Bryan Singer, who not only directed the first two 'X-Men' films from the trilogy, was also was offered the director's chair for FOX's latest installment
X-Men: First Class. Now only serving as producer, Singer unfortunately had to turn it down due to his commitment to
Jack the Giant Killer. And now with Matthew Vaughn tapped as director of the mutant-flick with an ensemble cast & filming set for next month, Singer now gives a great length update with Harry Knowles of
Ain't It Cool News on the upcoming prequel.
"The film takes place in the 1960's. John F Kennedy is the President of the United States. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are on TV doing marches. There is a spirit of a hopeful future that was prevalent in that time. We will see how Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr met - and how they dreamt of a future with Mutant & Human kind.
They're going to be in their late twenties. Xavier will not be in his wheelchair to begin the film - but we will see how he wound up in a wheelchair. We're going to see Professor X when he still had hair. We'll see McAvoy and Fassbender's Magneto formulate what it is they are attempting by creating the X-MEN. Now Bryan wanted us to know this is not the conventional "First Class" comic, but rather a new beginning for "X-Men". Set in the 60s - Vaughn is technologically inspired by
James Bond's tech of the time. The costumes will be far more comic bookish than we've seen before, and while Scott and Jean aren't here,Cyclops' brother Alex Summers aka Havoc will be
With January Jones and
Kevin Bacon playing Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, as speculated, we'll be getting the "Hellfire Club".
AICN commented that the "Hellfire Club" has always felt like something that it would be wrong to modernize, as it felt as though it were something specific to the swinging Hefner era of the 60s... and Bryan said
"that's exactly why they're making use of the HELLFIRE CLUB... the dress and the costumes associated with that glorious period of the X-MEN... belong in the 60s." "filming will begin with Xavier at Oxford University in the 60s. And Bryan is excited that the film is going to have a much more international feel than the prior X-MEN movies. They'll be shooting in England & the United States - and they'll be representing other locales around the globe as well, but would only tell me that Russia (aka The Soviet Union... CCCP) will be amongst them. He doesn't want to show all the cards just yet. But the International flavor will give the film a more James Bond vibe... I get the idea that this is going to be something quite special." The
First Class roster so far includes James McAvoy (Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), January Jones (Emma Frost), Nicholas Hoult (Beast),Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee), Lucas Till (Havok), and Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw), Edi Gathegi(Darwin), Jason Flemyng (Azazel), Rose Byrne (Dr. Moira MacTaggert), Zoe Kravitz (Angel), and Oliver Platt (the man in black).
And the
X-Men forces into theaters Jun 3, next year.