Tom DeSanto, executive producer of X-Men and its upcoming sequel X2, told The Continuum that the character of Rogue has a definite growth arc that was planned in the first film.
"It gets back to the roots of the character with Rogue," DeSanto told The Continuum. "So much of where that character is right now is because of where she started. The Rogue of the current comics is after the transformation.
"We're sort of going back to the roots of the character before her comfortableness with her sexuality and her sassiness. When Rogue was first brought into the X-Men, she was very timid. She couldn't touch anyone. What not only a physical curse, but an emotional and psychological curse. Eventually, through time and her feeling of family and kinship, she was able to relax and let those self-imposed walls down that she had built up."
DeSanto said the filmmakers were "really blessed" to get Anna Paquin to play Rogue.
"She's amazing," he said. "And, as a fan, to have an Oscar-winning actress not only associated with X-Men but playing Rogue, who is one of my favorite characters … she just does an amazing job."
In other X-Men news:
* X2 and Daredevil are among the films in a deal between 20th Century Fox and CinemaNow, a leader in Internet video-on-demand distribution and technology, to offer Fox films for download via the CinemaNow Website, www.cinemanow.com.
CinemaNow will offer Fox's new release titles the same day they become available via traditional pay-per-view outlets, while also making available previously released films from the extensive Fox library.
New release titles will be priced at $3.99 for 24 hours of unlimited viewing, and library films will be priced at $2.99 for 24 hours of unlimited viewing. All Fox titles will be made available in Microsoft's Windows Media 9 Series format.