X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Cast & Crew Talk Characters and Surprises
Fox's new X-film hits cinemas in a matter of weeks, but most of the cast and crew - including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy and Simon Kinberg - gathered to talk about some of the film's narrative challenges, surprises and callbacks to past films.
With the world premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past taking place in New York a few days ago, the mammoth cast and crew - stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Ellen Page and Peter Dinklage, with screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg, and producers Hutch Parker and Lauren Shuler-Donner - gathered for a press conference. "The whole time, as intense as the material was, it was unbelievable," said Jackman, returning as Wolverine. "I'm probably uniquely qualified to say, from working with everyone, that being on the set throughout the whole thing was a joy."
Kinberg realised the difficulty of juggling so many lead characters in a blockbuster. "I don't think I've ever seen a movie with this many lead roles. That was the biggest challenge, was just keeping all of the characters straight in their own stories, and making sure that everybody had their own emotional arc over the span of the movie… I had colored notecards on the wall, different colors for each character… but that kept it straight for me, because I could look at the board and see each of their stories broken up separately."
Of the scene where two Charles Xaivers come face-to-face, McAvoy shared his admiration for Stewart. "I've been a fan of Patrick for years. I watched him for seven years in Star Trek and way back to Dune. So getting to come and do my version of a character that he's been in charge of for fourteen years, and at his face, [it] was quite nerve-wracking." The film, based on Chris Claremont and John Byrne's classic storyline, will feature callbacks to previous films and comics. "There's so many great surprises in there for fans of the X-Men," explained Jackman, "not only comics but the film series - and yet you still make the film feel like not just a celebration, but a fresh beginning. I feel like, watching this movie, we could start again, and it feels like an opening."