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Vaughn talks X-Men: First Class

XMenFirstClass.jpgPeople always want to complain about something and when we're talking about films that go back in an accepted timeline of characters and story, there's always a furore from fans.

So far X-Men: First Class hasn't been hit too badly by it, but the rumblings are there and Matthew Vaughn recognises that already, so while he was talking about some interesting plot specifics for the film he also defended their version of the film and script.

Matthew Vaughn has been talking about what X-Men: First Class has in store for us, and it already sounds like he's going to give us a new chapter in the franchise of the X-Men, and it just feels right as he talks about it. However will the fans agree?

Taking the X-Men back to their origins in the sixties it seems to be set to upset some fans for certain, for as Vaughn himself says, if you're a fan of the comics which address the origins of the X-Men then you're liable to find something you don't necessarily agree with.


He also reveals that it doesn't relate to any of the First Class comic books, something else that I'm sure could well anger some fans. However, what he does tell us is really interesting.

X-Men: First Class starts in the 1940's with the young Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, aka Professor X and Magneto, who have yet to discover their powers. When they do they are in a world where mutants are unknown and the Cold War is at its height, and the two men are working together for the good of mutants, fighting against someone who believes that mutants should rise up against humans and is in danger of beginning World War III.

Vaughn has an excellent way to describe the film and the tone. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly through JoBlo he says:

"The best way of describing it is X-Men meets Bond, with a little bit of 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."

He's got some very interesting things to say about his casting choices too, and the casting of the two leads.

"Professor X is a very hard character to cast...Patrick Stewart brought so much to that role, and I needed to get an actor who could do the same - who could give him a fourth dimension that'd make him sparkle. James was literally at the top of the list, and he said yes, so I got my first actor very quickly.

Magneto was a juicier role. I've been watching Fassbender for a long time, and I knew the guy was going to pop as a movie star. He read it and knocked it out of the park, and the rest of the cast just fell in around them. What makes me laugh is, by this time next year, half of my cast is going to be extremely popular and famous. Jennifer Lawrence [i.e. Raven Darkholme/Mystique] is going to pop. Nicholas Hoult [i.e. Hank McCoy/Beast] definitely is. People are going to find Kevin Bacon a revelation, and January Jones [i.e. Emma Frost] has got huge star potential."

If you think about what he's saying he's revealing that the sequel to X-Men: First Class is already going to start facing the problems that the previous X-Men franchise did - the acting budget.

By the next film we'll be seeing a cast of well known actors who are going to demand higher salaries, and that means the production gets more expensive, one reason cited for the original franchise moving on, or moving back. I wonder how long this iteration of the X-Men will last? One film, two? A whole trilogy? What then?

I do know that there's just one thing I'm looking out for just now, Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class.



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