Simon Kinberg Dishes On X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, 'Four Horsemen' And Channing Tatum's GAMBIT
Addressing whether Channing Tatum's Gambit will appear in a team-up X-Men movie or his very own, Simon Kinberg now talks all about X-Men: Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen's identities. Check it out
When Latino Review caught up with Simon Kinberg, who is helping Fox Studios to expand and establish its own Marvel Cinematic Universe with X-Men and Fantastic Four, the writer/producer discussed Marvel's First Family reboot as well as the 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse. "We think about these X-Men movies as spread over – X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past to Apocalypse was imagined as a trilogy for us," he said, when asked if he sees the franchise being single narrative like Marvel Studios' different phases. "It’s the Origin stories in some ways of Charles, Raven, Hank and Eric and we will be settling things up in Apocalypse that will be generating new stories. We look at it globally as to where to mutants fit into the world. That’s why we jump from the 60’s to the 70’s and now the 80’s. We really want to be able to track the progression of the world and where do mutants fit in that world. It’s a pretty radical thing to do in any movie but certainly in a superhero franchise where you are jumping a decade each time you make a film. The reason that it is globally is that we wanted to be able to track the impact of mutants and the emergence of mutants into the world. Personally, we are very clear from the beginning as to how Charles, Eric and Raven especially dovetail, duck and weave in and out of each others lives. We were building, in some ways, a trilogy that is a story of three people; a brother, a little sister and another man who comes, in some ways, as a brother and how that sister leaves with the new brother. The war for that sisters’ soul between these two men defines First Class, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse . That’s a larger story we are telling even though each of those films is its own coherent and complete film. You can look at the arc of those three characters almost like a television show arcing over three complete episodes."
Simon Kinberg then confirmed that, like First Class did with 1960s and Days of Future Past with the 70s, X-Men: Apocalypse will "take advantage of the historical context of the 80s." He was then asked about Channing Tatum playing Gambit on the big-screen and if he'll be introduced in a team movie (like Apocalypse) before getting his own solo movie or vice versa. "I genuinely don’t know the answer to that question," Kingberg responded. "It’s something we are all talking about whether it would be good for Gambit to be in a mainline X-Men movie or he would be in his own stand-alone movie potentially one day to be able to be in another X-Men movie after his Gambit movie introduces him. I really don’t know the answer. I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule which way is better. I think both ways have worked and I think actually the real question will be is there a role that is strong and specific enough for Gambit in a mainline X-Men movie whether it be Apocalypse or future X-Men movie that would be the right way to introduce the character. You don’t want to stick characters in these movies and manufacture something for them to do. You want the movie to tell you that it needs another character or ideally it needs this specific character." And finally, Simon Kinberg was persuaded to discuss the identity of the Four Horsemen in X-Men: Apocalypse. "I will tell you this and obviously there are a lot of different versions of the Horseman over the books, and this will not reveal any of the identities so I apologize in advance," he started. "I will let you know that our choosing of the Horseman was something that we, Bryan and myself took very, very seriously and did only after an exhaustive review of all the different Horseman, both in the comics and the cartoons who have at one point or another fallen under Apocalypse." What do you think?
Starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence (among others), X-Men: Apocalypse is expected to be directed by Bryan Singer and is set for release May 27, 2016.