James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender revel in X-Men roles

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender have delighted in the fact they play young versions of Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen in the latest x-men film.

Fassbender, who plays a you Magneto - played also by Mckellen - confessed he stalked the older actor online to perfect his part.

'I did study Ian Mckellen. I found something on YouTube which was a workshop back in the 70s for the RSC which was about 10 minutes long.

'I thought I'd watch that as I didn't want to ask him how to do my acting,' he said. Meanwhile McAvoy took a more jovial approach to working with Patrick Stewart.

'It's terrible to have Patrick on screen. This is my film now and I want it back!' he laughed. 'The next one I want all for myself. It's been amazing.'

He also believes the X-Men series owes it's success to keeping the story-lines relatable.

'Most super heroes have super problems, X-Men have very human problems. They're being punished for being different and that relates to so many,' he said.‎

Meanwhile, with the World Cup coming up, McAvoy risks being rejected by his homeland after confessing he will support England in Brasil.

'‎I will actually - and I know that hurts a lot of Scottish people that any Scotsman would back England, but I do,' he revealed.

[Originally published Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Tuesday 13 May 2014]

Quickfire Q&A: Simon Kinberg X-Men: Days of Future Past

The time-travel adventures of the X-Men in Days of Future Past has been brought to the big screen by incredibly talented writer/producer Simon Kinberg – who also penned The Last Stand in 2006 and is already hard at work on DOFP sequel X-Men: Apocalypse (out in 2016) as well as scribing the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.

Simon stopped at the UK premiere of X-Men in London for some quick questions about the latest instalment, future X-Men films and possible Marvel cross-overs.

Days of Future Past is an incredibly ambitious film – what was the biggest challenge brining this vision to life?

It was two things – one is time travel is a nightmare as a writer because there are all these logic problems and plot holes and paradoxes. So getting the time travel right and creating the rules and sticking to the rules was a big challenge. The second part is having eight-to-ten main characters and giving them everything they want and need emotionally. They have their own stories to play.

JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek’s reboot has wiped the slate clean for their time-line, will X-Men have a similar impact for future instalments?

We knew with a time travel story, everything that happened in the past was going to affect the future. So there are things that happen in 1973 Days of Future Past which are going to have an impact going forward. So everything from 1973 onwards – which will cover X 1, 2, and 3 and The Wolverine. There are ripples that don’t necessarily change the overall current of the river, but do ripple on down.

What stage is X-Men: Apocalypse at?

Just starting the writing process now. It’s going really well so far. Luckily there is no time travel this time and I only have to worry about one version of each character. But it has different challenges. The scale of that movie will be even bigger or any superhero movie you have seen. It is a disaster movie. It is an extinction-level event kind of film. So keeping it character based, emotional and grounded while also having Roland Emmerich levels of action – that’s the new challenge.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suggested there could be scope for an X-Men/Spider-Man mash-up when a teaser for DOFP was attached to the end of the film credits – will the X-Men recruit Spidey in the future?

I wish that was true and they let us put our tag at the end of their movie but integrating the characters into one movie will have different challenges.

What about a cross over with the Fantastic Four?

It’s tough because they take place in different worlds. In the X-Men movie’s we’ve never mentioned that there is the Fantastic 4 superheroes living in New York. I would love to see it, and there is probably ways to figure it out. But for right now we are just making the best stand-alone Fantastic Four movie we can make. It’s going to be good.

Quickfire Q&A: Lauren Shuler Donner X-Men: Days of Future Past

The latest X-Men film – Days of Future Past – unites the original X-Men trilogy cast (including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Ellen Page and Hugh Jackman) with Matthew Vaughn’s First Class prequel (Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult).

Based on the Uncanny X-Men’s 1981 storyline Days of Future Past, the X-Men use their powers to send one character (in the case of the film Jackman’s Wolverine) back in time to stop a horrifying future in which Sentinel robots have wiped out most of the world’s mutants.

X-Men’s mega-producer Lauren Shuler Donner stopped for some rapid fire questions about the superhero franchise.

What was the biggest challenge bringing Days of Future Past to the screen?

It was a logistical nightmare to get the whole cast together because everybody had other commitments. Patrick and Ian were doing a play, Jennifer Lawrence was doing the Hunger Games, Hugh had to go and sell the Wolverine – it was very, very difficult. But the end result was all worth it!

How will the time-travel element in DOFP impact the timeline seen in the original X-Men trilogy?

It will be fine. The next one – X-Men: Apocalypse (due in 2016) – will move into the 80s.

Is X-Force still going ahead as well?

I’m not sure. But it would be good.

With such a rich history in the X-Men comics, what other X-Men storylines would you like to see brought to life in cinema?

You know, I do have a special project that I wish I could talk about. When I can, I will say “this is the special project I meant!”

You tease!

I know! But I just can’t. It will be very different…

Quickfire Q&A: Avi Arad on Spider-Man and X-Men

Marvel mega producer Avi Arad has discussed the New York skyline in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 and also given a salivating hint about future X-Men movies.

The 65-year-old film studio CEO was on the red carpet for the latest Spider-Man film premiere in London and had time for a few quick questions.

Is there any hope that Stark Tower might be hiding in the skyline of Amazing Spider-Man 2?

At one time there was a conversation. But for this skyline we wanted to accentuate the Oscorp building as Oscorp is kind of the uber-villain and the source of where bad things come from.

Marvel have plans for films all the way to 2028 –

I won't be here! [laughs]

Do you feel like you live in the future because you have to plan that far ahead?

I'm having fun because it took me a long time to get people to believe that comic books are the best source for film. And look at the world now.

X-Men Days of Future past looks like it will play with the time-line in the series. Will this mean that characters killed off in previous films, like Cyclops and Jean Grey, could return in future installments?

In comics, everyone comes back…

Hugh Jackman: The Wolverine UK Premiere

Hugh Jackman certainly raised the temperature in Leicester Square when he turned up for the UK premiere of The Wolverine this evening.

Chatting to Guilty Pleasures, the hunky Aussie star, who plays the titular mutant in the film, said of his character: ’His main defining quality is his berserk rage. He is the most formidable and most feared and that’s because of this inner rage that he’s got.’

Revealing how he gets into an angry mood for his rage scenes, the 44-year-old actor added: ‘I take cold showers in the morning, I wake up and train and I’m really grumpy on set!’

He also said he hasn’t tired of the character, who he has played on the big screen since 2000, explaining: ‘I may be biased but he’s the coolest and most interesting hero. I love him.’

Original X-Men director Bryan Singer also beamed in to wish his friend luck from the set of upcoming X-Men sequel, Days Of Future Past, which is currently filming in Canada and in which Hugh will also star.

Bryan said: ‘We’re missing you terribly. We’ve got your claws and your chicken breast. The fans are waiting.’

Joking, Hugh replied: ‘He read it like I wrote it!’

And in light of recent comments by fellow superhero Andrew Garfield who plays Spider-man, who said he wouldn’t care if Peter Parker turned gay, Jackman proved a little frosty.

When asked if Wolverine could go gay in an upcoming film, he grumbled: ’If he’s gay he’s gay!’

Arriving at the red carpet event in an Audi spots car, the actor joked with waiting fans by pretending to throw his keys into the crowd.

He was joined by wife Deborra-Lee Furness who also demonstrated a playful sense of humour by squeezing her husband’s bum while he was being interviewed.

Grateful for the support, Hugh thanked the crowd for turning out.

‘I’m amazed, thank you. I saw people were here from six in the morning,’ he added.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 16 July 2013]