Entrevista de Slashfilm.com a Matthew Vaughn sobre First Class (en ingles)

Exclusive: Matthew Vaughn Talks Leaked ‘X-Men: First Class’ Photo, Reveals Magneto and Professor X Images

Posted, January 20th, 2011 by Peter Sciretta

Remember that X-Men: First Class cast photo that leaked online yesterday that you hated? Director Matthew Vaughn hated it too. While I was heading out the door to the airport (Sundance Film Festival here I come) I received a phone call from Vaughn who wanted to set the record straight about the photo. And to make up for it he gave us two much more inspiring images of the main characters in his upcoming superhero film.

“I freaked out on them yesterday. I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’…

Vaughn assures fans that he has the best intentions.

“I’m a fan of X-Men. We’re not bastardizing X-Men, I’m trying to get them back to being whole again.

As for the costumes…

The costumes are blue and yellow as well, because fuck it, lets take it back it the original. Also, by the way, those costumes are hardly in the movie. The main costumes are like these cool 60’s James Bond…”

You have to remember that this is a prequel story about how the mutants gathered together and formed the X-Men. I’m sure the suits don’t come together until very late in the game. Vaughn provided us with two exclusive images from the film which show James McAvoy as a pre-wheel chair Professor Charles Xavier and a costumed Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, complete with Magneto’s trademark helmet.

“Imagine the Cuban Missile crisis and discovering that mutants exist, both at the same time.” … “The actors are so great. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are very very hard to replace. When I’m watching Fassbender and McAvoy you just think, it sort of reminds me of Daniel Craig doing Bond, you kind of forget there were other people playing him. And that’s what I feel about these two.”

I think a lot of people saw the image and the first thing that came to mind was Fantastic Four, and Vaughn says X-Men: First Class is as far away from Fantastic Four as you can possibly get.

“It’s definitely more serious and more realistic, and I think that’s something that had to happen. That’s my feeling about the world we live in right now. I think the glossy colorful superhero film sorta had its day. I think Batman Begins started it, Dark Knight, dare I say Kick-Ass was fun and it had some real pop to it, but at the same time we grounded it in reality as much as possible. I think that’s what the audience wants. And that why that image is more Fantastic Four than it is X-Men. And I say that with all due respect to the Fantastic Four team. That was then and this is now. It’s a different time. I mean, look at me — I’m not exactly mister light.”

When asked if not having suits for a big portion of the movie might mean we could expect less action than previous installments, Vaughn responded that First Class “has a fair amount in there.”

It’s funny that you say that because if you watch [the other x-men movies] there isn’t as much action as you’d think. I think X-men 3 had the most action. But X1 and X2 had cool set pieces. But for me, I think it’s boring watching CG and big explosions. I’m sorta over that. I’d say it’s got more character-driven action than action for the sake of action.

As for keeping the fans of the series happy, Vaughn says he did “a lot of research on the X-men comics” and is trying to be faithful to the mythology set-up over the years.

I’d say this is more like Casino Royale than [JJ Abrams] Star Trek. If you think about it, Casino Royale just totally rebooted Bond — they kept what they wanted and got rid of what didn’t work. You sort of saw Bond become a double O for the first time and yet it didn’t seem to matter [what they changed]. I think my rule is to make a stand alone movie that is as good as possible and do as many nods and winks towards the comics and the other films, but not get tied up in knots worrying about that. It’s sort of a stand-alone movie in my mind with a reboot being a real reboot. Because if you’re a stickler for continuity, in X3 when you see Patrick Stewart…. well, I don’t want to give away anything about the plot but we’ve been as respectful of the other movies and comics as we I can feasibly can be without compromising the story.”

Vaughn is currently busy editing the film in London. The first teaser poster premiered on Aint It Cool News earlier tonight. I asked when we could expect a first trailer, but he was unsure. I can’t wait to see more.

Teaser de X-men First Class

Reporte: First Class lucha por finalizar el rodaje antes del estreno (en inglés)

New 'X-Men: First Class' Images Hit As Crew Rushes to Finish Production

By Mike Bracken, Jan 19th 2011 9:30PM, Cinematical

While Bat-mania has been sweeping the Internet all day thanks to the announcement that Anne Hathaway will play Selina Kyle while Tom Hardy will tackle the role of Bane in Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises,' that isn't the only comic book movie making news.

On the Marvel front, Matthew Vaughn and company are still hard at work on 'X-Men: First Class,' the prequel story set to highlight the origins of Charles Xavier's merry band of super-powered mutants. While maybe not quite as anticipated as a third 'Batman' movie, Fox is betting big bucks that Vaughn will deliver a film guaranteed to bring Marvel's "true believers" into the theater in droves this June 3rd. The only potential snag? The film hasn't finished shooting yet, as highlighted in the emergence of several new set photos.

"I'm at that stage where I feel like a boxer against the ropes," director Vaughn tells the LA Times' 'Hero Complex' blog. "I'm just throwing punches and taking them as they come and making sure I don't hit the canvas." With a release date looming and a studio breathing down his neck, Vaughn is clearly feeling the strain of making the largest film of his career, but the director isn't cracking despite these conditions being totally alien to him.

"I've never worked under such time pressure. The good thing about the independent world is I never even knew if I was going to get distribution. I'm used to finishing a film and then crossing your fingers that someone is going to like it. This is totally doing it the other way around. We've definitely got a release date and we've got to make it."

Luckily for the filmmaker, he's not tasked with going up against Nolan's juggernaut – but that doesn't make this summer season any less crowded. 'First Class' will square off against three other superhero films for box office supremacy, including 'Thor,' 'The Green Lantern' and 'Captain America: The First Avenger.' Vaughn is confident about beating all of them. "... look, I will say the following: X-Men as a brand is bigger than Captain America, Thor and the Green Lantern, all put together."

Bold, but arguably true, words if comic sales and box office are to be believed. The three previous 'X-Men' films have earned over a billion dollars combined. However, this is an origin story – with Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsher being played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender and not Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. Will fans accept these new actors in the familiar roles? They'll have to if 'First Class' is to succeed at the box office.

Vaughn's film, which is being produced by Bryan Singer, returns to the early days of the X-Men, when Xavier and Lehnsher (who would later become Magneto) are still friends. Singer points out that this bond between the two men and how their differing views in approaching a common cause (the producer compares the character arcs to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X) eventually leads to a rift will make up the moral center of the film. Oh, and there'll be lots of superheros running around too. The all-star cast of mutants includes Kevin Bacon, January Jones and Lucas Till amongst others. Despite rumors, it appears as though Wolverine will not be appearing in the film.

Hopefully Vaughn can wrap up production on the film soon so that 'X-Men: First Class can make its June release date. In the meantime, enjoy these new photos from the shoot and swing by 'Hero Complex' for even more pictures and details about the film. We've also posted the brand new teaser poster below.

Entrevista a Kevin Bacon, Sebastian Shaw en First Class (en ingles)

By Sharon Knolle, http://blog.moviefone.com/

Posted Jan 19th 2011 8:00AM

As all 'X-Men' fans know, 'X-Men: First Class' is going back to the very beginning, before Charles Xavier was known as Professor X and Eric Lensherr became Magneto, with 'Kick-Ass' director Matthew Vaughn at the helm.

Kevin Bacon took some time out of his Golden Globes day to chat with Moviefone about joining the X-Men family. He plays villain Sebastian Shaw, a powerful mutant who's planning to take over the world amidst the backdrop of the swinging '60s and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bacon teased some great scenes opposite the new Magneto (Michael Fassbender of 'Inglourious Basterds') and his character's cool '60s style, including a private inner sanctum and his own sub.

He also told us how he feels about the 'Footloose' remake and whether we can expect to see him in a cameo.

What can you tell us about your character, Sebastian Shaw, and how he figures into the plot?
You don't see much [of his backstory] in the movie, but he's kind of a self-made man. He lost his father as a young man, made his first million by the time he was 30 and first billion by time he was 40. He's a very powerful billionaire and also, as it turns out, a mutant. He's the leader of the Hellfire Club, which is a nightclub for the rich and extremely powerful. And he has a plot to take over the world, so that's really fun. He's incredibly good at manipulating people and at taking whatever kind of energy or ability they have and using it to his advantage, like if he's talking to a German, he's fluent in German. He's very charming and able to get whatever he wants.

Why did you decide to take on this sort of role?
I was a big fan of 'Kick-Ass' and someone told me I should go read the script and meet with Matthew Vaughn and like that, I was in 'X-Men.' I liked the script, thought it was such a fresh look at the franchise, but also the comic book movies in general and certainly it's a great character. He's definitely the character I was interested in playing.

Is your look changing for the film?
My look is very different from the guy in the comic books. We decided pretty early on that that was not going to translate to film. But there's a certain kind of style to the suits that I wear, but I don't have anything extreme in the makeup department. When you first meet me -- I don't want to spoil it -- but when you first meet me, I look a little different.

Were you an X-Men fan?
Oh yes, definitely. Not so much from the comics, because I didn't read that many as a kid, but I really liked the movie. I liked the notion of being different and the metaphor for judging people by their external qualities and the idea of racism and it plays very heavily into the themes for this movie. And is there the opportunity for people who are different to assimilate or to even relate to other beings that are different from them? In our realm of the world, we have humans, various versions of that and animals and plants and nature and they're introducing another element to that and I just think that's kind of cool.

Who's your favorite X-Men character?
I always thought that it was great that you had Professor X in his wheelchair. That's really fascinating -- right from the beginning to have a lead character bound to a wheelchair is super interesting and Patrick Stewart was great in the role.

Are you signed on to more than one film?
I am, but whether or not I end up in any more remains to be seen.

Matthew Vaughn was planning a big action scene in a rotating room, but scrapped it after he saw 'Inception,' and said he needed to go bigger. How has he topped it?
I'm trying to think what scene that was. I remember hearing something about that, but I'm not sure if that was online or actually from Matthew. But we do have a really, really super cool scene in a hall of mirrors and that's going to be really spectacular.

What's the craziest-looking mutant or mutant power that will get audiences talking?
That's hard to say because when you do a movie like this, so much of this stuff is happening in post. There were some practical things, like it's no secret that Magneto has the power to move and bend metal and the way that's handled right from the first scene in the movie is going to be really cool. It's something we haven't seen in any other movie so far.

The movie is set in the '60s: Is Vaughn going for a swinging '60s, James Bond look?
There is an element of that, certainly to my character. I've got some pretty nice pads and I'm kind of slick in that way. I don't think it's visually, in terms of camera moves, it's not trying to recreate that. But it has an element of that. The set design is fantastic. I've only seen the sets that I've been on and they are really interesting and very '60s modern and super cool, and beautiful. I have one set that's kind of like an inner sanctum and then I also have a submarine; the inside of the sub has elements of my other set. I have my own set of style and wanted to translate it over to my board room and stuff. It's great. I love the way it looks.

Since descriptions of the movie's setting have mentioned JFK, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, are there any cool bits of real history that are used in the story?
The backdrop is the Cuban Missile Crisis, so it's a little earlier than the Civil Rights era. I don't think JFK is a character in the movie, but the idea of the possibility of thermonuclear war in our own backyard is there.

But there is an element of the racial tension of the times (which inspired Stan Lee in the first place)?
Yes, definitely. And also the fallout from the Holocaust is still there, which you'll remember is in the first film.

What's the coolest part of the film?
That's hard for me to say, not having seen the movie. But I think the youth of the movie, that is really exciting. You've got Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Zoë Kravitz (Angel) and James McAvoy (Professor Xavier) and all these young actors who are about to explode. When you see them become what we know of as the X-Men, to me, that's really cool. The visual stuff, I can't say, until I've seen the effects. But from a plot standpoint, watching the creation of that kind of elite squad and yet they're all in this college dorm room kind of atmosphere, where there's romances and drunken parties and people become friends and then they have a falling out. I think all that stuff is going to be really cool. All of these movies deliver something other than just another airplane blowing up because there's interesting stuff going on between the characters.

Why should X-Men fans who are worried about a Wolverine-less X-Men movie stop worrying?
I didn't know that X-Men fans were worrying about that.

What was the most fun part of playing this character?
I have a really newfound appreciation for those actors, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., and Hugh Jackman, that are able to work within this kind of genre with all the green screen and create great, memorable performances. It's very difficult; for me the most fun is always connecting on a scene and working with another actor to try to make that scene work. There was a scene near the end of the film between me and Michael Fassbender (Magneto) and the scene was okay, but I don't think either one of us was figuring it out. So Matthew let us spend a weekend up at his house and really figured it out from an acting standpoint, what this moment really means between these two. And that's the fun stuff. Hanging from a crane is fun too, but not as fun as actually connecting with another actor.

What are your thoughts on the 'Footloose' remake? Will you be doing a cameo?
I know the director and I think he's a really good choice. I've read the script and they've got a really good take on it, so we'll see. I wish them the best. They did talk to me about doing a cameo, but I'm not going to.

Are you planning on seeing the movie?
Oh, hell yes. You know, they tracked down my original screen test, and they're thinking about putting it on as an DVD extra. It's a strange thing for me, much weirder than seeing the movie. I don't watch the movies I make, so I haven't seen 'Footloose' since it came out. You see this young, hungry actor, it's pretty fun. I was the only one they screen tested. It was an attempt by the director and producer to talk the head of the studio into hiring me because they didn't want me.

Entrevista a Michael Fassbender, Magneto en First Class (en ingles)

 

Meet Magneto

 

Our exclusive look at 'X-Men: First Class' with star Michael Fassbender

 

One of the summer films that the fan community is the most curious about is "X-Men: First Class," which arrives in theaters June 3 and stars James McAvoy ("Wanted") as powerful telepath Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") as master of magnetism Erik Lehnsherr, two young mutants who join forces in the 1960s to make the world safer for their kind before they split apart and become, as Professor X and Magneto, bitter enemies. In other words, the film is a prequel to the three previous "X-Men" pictures (not counting "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"), with McAvoy and Fassbender playing younger versions of the characters first established onscreen by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

 

The film is directed by Matthew Vaughn ("Kick-Ass") and also stars January Jones ("Mad Men") as mutant vixen Emma Frost, Kevin Bacon as the villainous Sebastian Shaw, Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone") as Mystique, Jason Flemyng as Azazel and many more in a story that pits Xavier and Magneto against the powerful evil of Shaw's Hellfire Club. No footage has been released from the movie yet, but thanks to 20th Century Fox, MSN is premiering a brand-new image from the film and presenting an exclusive interview with Michael Fassbender. We reached Fassbender via phone in New York, where he is preparing for a few more days' shooting on the film, to talk about taking on the role of one of the comic books' greatest anti-heroes.

 

MSN: What drew you to play this character and take on the challenge of assuming a role established by Ian McKellen?

 

Michael Fassbender: Hopefully I won't disappoint the fan base out there, because I know that what Ian McKellen did sort of latched onto a lot of imaginations and was very successful. But what drew me was the script and Matthew Vaughn and the fact that James McAvoy was going to be playing young Xavier. I thought it was a fresh take on the whole story. I've never been a big comic book enthusiast, but I thought it was an interesting concept to go back to when they were both friends and initially came together.

 

After you signed on for the role, did a box come in the mail packed with hundreds of "X-Men" comics for you to peruse?

 

Yes, it did, and I got knee-deep into them once I got involved. That was all my source material, because it's all there in the comic books in terms of a backstory and formulating the character. I did also watch the other films and took notes from those, but took most of my references from the comic books.

 

As someone coming to this from a sort of open perspective and not really being a fan, what did you learn about this character?

 

He's such a complex character, really, and the idea of him being a villain is interesting considering his history (Lehnsherr is a Holocaust survivor who lost his family in the camps, and later lost his wife and daughter) ... he's a very solitary individual, and the pain and grief that's gone on even before we meet him in this film is an interesting pool of information to draw from, in coming up with this Machiavellian character for whom the ends justified the means. You can see where he's coming from. Human beings don't have the greatest track record in what they've done throughout history, so his point of view is, "Well, we are the next stage of evolution -- (humans) are to us what Neanderthals were to Homo sapiens."

 

He's always been a fascinating character because he's not completely wrong, but thinks that everything he does is right, no matter what the cost.

 

He's an extremist, and that's always a dangerous place to be. By the time we leave him at the end of this movie, he's become very clear about what he wants and his decisions and his game plan.

 

Early word on the movie's story line draws parallels between Xavier and Lehnsherr and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in terms of the methods they use to achieve their goals. Did that comparison come out for you while making the film?

 

You don't set out to play these things that way, but it's a good parallel to have in the back of one's mind, as something to take from real life as a reference. I didn't study any Malcolm X videos or anything like that. But it clarifies where both these characters are coming from. Hopefully by the end of the film, the audience is like, "Damn, why didn't these two guys stay together?" They have enough in common and not in common to keep each other in check, and hopefully the audience will feel like they could have worked together for the greater good.

 

The words "reboot" and "prequel" are thrown around so much these days, and are sometimes even used interchangeably. Is this a reboot of the entire "X-Men" franchise, or a true prequel where you could watch this and then sit down and watch the three earlier films and see a connection?

 

I think the fundamentals are the same. The main thread of the story is still the same. I don't really know how to answer the question because I haven't seen this one yet, so I haven't had a chance to watch it side by side with the other ones and see if they're relative to each other. Hopefully they are, I think, but also we want to do something fresh as well and open a whole new chapter with this without totally betraying what was laid down before.

 

One of the criticisms of "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006) was that a lot of mutant characters were jammed into the film, introduced and then never developed. There are a lot of mutants in this film as well, but from your perspective are they handled better here?

 

The cool thing about this movie is that I think it does deal with each individual mutant, and the ones they've chosen are all very much individuals and unique personalities with unique gifts. What's interesting is that we've gone back to a period where the mutants don't know that there are other people out there like them. They just think they're freaks and outcasts from society ... all of these new characters are fearful of their gifts and uncomfortable and misplaced in society, so hopefully when they all sort of come together and realize they're not alone and feel more comfortable in their own skin, that's a discovery for all the characters that you experience.

 

The film is set in the '60s and Vaughn has said he wanted to capture a certain look -- specifically referencing the James Bond films of that era. He has also said that the costumes will be more like the comics' versions and not the black rubber look of the other "X-Men" films. Can you comment on both of those ideas?

 

There's a scene where they just sort of transformed this hall in London into Buenos Aires Airport, and I just looked around this mock airport and said to myself, "My God, I've just had a feeling of being in the '60s." From the colors to the costume designs to the production design itself, there's a sort of nostalgia in the air when you look around the room. It's just from my own perception of the '60s, and all that came with it in terms of the music and the fashions and so forth, but all of that comes across in the visual references that we all have. All of that is there to encapsulate the feeling of that era, for sure.

 

As for our costumes, we went back and forth on so many things. We added things that worked in the comics, took them away again, and stripped them down again. ... When it came to the Magneto suit, you know, there's various stages of what has been done with it, but you will have something that is traditional to the comics. There is a helmet (laughs), which is of course essential to keep Charlie-boy out of my head, and the colors are also kept traditional to the comics, that sort of red and purple. I don't know if I'm giving you too much, but I'll say it anyway (laughs).

Fans of the "X-Men" franchise were not completely happy with the way that the third film, "X-Men: The Last Stand," was handled, even though it was financially successful, and there were grumblings about the "Wolverine" film as well. Is there a sense that you've set out to earn back the fans' trust with this one?

 

I certainly hope so. My face is gonna be up there and my name is gonna be attached to it. I've got a lot of faith in Matthew, and everyone is very passionate and working very hard to earn back any trust that's waned a little bit from the last film.

 

This interview is one of the first of the early stages of prerelease publicity for the film, which has been kept very much under wraps until now. Any other thoughts that you want to get out there about the movie at this point?

 

Well, I just hope that this and some of the photos that are being released will whet the fans' appetites for the summer. Hopefully they'll be excited.

Reporte desde el set de X-men First Class en Hero Complex (en ingles)

 

Jan. 19, 2011 | 2:47 p.m.

 

The movie posters promise that “X-Men: First Class” will be released June 3, but on Tuesday cameras were still rolling on the Fox film’s set and director Matthew Vaughn, making his biggest major studio feature film to date, sounded like a man running out of time. “I’m at that stage where I feel like a boxer against the ropes,” the director said as his crew prepared for the next shot on a location set in Long Beach. “I’m just throwing punches and taking them as they come and making sure I don’t hit the canvas.”

In the pages of Marvel Comics, the X-Men have been the ultimate outsiders for decades — even other superheroes view the strange mutant crew with mistrust, prejudice and disdain. So it’s fitting that “First Class,” the fifth Hollywood adventure for the heroes, will arrive in theaters this summer with so much to prove and plenty of doubters. For the all-new cast (led by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender), the challenge is to replace the familiar faces of the franchise; for producer Bryan Singer, the challenge is to recapture the affection of comic-book movie fans; and for Vaughn, the challenge is, well, to actually finish making the film.

“We’re filming at the moment, we’ve a lot to get done,” said a weary Vaughn, whose credits include memorable but modest-grossing indie fare like “Kick-Ass” and “Layer Cake.” “I’ve never worked under such time pressure. The good thing about the independent world is I never even knew if I was going to get distribution. I’m used to finishing a film and then crossing your fingers that someone is going to like it. This is totally doing it the other way around. We’ve definitely got a release date and we’ve got to make it.”

Vaughn is famous for firebrand candor and droll wit, and despite the hand-wringing right now among some Fox executives, the British filmmaker isn’t turning meek under the pressure. Asked if he’s concerned about the glut of superhero film competition this summer — with “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Green Lantern” and  ”Thor” – Vaughn said that, if anything, it’s the other guys who should be nervous. “With ‘Green Lantern,’ I don’t know about that one, I couldn’t get my head around the trailer, to be honest … look, I will say the following: X-Men as a brand is bigger than Captain America, Thor and the Green Lantern, all put together.”

And that is the X factor that Fox is counting on. The four mutant-hero movies to date have pulled in $1.53 billion in worldwide box office, and even when the hard-core fans of the comics grumbled about the quality of some of the movies (as they did with the Brett Ratner’s 2006 installment “X-Men: The Last Stand”), many of them still bought their tickets just so they could join in the intense Internet debates. The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy — and to date there has been no apathy when it comes to the X-Men characters that created a publishing bonanza for Marvel in the 1980s and 1990s.

“First Class” is being described as an origin story by the studio, and it is set in the 1960s, the same decade that artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee introduced the uncanny X-Men into the cosmic melodrama of their expanding Marvel universe. McAvoy is taking on the role of young Charles Xavier, the leader of the X-Men, and Fassbender is Erik Lehnsherr, the man who will become the evil mastermind Magneto. McAvoy and Fassbender are taking over movie roles originated by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, respectively, two esteemed actors who are practically revered among sci-fi and fantasy fans for their respective work in the ”Star Trek” and”The Lord of the Rings“  universes.

McAvoy has flipped between roles of art-house acclaim (“Atonement,” “The Last King of Scotland“)  and work in special-effects blockbusters (the first ”Chronicles of Narnia” film, “Wanted“) and he said that Stewart’s work as the aged, bald and wheelchair-bound Xavier is something he views as a counterpoint, not as competition.

“This isn’t a reboot, so I’m not replacing anyone, in which case you might want to try to be as different as possible and stay away from what had been done before,” McAvoy said on Monday during a break from a rescue scene that required water-tank work. “This is a prequel, so I’m the same character, just younger, but the challenge for me – and for Michael — is to show the same person in a different place in their life; to show someone before they’re this bad guy, before they’re this saint. Charles wasn’t always a … monk, this selfless, sexless monk that he becomes.”

The plot of this film is still under wraps, but it presents a world where superpowered mutants are living in secret and don’t face the public scrutiny and prejudice that are central themes in the earlier films, which are primarily set in the modern day. The friendship of future foes Xavier and Lehnsherr is the heart of the film — Singer says the two have a common cause and different approaches and he even used the life trajectories of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as a sort of shorthand for their veering paths. Despite rumors to the contrary, Vaughn said the movie will be the first X-Men film without the most famous face of the franchise, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and key characters such as Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey give way to new screen arrivals such as Emma Frost (January Jones), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and Havok (Lucas Till). 

“It is an excellent cast,” Singer said. He added that no one is more aware of the high-bar set by McKellen and Stewart. “I’m very sensitive to it. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are two of the best actors working today and that was needed to fill those shoes. Short of digitally recreating Patrick and Ian in their 20s I cant think of anyone who would be more equipped for this than these two guys. The challenge of that is what attracted James, I’m sure of it. That’s why the guy who starred in ‘Atonement’ would want to play a comic-book character in the first place because it was a role established by a really fine actor.”

Singer directed the first two “X-Men” films — which many observers cite as the starting point of more sophisticated treatment of superheroes in cinema — and then left the franchise to direct “Superman Returns,” a movie that was, on paper, a commercial success but culturally and artistically failed to capture lightning in a  bottle as the filmmaker had hoped. Now he’s returning as a producer for this “X-Men” installment and still hopes to direct another X-movie in the near future. He praised Vaughn’s vision and attention to detail and said the problems the production is now facing are merely intriguing challenges that will be overcome.

“The biggest challenge is introducing an audience to these characters in a different time – characters the audience is familiar with but now see played by younger actors and in a story taking place in a different time. We have to establish this universe. We had the challenge with the first ‘X-Men’ film, which came at a time when there were no comic-book movies [of this sort] and no template to launch from and yet you’ve got to do that. You have to put your characters out there and introduce them to a quizzical public that sort of recognizes them. But that very thing is the exciting part of it.”

– Geoff Boucher

Entrevista de IGN a January Jones como Emma Frost (en ingles)

US, January 19, 2011

Actress January Jones is no stranger to playing ice queens, having portrayed the cold Betty Draper on Mad Men for four seasons now. But this summer, Jones will portray her most chilling role yet as Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class.

Also known as The Hellfire Club's White Queen, Emma Frost is a sexy, white-clad telepath who could get anything she wanted -- money, power, prestige. She rose through the ranks of the Hellfire Club and opened her own school to train mutants and becoming an enemy of Professor Charles Xavier's gifted students.

Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake) directs X-Men: First Class, which is set against the backdrop of the early 1960s and chronicles how then-friends Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), allied by a dream of attaining justice for their fellow mutants, formed the X-Men and first take on the Hellfire Club, led by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).

Hot on the heels of 20th Century Fox's release of the first image of the cast, IGN had the chance to chat exclusively with Jones about portraying Emma Frost in the prequel/franchise reboot. Here's what she had to say:

IGN: What was your reaction to being offered a role in a X-Men film, and particularly this character?

January Jones: I was very excited to do something so different and so iconic and be a part of a franchise like that. But also there was a huge weight of responsibility, too, to portray that character. There are so many fans of the comics and the movies that -- inevitably, I'm going to disappoint someone, but I just wanted to really do my research and still have fun with it. It's been a blast so far. I just hope all the fans enjoy it as much as we have.

IGN: What were you thinking when you first saw what Emma Frost's costume: excited, scared or did you just find it ridiculous?

Jones: It was a little bit of both, '"Let's go for it!" and "You've gotta be kidding me?" No actual woman looks like that. She's very blessed, shall we say. So coming straight from Mad Men, literally the day before, there was no way I could get physically cut like that. Also, for a woman to get that physically cut and not lose the curvy areas was a bit of a challenge for me, so I just did some weight training and body sculpting. I had a lot of fun with that, too. All the stunt training and the physical aspects of the role that I didn't know I'd be doing were a lot of fun. Because her powers are very strong on both the mental and physical sides, so it was a lot of fun for me to go to different places than I've had to do as an actor before.

IGN: This is a project that came together very fast and is now coming out in just a few months, which would suggest that you guys were going to have to do a lot of effects and action shots practically. Was that the case and, if so, how was that compared to being asked to stand before a green screen and imagine what was happening?

Jones: Well, we're still shooting it. When I heard it was coming out that quickly, I had a lot of questions. They're editing as we go, doing the visual effects as we go. Obviously, I have a lot of faith in the people we're using for those things. I didn't have to do any wire work, but there was a lot of wire work involved for some of the characters and there are times when you're imagining this is going to be happening behind you so you react to that, which was my first experience with that sort of thing and which was fun. It was like coming to work and being a little kid and using your imagination and times feeling kind of silly, but embracing the fact that it's going to look awesome. And from what I've seen it looks amazingly incredible. Just Emma Frost's diamond form alone I've never seen anything like it.

IGN: Who do you have the most scenes with?

Jones: I'd say Kevin Bacon, probably, and McAvoy and Fassbender. Mostly those guys.

IGN: Can you talk about Emma's relationship with Sebastian and the Hellfire Club in the movie and how period do they get with the Hellfire Club?

Jones: I don't want to give any of that away as far as their relationship, but I can say that it doesn't feel like a period movie. There's obviously historical aspects in the storytelling and some of the props and stuff, but I think it feels very modern. It does take place in 1962. One of the things that's brought in from that time, the Hellfire Club aspect especially, is that it's pretty -- I dunno, the Bunnies and the Playboy clubs. It's really cool. You'd think Sinatra was there. The sets are really cool and the vibe of the whole thing is really neat.

IGN: It sounds like the kind of place the guys from Sterling Cooper Draper Price wouldn't mind frequenting.

Jones: Yeah, but with really badass mutants hanging out as well.

IGN: How much of Emma's background -- in the comics she's a self-made woman, comes from lots of money and an old Yankee family -- how much of that do we learn about in the movie, or is she really just more of a mysterious femme fatale type here?

Jones: Not in this one. We don't go into too much of the backstory. Not really. it's more of a mystery about the relationship she has with Shaw and her past and why she reacts certain ways to certain things. I think the fans of the comic who know her history will understand why she does certain things because they know her, but I don't think it'll be confusing to audiences who don't know her backstory either.

IGN: So is she definitely a villain in the movie or is she a bit more ambiguous, sort of like maybe a Bond girl where you don't know whose side she's on?

Jones: Well, she's on the side of the mutants. I have hard time defining who is good guy-bad guy in this because everyone's pro-mutant. It's just whether you trust the humans or you don't. So I can't say whether she's a bad guy or a good guy.

IGN: Can you say whether you'd do a sequel?

Jones: Yeah, I'd love to do another one. I've had a great experience on this one. It's been really, really fun and just an exciting place to go to work. Just a lot of great talent and also we just get to play. It feels like being a kid again, although my outfits are not. (laughs)

IGN: Do you think that since it's a period comic book film that's what will help differentiate it from the other comic book movies coming out soon and will make it stand out more to filmgoers? Yes, it's a recognizable brand name, but in no way like you've seen it before.

Jones: Yeah, I think that aspect will help it. I think it's just an intelligent story as well because of the history, it's a period piece, it brings in a lot of characters' backstories. You can see Professor X and Magneto and how this all came about and Sebastian Shaw. I think just having that backstory and that kind of drama aspect to it just brings a whole new level to the storytelling. It's not just all in-your-face action. There's also a real dramatic storyline underneath it that makes it much more interesting. I also think it was very smart to take a real-life historical event like the Cuban Missile Crisis or whatever it is during that time in 1962 and weave all these different storylines of these mutants. It's a really good idea that makes you feel like it could have happened or that maybe it did. I think having it set in that time will just take it up a notch.

X-Men: First Class opens June 3.

Imágen de X-men First Class

Spoilers de First Class

Desde la web española tublogdecine.es nos llegan spoilers de la próxima pelicula de x-men First Class:

‘X-Men: First Class’, ronda de spoilers sin base científica. Los crees o no / Jorge Rubio / 31 de Diciembre 2010

Se me acumula todo lo que ha soltado un presunto trabajador de ‘X-Men: First Class’ tras pasar los meses de rodaje junto a lo que será el casting y equipo de producción de uno de los films del próximo verano. El tipo no aporta ni siquiera fotocopia de su acreditación (si lo hace la Fox lo acribilla), pero podemos creernos, o no, lo que cuenta.

Ojo, desvela datos como los trajes que veremos en pantalla para la novata Patrulla-X, quien lucha con quien, pinceladas de la trama…o que hay un villano que aún no conocemos. Uhmmmm.

Todo, en boca del ‘trabajador chivato’, SPOILERS y rumores sin confirmar:

- Los trajes de los ‘X-Men’ son azules y amarillos, como los clásicos de los 60. Pintan bien. Cada uno tiene su propio distintivo según el personaje.

 - Mística (Jennifer Lawrence) tiene también su traje de ‘X-Men’, así que presumo que es parte del equipo en algún momento. No estará en su modo ‘azul’ todo el film.

- No me gusta el look de Bestia (Nicholas Hoult ‘Skins’). Su pelaje parece de zorro albino. Creo que lleva una mochila en el film. Su pelaje es azul claro con reflejos negros. La cara no se parece en nada a la Bestia de Kelsey Grammer.

-Angel tiene tatuajes en todo el cuerpo y su traje es negro, muy corto y enseña mucho (Zoe Kravitz y su dobles especialista son preciosas).

- Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) no comienza la película en el grupo. Trabaja con El Hombre de Negro, el personaje de OIiver Platt, y con Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne).

- No se si puedo desvelar el villano, pero es espectacular.

- Emma Frost (January Jones) luce muy bien pero no me gusta ni su pelo ni su maquillaje, aunque puede que se vea mejor en el cine que en persona. Su papel es de la misma extensión que el de Mística en los primeros ‘X-Men’. Va en traje y sí, tiene escenas de lucha usando sus poderes.

- Bestia, Mística y el villano tienen una escena de lucha.

- El Club Infernal parece un club de strip-tease o un casino. Está en un barco.

- Una de las escenas tiene lugar en un submarino, del que solo se ha construido una parte. El resto es en pantalla verde. Algo gordo pasa en la playa con el X-Jet y el submarino, y me han dicho que dicha escena es por la crisis de los misiles de Cuba. Las escenas de lucha allí sólo tenían permitido el acceso a unos pocos. Vi muchas explosiones. Bestia y Mística iban con cables y Azazel (Jason Flemyng) volaba sobre el submarino.

- Una de las escenas tiene a Bestia, Havok y otro chaval intentando defender a Xavier (McAvoy) de Eric (Magneto). En esa escena Mística está defendiendo a Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Creo que es cuando ella se decide por uno de los bandos.

- Vi a Kevin Bacon en el set sólo una vez en todo el mes que rodamos y no iba en traje, pero había una roulotte de maquillaje con el nombre ‘Bacon/Shaw’.

- Azazel quiere a Mística como madre de su hijo. En una escena de lucha  le grita ‘tu tendrás a mi hijo’ (Rondador Nocturno).

- Hay un mutante, Riptide (Alex González), que va en traje morado. No se quien es pero él y su doble estaban allí todos los días.

- El actor que hace de Havok (Lucas Till) es muy bajo. Tiene cosas de metal alrededor del traje, y no se lo que eran. Creo que en una de las escenas de lucha le ocurre algo a su pecho ya que estuvo dando vueltas con un agujero en el traje.

- Azazel es rojo con una cicatriz en su cara. Su pelo está como peinado para atrás y lleva botas negras de punta. Su cola se la harán con CGI. 

- Esta película es sobre Magneto. No va a ser sólo de Xavier y la Patrulla. Magneto tiene un papel importante, mayor que en otras películas. La primera escena comienza con Magneto y después se sigue con Xavier. Es una película para ambos, no para la patrulla.

- Hay mucho secretismo porque los productores tienen algo muy especial escondido. Simple, pero especial.

- ‘X-Men: First Class’ es una precuela al estilo que ‘Superman Returns’ fue una secuela. Todo es muy vago. 

- Mi opinión es que todo el tiempo lo pasamos con mucha prisa y todo en el último momento. Nunca sabíamos que había que hacer ni cómo iba el plan de rodaje. Querían terminarlo a prisa antes de Navidades. Quizás eso se refleje en el film o puede que lo superen en el montaje. Ya veremos.
¿Os queda claro?, a mi sí. Si este chaval ha visto todo lo que dice, la Fox tiene un problema de seguridad grave. Saber tantos detalles es a) un bulo, b) una faena. Rematamos con la portada que la Marvel va a sacar el próximo mes de Mayo, uno previo al estreno del film, enfrentando a los X-Men actuales con los ‘First Class’, ¿preludio del resultado final?.

Para cuando el trailer si ‘X-Men: First Class’ llegará el 3 de Junio del 2011.

AGE OF X: ALPHA #1

Era X escrito por Mike Carey, portada de Chris Bachalo y portada variante de Olivier Coipel, sale en enero de 2011 en USA