Excitement and anticipation are high for Bryan Singer's return to the X-Men franchise. He helped jumpstart the current superhero craze back in 2000 with the release of the first film featuring Charles Xavier's team of mutants. Singer is returning for the seventh film in the franchise, titled Days of Future Past, that will unite both the original ensemble cast and the fresh blood seen in 2011's prequel, titled First Class. The time travel story could very well serve as the shot of adrenaline the franchise needs to continue onward, and perhaps solve a few of the discrepancies and missteps of past films by "fixing" some of the problems via familiar (but convenient) time travel tropes. Because of the film's enormous cast, Singer has been walking a tightrope in terms of keeping the film focused. It will be all too easy for the film to feel overblown, and because of this one of the franchise's early key players will be absent from the DOFP reunion. Entertainment Weekly spoke with Singer, who confirmed that Anna Paquin, who played Rogue in the first 3 films, has been cut from the theatrical cut of the film:
"Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous. It's a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she's in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won't appear in it."
He assured EW that it had nothing to do with Paquin's performance, and fans should be grateful that the director is shaving off any unnecessary plot points in favor of telling a good story. Rogue has been one of the characters criminally mistreated in the franchise, and it's a shame she won't get another shot at the big screen, but perhaps it's for the best.
James is a 24 year old writer and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. He attended college for graphic design and writes for various sources on the web about film, television, and entertainment.
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