Knowles at AICN (get well soon mate!) and providing him the exclusive debut of the teaser poster, surely the most similar to the previous franchise image we've had so far;
Harry says;
Bryan tells me that he's seen a mock up for the trailer, but they've still got a ton of visual effects shots left to slug into the thing.
I imagine the way Fox are trying to please us, we'll be seeing the trailer sooner rather than later! X-Men: First Class opens in June. I would love to hear what you think of everything that's gone on this week....