Speaking to the Huffington Post to promote his new film, Trance - directed by Danny Boyle; actor James McAvoy also discussed a few tidbits on Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
McAvoy responds to a question of whether he was surprised by the positive fan reaction to his portrayal of Professor X in X-Men: First Class. McAvoy played the character much differently than his predecessor, Patrick Stewart.
"There's a little element in the script in the first couple of pages of Charles' character where he seems like he's sort of picking up a girl in a bar. And I thought, Let's take that and run with it. I kind of pushed and pushed -- to really try to take him as far away from the Professor X that we've seen before in the comics and the cartoon and as portrayed by Patrick in the movies as well -- he's kind of like a monk. He's a sage. And he's wise and he's very in control of himself and sort of selfless. I wanted to take him the opposite way -- without making him a bad guy. But, make him selfish and a little bit egotistical and all of those things. I think that helped -- the fact I wasn't actually trying to do Patrick Stewart in the body of a 30-year-old man. I think if I would have done that, people would have rejected me."
With First Class over and done, is there going to be a shift in McAvoy's portrayal of the professor in Days of Future Past? At the conclusion of First Class, we have Charles in the familiar wheelchair and the film will be taking place nearly a decade later. All factors that mean McAvoy should be studying Patrick Stewart very closely.....right?
"No. Not yet. I think that may come. I mean, who knows? Who knows where it's going to go? That may come in the third movie but definitely not in this movie. We're not in the same place that we were in the first movie with Charles -- a very different place from there. But we're also still on a very different place from where Patrick was in the other movies."
Interesting. McAvoy has his script for Days of Future Past finally and he's been in touch with Bryan Singer and others in the film's cast. Have discussions about a third X-Men prequel/sequel already begun? It's also very interesting to hear that nearly 10 years after the events of First Class, McAvoy's Professor X still isn't very similar to the one first portrayed by Patrick Stewart back in 2000. What other sobering events will occur in Days of Future Past that will change him into the sage and wise mentor of the X-Men?
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