Fox, Marvel move on 'Magneto'
Goyer to direct 'X-Men' spin-off
Source: Variety
David Goyer will direct "Magneto," an "X-Men" spinoff film from 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios that's drawn from the villain played in the original trilogy by Ian McKellen.
After the first three "X-Men" films grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, Fox and Marvel hatched the spinoff program. "Magneto" will be the second spinoff to go into production. First up is "Wolverine," a David Benioff-scripted film that will star Hugh Jackman as the steel-clawed mutant. Fox and Marvel will set a director shortly.
Goyer will develop a "Magneto" script that was written by Sheldon Turner.
McKellen's participation in "Magneto" will likely be limited, since the film is an origin story. In a storyline hinted at by the original "X-Men" films, Magneto comes to grips with his mutant ability to manipulate metal objects as he and his parents try to survive in Auschwitz. Magneto meets Professor Xavier (played as the wheelchair-bound mutant leader by Patrick Stewart) when Xavier is a soldier liberating the concentration camp.
Magneto hones his powers by hunting down and killing Nazi war criminals that tortured him, and his lust for vengeance turns Xavier and Magneto into enemies. Both characters will be played by actors in their 20s.
Marvel, coming off "Ghost Rider," has a May 4 bow for "Spider-Man" at Columbia Pictures, a June 15 opening of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."
Marvel Studios is in production on the Robert Downey Jr.-Terrence Howard starrer "Iron Man," which Paramount has slotted for a May 2, 2008 release, and Edward Norton was recently set to play the title character in "The Incredible Hulk," a Louis Leterrier-directed reinvention of the franchise. Universal has set a June 13, 2008 release.
Goyer, who directed "Blade: Trinity" and whose new film, "The Invisible," will be released this weekend by Disney, has scripted "Ghost Rider" and the "Blade" films for Marvel, as well as the DC Comics transfers "Batman Begins" and "The Flash," which he's now writing.
Turner's credits include "The Longest Yard" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning."
'X-Men' Spin-Off 'Magneto' To Reveal Anti-Hero Origin Story
Source: MTV
After marshalling just about every successful Marvel comic to the big screen, what's left for mega producer Avi Arad to get excited about? "Magneto," he enthused. "I love it!" While we first met the diabolical anti-hero (played with gusto by Ian McKellen) in "X-Men," and followed his mutant crusade through two sequels, it's in "Magneto" that the character will finally get the origin story he so richly deserves, Arad revealed.
"Think of meeting him in [the first "X-Men" movie] as a young boy in a concentration camp. What happens to his life after the war?" he teased of the film's plot. Arad quickly answered his own question, telling MTV News that the flick will follow Magneto discovering "if [his powers are] real or not and the whole journey of [his] survival as a young man."
Directed and co-written by "Batman Begins" scribe David Goyer, the prequel has all sorts "of opportunities for the kind of things that [will] make [it] interesting," Arad contended, including a look at his early friendship with and ultimate rift from Charles Xavier, the mutant who would later become the leader of the X-Men.
Given Magneto is already the head of the militant mutant organization known as The Brotherhood in the first film, will the prequel detail the steps he takes to form that alliance, perhaps highlighting such mutants as Sabertooth and Rebecca Romijn's Mystique? "[Some] amazing surprises that happen in his life [are in store]," Arad coyly answered.
While Arad searches for an actor to play the young Magneto, he can only hope the casting will match that of Robert Downey Jr., who Arad says is a perfect fit to play Tony Stark/Iron Man. "I think he is Tony. He is cool, he is quick, he is sexy," Arad said in praise of his lead actor. "Tony Stark was this guy who could get away with anything. He had this dual life and you need an amazing actor to play this dual character without superpowers. You have to be two men with one heart."
"Iron Man" arrives in theaters next May, while "Magneto" aims for a 2009 release.