Our two directors in this latest installment of Movie Magic Case Study are no strangers to controversy. The enigmatic Bryan Singer saw great success with X-Men and X-Men 2 but lost a large portion of his "fandamonium" [coining that phrase] support with the release of Superman Returns. Louis Leterrier had different controversial circumstances to deal with, namely Edward Norton. Still, these two directors were able to achieve success with their debut comic book movies and it is these titular films we will use as the backdrop to assess their dictatorial styles. We'll look at each directors methodology, their end product, and decide which approach is better for today's comic book movie.
Marvel's X-Men is probably the publishers most beloved and well-known super powered team within non comic book enthusiast circles [this is probably set to change when the broader public is introduced to The Avengers in 2012]. Having acquired the rights to Marvel's mutant population in 1994, 20th Century Fox knew they had a potential tent-pole franchise on their hands. But let's wind back a few years earlier and look at where the franchise almost ended up. Throughout 1989 and 1990, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont were in discussions with James Cameron and Carolco Pictures for an X-Men film adaptation. The deal fell apart when Cameron went to work [unsuccessfully] on Spider-Man, Carolco went bankrupt, and the film rights reverted to Marvel Studios. In December 1992, Marvel discussed selling the property to Columbia Pictures but to no avail. Meanwhile, Avi Arad who produced the animated X-Men TV series for Fox Kids pitched a movie idea to 20th Century Fox, who already impressed by the success of the cartoon show, brought in producer Lauren Shuler Donner to get the ball rolling on a live action adaption. One has to wonder what we could've gotten from a Columbia Pictures X-Men or where we would be today if Marvel was unable to sell the film rights?
Alas, a deal was struck and Andrew Kevin Walker was hired to write the script in early 1994. Walker's draft involved Professor Xavier recruiting Wolverine into the X-Men, which consists of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Angel. The Brotherhood of Mutants, which consisted of Magneto, Sabretooth, Toad, and the Blob, try to conquer New York City, while Henry Peter Gyrich and Bolivar Trask attack the X-Men with three 8 feet (2.4 m) tall Sentinels. The script focused on the rivalry between Wolverine and Cyclops, as well as the latter's self-doubt as a field leader. Part of the backstory invented for Magneto made him the cause of the Chernobyl disaster. The script also featured the X-Copter and the Danger Room [Holy sh*#, that sounds hot!]. Ultimately, Fox didn't like the script and a bevy
of writers were brought in for re-writes over the next few years. I'll talk more about this in one of the
Looking Back editorials. Still without a script, Fox kept the development wheel turning by pursuing a director for the project. Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron were early candidates before the studio locked in on Bryan Singer in 1996, to the studios dismay, Singer turned them down, not once, not twice, but three times before he accepted. Initially reluctant because he felt comics were "unintelligent literature", Singer immediately changed his mind after reading the comics and watching the Saturday morning cartoon. Once on board, Singer took up a leadership position in getting a script hammered out. Teaming up with producer Tom Desanto, the two produced a treatment that would ultimately become the script. The treatment focused on a Martin Luther King/ Malcolm X approach to the character and relationship between Professor X and Magneto. Fox greenlit the script but deleted Beast, Nightcrawler, Pyro, and the Danger Room in order to drop the film's production cost.
Now as for casting, Russell Crowe was Singer's first choice to play Wolverine. Crowe didn't work out due to salary demands and Dougray Scott was cast in the role but backed out at the last minute due to sequel requirements which conflicted with filming Mission Impossible. Already three weeks into filming, relatively unknown actor Hugh Jackman was cast in the role. Before Jackman was hired, Keanu Reeves expressed interest in the role [Wow, this guy's name seems to come up in almost every article I write about these scenarios, WTF.]. For Professor X, Patrick Stewart was the front runner all along. James Caviezel was originally cast as Cyclops, but backed out due to scheduling conflicts with Frequency. Eric Mabius expressed interest for the role before James Marsden was cast. Angela Bassett was approached to portray Storm in late 1997, as was Janet Jackson. Lastly, Terence Stamp was considered for Magneto before Singer cast Ian McKellen. Fun Fact: George Buza, the voice of Beast in X-Men: The Animated Series, appeared as the truck driver who drops Rogue off at the bar at which Wolverine fights in the cage.
Russell Crowe was Singer's first choice for Wolverine. |
After, moving past his initial reluctance, Singer was 110% committed to making a great X-Men movie. While perfecting the script, Singer also visited the sets of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Titanic to get a better understanding of computer generated special effects [this was the late 1990's after all]. Singer even looked at incorporating the blue and yellow team outfits into the film but after test screens decided that it "just didn't work" [I'd love to see photos of that test screen]. Singer on his approach to the film:
"We're taking the subject matter very seriously. This will not be a comic-book style film, for 'the X-Men' are an ensemble of anti-heroes, and we've figured out a way to make the story accessible to fans and non-fans alike. The story deals with the origins of the characters, but its not completely based on the first comic book."
And indeed it wasn't. Reportedly, Singer challenged every pre-conceived notion that made it's way into the story under the pretext of "Because they're superheroes and that's what they do". The script was constantly being rewritten all the way through the film's production. There's was also a huge debate over the film's fighting sequences but it was ultimately decided to follow the style of The Matrix based on the fact that it was a huge box-office success. Singer may not have wanted to make a quote, "comic book style movie" [read The Spirit] but he did state that he wanted to respect the mythology. What was important to him was establishing the underlining political and social themes with the source material coming in a distant second. It should also be noted that during production, Singer was infamous for taxing the cast and crews stamina with long shoots and countless takes.
Dougray Scott was cast as Wolverine but 3 weeks into shooting he had to
drop out due to commitments to Mission Impossible. I wonder if he would make
the same decision if he could do it over again? |
Note: I hate to do this but this one will be a two-parter as there were just too many juicy tidbit and odd facts to cut. It was either going to be a VERY long article or a 2-parter and I went with the ladder. The second part featuring Louis Leterrier's Incredible Hulk, my analysis, and the poll will be posted tomorrow.]
MOVIE MAGIC CASE STUDY SERIES
X-Men is a 2000 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics characters of the same name. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Famke Janssen, Bruce Davison, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Ray Park and Tyler Mane. It introduces Wolverine and Rogue into the conflict between Professor Xavier's X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto. Magneto intends to mutate world leaders at a United Nations summit with a machine he has built to bring about acceptance of mutantkind, but Xavier realizes this forced mutation will only result in their deaths.
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