More from Matthew Vaughn on X-Men: First Class
Posted 01.23.11 by Ryan
It's only appropriate to end a week filled with X-Men: First Class news and promotional items with some more details from director Matthew Vaughn.
The week started with news that the production was still shooting, followed by a cast photo of a majority of the cast in yellow and blue uniforms (which Vaughn later described as "bad photoshop"). Then, Michael Fassbender discussed his role as Magneto, Kevin Bacon discussed his role of Sebastian Shaw, and January Jones described her role of Emma Frost and her character's relationship to Shaw. There were also plenty of new photos and a teaser poster as well.
Finally, Vaughn spoke to Entertainment Weekly and gave his description of the upcoming prequel to the trilogy of previously released X-Men movies.
The best way of describing it is X-Men meets Bond, with a little bit of [Cuban missile crisis biopic] Thirteen Days thrown in for good measure. It’s set in the ’60s, and I basically molded a young Magneto on a young Sean Connery. He’s the ultimate spy — imagine Bond, but with superpowers.
You’re seeing Xavier become a professor. For me, Magneto is the good guy in the film, but he’s a sort of a good bad guy. He literally kicks off the movie, and Xavier goes along on the ride trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and trying to persuade Erik [Lensherr, a.k.a Magneto] that you don’t have to kill everyone.
Vaughn revealed that First Class "starts in 1942, and then works its way up to 1962" and starts in a world where mutants are unknown.
In the beginning of the film, no one knows that mutants exist, and all the mutants don’t know that each other exist. They’re all in hiding. Kevin Bacon plays a very megalomaniac mutant [Sebastian Shaw] who decides that he can take over the world and that mutants are the future. Erik and Charles then meet each other and hook up with the CIA to try and prevent World War III. You find out everything about what went on between Erik and Charles.
Vaughn also addressed the issue of timing with First Class, which is simultaneously shooting and editing so it can make its June release date, in a question about 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, the sequel Vaughn was supposed to direct until he dropped out because he felt he didn't have enough time.
In retrospect, I probably would have had more time then than I do now, which is highly ironic. But I also have more experience now than I did then. And I had no idea how big-budget filmmaking worked, so I was just applying small-budget independent-style logic to the wrong equation. And when I saw the film, I realized that Fox would have given me all the tools I needed. I was just stupid enough not to take them. But we both decided to cross the bridge together again. I definitely had burned a bridge. But they asked, so we met and we both kissed and made up and went off to make the film.
And now that movie will end up in theaters on June 3 (unless Fox decides to push back the release date), and audiences will be able to watch James McAvoy lead a young team of mutants that includes Nicholas Hoult as the Beast,
Lucas Till as Havok, Zoe Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, and Edi Gathegi as Darwin, amongst others. Vaughn says the movie will reach a wide audience.
"It’s got a lot of teenage angst," said Vaughn. "The Twilight girls will like it."