THR caught up with Simon Kinberg for an in depth interview about the latest X-Men film, Days of Future Past. Kinberg talks in great length about the films ending and discusses some of the films key scenes
With Charles and Erics relationship being at the forefront of First Class as well as being heavily explored in the original trilogy, Kinberg stated that he
'wanted to have a feeling of resolution at the end for the old Charles and Eric.' Refrencing the duos offscreen friendship, Kinberg said
'there is some real affection that you feel in their scenes together' adding that the line where Magneto reveals the regret he feels between himself and Charles
'wrote itself.'
The ending of Days of Future Past has been heavily praised by fans for correcting the mistakes of the franchise but Kinberg revealed that wasnt the original plan:
'The notion was always that at the end of the movie we return to the mansion and the school and the X-men we met in X 1.' However, not every character is present at the end of the film leaving an
'opportunity for mystery about what happened to some of them.'
Kinberg further discussed the ending, describing it as a
'final goodbye for the original actors' before saying
'there's some part of our brains that hopes we will see them again, but we wanted to tell a story that felt like a conclusion to their stories.'
When asked about balancing the large ensemble cast, Kinberg said that was achieved by making
'sure the main five or six characters had beginnings, middles and ends - challenges, crises, breakthroughs.
Unlike previous X-Men films, Wolverine wasn't the lead protagonist as Kinberg believes
'in an ensemble film, you have to choose a main character' which ultimately became Charles as the character was left
'in such an intersting place at the end of First Class, having lost his legs and one of his best friends and essentially his sister.'
Another noticable change for the franchise was the role reversal between Logan and Charles which Kinberg thought was
'ironic and interesting' as it
'has it's own humour to it.' Adding,
'Logan's character has almost like an inside joke for the duration of the time he's in 1973. he's looking at this guy knowing what he becomes but not knowing how to get him there.'
Kinberg revealed his favourite scene in the movie is between young and old Charles but described the process of writing that particular scene as
'very emotional.' On set however;
'the actual making of it was probably the most charged and emotional day because there was this handoff.'
Kinberg also explained a time travel rule created in the film that meant that
'every time something happened in 1973 and you cut back to the future, you didnt have to track the butterfly effect of every nuance that was changed from the ripple in the past.' With Wolverine spending most of the movie in the past, until he returned back
'whatever he does doesn't have an impact on the future.'
Quicksilver's role in the film which was heavily criticsed at first amazed many fans and has became a stand out moment for many. Kinberg again says the original draft featured a young Juggernaut aiding in the prison break but director bryan Singer changed it to Quicksilver. The director found
'high speed photography on the internet' which helped make the scene visually memorable.
When asked how Marvel Studios will handle the character in 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron', Kinberg replied positively saying 'I'm sure they'll do a good job with it.' He then compared the two versions to the many X-men actors who have played Macbeth:
'Macbeth is an interesting one because all four of our main actors -- McAvoy, [Michael] Fassbender, Ian, Patrick -- have done famous productions of Macbeth. If the world can handle that, it can definitely handle two Quicksilvers'.
With Fox owning the character rights to Marvels first family, The Fantastic Four, many fans believed a crossover was on the table at some point to which Kinberg responded
'anything is possible'. However, the X-Men franchise have never acknowledged another group of heroes which could be problematic as
The Fantastic Four live in a world where they are fantastic because they are the only people who have super powers' and
'if they were to live in a world full of mutants, they would kind of just be four more mutants'.