Bryan Singer spoke about bringing two groups of mutants together for “First Class” sequel
Bryan Singer is quite the busy man.
Not only does the director have “Jack the Giant Slayer” in theaters next month, but he’s in the heat of developing his big return to the world of mutants, “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” When MTV News’ Josh Horowitz hopped on the phone with Singer, the two looked ahead to what the “X-Men: First Class” follow-up would have in store for fans.
Though Singer acted only as producer on “First Class,” he opted to step in when the original director, Matthew Vaughn, declined helming the sequel. That decision came during post-production on “Jack,” so it might not come as a surprise that Singer is considering taking things he learned from the computer-animated giants with him to “X-Men.”
While speaking about the gigantic antagonists of “Jack,” Singer touched on the merits of full-CGI characters. “A CG Nick Hoult or a CG Ewan McGregor, maybe 20 years from now might be perfect, but it’s a little tough on the eyes when it’s not real,” he said. “But I definitely want to use this technology again, and I might even be using some of it in a different way in ‘X-Men.’ I don’t want to say how, yet, but I’m definitely using some of this technology on ‘X-Men,’ which I never used in any of the other ‘X-Men’ films.
When pressed on whether Singer was considering including a fully CG character in “Days of Future Past,” he said “yes,” but that it was too early to say more.
He’ll likely have his hands full enough with the human characters in the next “X-Men” movie, with cast members from “First Class” and the original trilogy returning. Such a big cast, which includes Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, might spark questions about whether the “First Class” leads would hold onto the spotlight, but Singer said that the story is built to accommodate that many characters.
“I don’t want to say [who the protagonists are] yet, or talk about that yet, but I will say that every character has a very important function in the story,” Singer said. “The story is designed and catered to the combined cast. It’s not just throwing in people to occupy the screen, occupy the billboards. The story ‘Days of Future Past,’ and our version of ‘Days of Future Past’ is geared very much toward the mass cast and all their relationships and all their foibles and their achievements.”
With so many characters from the original trilogy returning, fans have been shocked not to see Halle Berry’s name yet. Storm survived Brett Ratner’s “The Last Stand,” but a return has yet to be confirmed. Singer said that an appearance from Storm is still up in the air. “I can’t say. I don’t know yet. And it’s not necessarily a deal making aspect at all,” he said. “I want to make sure it’ll make sense. But I love working with her.”