Singer talks X-Men 4
Drops hints about other X-Verse projects...
While revving up his latest dalliance with the X-Verse, X-Men: First Class , director Bryan Singer has dished out some delicious tid-bits about his future with our favourite mutants.
Though he’s busy with First Class , it seems that he could also been involved in Wolverine 2 and X-Men 4 in some capacity...
Where did this all come about? Well, Hero Complex ran a commemorative piece yesterday, speaking with Singer and producer Lauren Shuler Donner about their memories of the X flicks.
But it wasn’t long before discussion turned to upcoming projects.
To begin with, Singer chatted about his approach to First Class , revealing that it will mostly focus on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto – more specifically around the time when their friendship started to get past its sell-by date.
“Just doing younger mutants is not enough,” he says. “The story needs to be more than that. I love the relationship between Magneto and Xavier, these two men who have diametrically opposite points of view but still manage to be friends - to a point. They are the ultimate frenemies.”
The flick will follow the inception of the mutant school, and feature younger incarnations of Cylcops, Jean Grey and Beast. No word if Hugh Jackman's near-ageless Wolverine will put in an appearance.
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Speaking of which, Singer revealed that he and Jackman have been talking about “a project”, though it’s not made clear if it’s Wolverine 2 . “I wish I could be four people,” the director said. “I could make everybody happy.”
Finally, and most tantalisingly, when the topic of X-Men 4 pitched up, Singer said to Donner: “Hold that one off for just a little; I’m fixated on the other one right now.”
In response, Donner nodded and said: “I will, I will … I’m holding it open with high hopes. It’s totally different [ from First Class ] and it will be so interesting for you.”
Which is all pretty mind-blowing news for X-Fans. After third X -flick The Last Stand went to Brett Ratner and bombed with critics and audiences, it was all but assumed that the series had hit a brick wall.
But now it appears that Singer is not only open to returning, but also actively interested in doing an X4 at some point in the future. Can't blame the fella since his dream Superman gig fell through after one movie.
Now if we could just find a way to rapidly evolve him into a mutant so that he could get all this done in the next year or two, we’d be happy wannabe monsters.
X-Cited by all the X-Men talk, or just plain X-Hausted?
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.