"Kick-Ass 2" director Jeff Wadlow is currently making the usual press rounds to promote the second theatrical tale of Dave Lizewski and Mindy Macready. However, with SDCC and the recent reveal of an "X-Force" film in development that he's writing and probably directing, he's naturally being peppered with questions about the project. Of course, there's no specific details like who's on the team or inklings of the film's plot revealed at this time but Wadlow is willing to discuss how the project came about. Said the director,
"Basically when they announced that Mark [Millar] was going to be overseeing the title for Fox … basically, they were talking about all these different ideas for franchises they could build and characters, and I said, “X-Force. Gotta do an X-Force movie.” And they originally said, “Maybe that’s a second step.” And I said, “No, it’s about teams.” That’s what, to me, the X universe is about. It’s not about doing movies with individual characters and then bringing them together in a team; that’s what Marvel already did with The Avengers. I think the next step is to have these teams and see how they bounce off of each other, that’s where you can have crossover potential. I said, “The first one’s gotta be X-Force and I want to do it. What’s it going to take?” Mark was really supportive and he’s just been a tremendous ally of mine. I’m really grateful that he went to Fox and said, “This is the guy.”
To that end, Wadlow adds that the project comes from his imagination, not from a film studio simply looking to hold on to character rights or for some other, less than altruistic reason.
"It’s 100% the version I wanted to do. I worked it out. This wasn’t some open assignment where they were like, ‘Who’s out there that wants to do this?’ When I heard Mark get that job, I said, ‘I want to do an X-Force movie and this is the way I would do it.’ I pitched to him and he gave me a few ideas and some notes, not as a studio mandate, just as a friend and a collaborator. Steve Asbell at Fox heard it, loved it, bought it and said, ‘Let’s do it!’ It’s the movie I wanted to make.”
Jeff definitely seems to have the passion for the project and in previous interviews, it's readily apparent that he's been reading the X-books for a long time. It will be interesting to find out at some point down the line whether
the proposed "New Mutants" film that was confirmed by now-departed CEO Tom Rothman evolved into this project or if that is still its own separate thing.
RELATED CONTENT:
SDCC '13: Jeff Wadlow Talks 'X-FORCE', Says He's 20 Pgs Into First Draft