X3 - X-Men: The Last Straw

[Tryskadekafobia]

It's the story arc in which Jean Grey does die, but then comes back with heightened powers and a bit of a mean streak.  Hence the name Phoenix (along with a fiery bird of psychic energy that eminates around her body.   See the last scene over the water in X2.)  It the comics I think it was linked with a story involving an alien race.  The name escapes me at the mo.

[MacGuffin]

Big Chris in X3?
Plus, the screenwriter talks shop.
 
According to a scooper for Ain't It Cool News, British football star-turned-actor Vinnie Jones may be up for a role in X-Men 3. Jones has reportedly been spotted in the X3 production office in Vancouver.

IGN FilmForce's trusty X3 source informed us that the Jones rumor is true and that the filmmakers are "definitely" talking to him about an unspecified villain role.

Jones has worked with three key members of the X-Men production before. He appeared in Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which were produced by X3 director Matthew Vaughn. Jones also appeared in Swordfish opposite Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman.

His other credits include Gone in Sixty Seconds and Eurotrip.

In other news, X3 screenwriter Simon Kinberg spoke to Now Playing magazine about working on the mutant movie.

"The X-Men movies I think are actually the great challenge of the Marvel Universe, because there are so many characters [and] the tone is so specific and it is political and philosophical. You also have to make them really fun – a lot of moving parts happening at the same time," the scribe explained, adding, "The truth is the biggest challenge of writing the movies is fitting all the characters [in]. I have so much love for these characters, I don't want to introduce one that I love as a cameo – I want to really get into it and let them get into the depth and the layers of the character."

Kinberg would not comment on which new characters would appear in X3, which Sneak Peek reports begins filming July 15th for a May 26, 2006 release.

[MacGuffin]

Juggernaut Likes Rubber
The latest X3 buzz.

Contact Music reports that British football star-turned-actor Vinnie Jones will "wear a rubber suit to boost his physique" for his role as the villainous Juggernaut in X-Men 3.

"His character is 2.13 metres (seven feet) tall and weighs 413 kilograms (65 stone), meaning broad Jones will need to wear a latex costume," the site claims. "An insider says, 'Vinnie thinks it's a great laugh and can't wait to get into the suit.'"

In related X3 villain news, a scooper for Ain't It Cool News says Ray Park appeared at the recent Armageddon convention in Wellington, New Zealand where he said he was in talks with producers to reprise his role as Toad in X3 (since you never really saw him die in the first X-Men film).

Ironically enough, IGN FilmForce had just been advised by a source last week that "as of now, no Sabretooth and Toad in X3." Could Park be up for a new role instead (if he's really up for any part at all)?

[MacGuffin]

X3 Has More Pryde
The latest on Kitty.

The Comic Reel recently reported that "Marvel's production company is auditioning actresses to play a new 17-year-old female lead character [in X-Men 3], based on a recent rewrite of the script. The source believes this to be Kitty Pryde stepping into the spotlight, replacing Katie Stuart who was briefly on screen in X2."

IGN FilmForce can confirm that this is indeed the case. According to our trusty mutant insiders, Kitty will be a much bigger character in X3. She will also be the same age as Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Rogue (Anna Paquin).

With production set to start this July in Vancouver, fans should expect some major casting announcements soon.

X3 is slated to open May 26, 2006.

[Pubrick]

"replacing Katie Stuart who was briefly on screen in X2."

[picolas]

[MacGuffin]

Vaughn Talks X3
"The film I'm doing is more in the tone of Unforgiven."

X-Men 3 director Matthew Vaughn chatted with Coming Soon about the project. Vaughn promises to "expand on things. There's three or four scenes I know people will just be shocked and close to tears."

"I know that there's going to be elements I'm going to be bringing to it that will worry the fans in the sense that I want to make a movie that stands up in twenty, thirty years time basically. ... The film I'm doing is more in the tone of Unforgiven."

Vaughn also confirmed that Juggernaut will be in X3 but that Vinnie Jones is not exactly a done deal for it yet. "What's interesting about Juggernaut is that he's the brother of Professor X, and that's why I thought it would be interesting having an English thug opposite Patrick Stewart."

[MacGuffin]

Interview: Matthew Vaughn
The director of X3 talks about the upcoming project.
Source: IGN.Filmforce  

Today in Los Angeles director Matthew Vaughn sat down with journalists, primarily to discuss his latest film, Layer Cake, which releases May 13 in New York in L.A. But since Mr. Vaughn is directing the third installment of the X-Men franchise, the discussion often turned to that highly anticipated sequel. We had plenty of questions for him, and we thought we'd give you all the X3 scoop as soon as we could.

Q: So you have you have X3 lined up next to direct?

MATTHEW VAUGHN: In theory.

Q: It's not ready to go yet?

VAUGHN: We're trying to see if we can get it off the ground at the moment. There's just a hell of a lot [to do]. We're meant to be filming it in August... We're working on it at the moment.

Q: Previous X-Men films have had trouble balancing so many characters and Berry has said she would only play Storm again if she had more to do.

VAUGHN: As far as I know, Halle's doing the film. In the script, she's got a lot to do and I've got a lot of experience with dealing with a lot of characters in a film... That doesn't intimidate me at all, so I think I know how to get that balance. That should be one of the easier parts of making this movie.

Q: Did Fox pursue you or did you come to them?

VAUGHN: What happened on X-Men was I just read [that] they didn't have a director and I was looking for something to do next. (Laughs) So I just got in touch and they watched [Layer Cake] and they liked it.

Q: Are you a comic fan?

VAUGHN: Yeah. I used to be a big comic fan. I'm not as much anymore. I'm still a fan, I just haven't got time to read them. I like comic books, I like comic book movies. Good comic book movies, which I don't think there are many. Most of them are absolutely awful.

Q: Do you have any crazy plans to reinvent the franchise?

VAUGHN: I won't say crazy, no. I have plans to put my stamp on it. I hope to, I mean the studio has been incredibly supportive. I thought when I pitched them the way I wanted to make the movie, they'd run a mile. I think the X-Men are very much movies of the '90s and I think it's time for them to toughen up a bit.

Q: What is your personal stamp as you see it?

VAUGHN: I think fantasy should all be based in reality and then it becomes... You have to be able to relate to the characters and X-Men was pretty good because you saw all the floors and the conflict that they are going through. I think that conflict needs to be expanded on and I wanted the villains to be less, sort of, what's the word? At the moment I think there's a lot of mustache-twirling in the last films and I want to get rid of that and make the villains really scary and more realistic.
 
Q: Do you see this as a grittier, more violent film then the previous two?

VAUGHN: Violent, I wouldn't say. Grittier doesn't mean violent. I liked what Joss Whedon... You know how Whedon dealt with everything. I thought that that's more my sentiment.

Q: Can you talk about the premise?

VAUGHN: I can't. I could but I can't. (Laughs)

Q: We know there will be new characters. Even if you can't say who they are, can you say they whether they will be major characters or more along the line of the brief appearances of Kitty Pryde and Colossus?

VAUGHN: I wouldn't say there are going to, it's pretty hard to get to the forefront because there's some big guys you are going to have to squeeze past, but they'll have more to do then the last one.

Q: Are you addressing any element of the Dark Phoenix saga?

VAUGHN: Maybe. (Laughs)

Q: How closely are you working with the writer?

VAUGHN: Working very closely. Literally very, very, very closely. I've sat with them and wrote, we've been writing together.

Q: Will Wolverine take his shirt off again?

VAUGHN: Would you like him to? You'll have to ask Hugh. I don't know if Hugh's been to the gym lately.

Q: Are you signed for more than one?

VAUGHN: I will never sign anything which makes me have to do more than one film.

Q: Are you working closely with Avi Arad?

VAUGHN: Yeah, Avi's a cool guy. He's cool. Apparently he invented Air Hockey. I don't know if that's true or not but a friend told me that and I was impressed.

Q: Do you have any involvement in the teaser trailer for X3 that will be before Fantastic Four?

VAUGHN: They've announced the teaser trailer? It's gonna be the ultimate tease because it's going to have nothing from the movie on it. It's going to literally be an "X" and a "3." (Laughs)

Q: What do you see as the pitfalls of bad comic movies?

VAUGHN: Watching them.

Q: What do they do wrong?

VAUGHN: I don't know, just make a bad movie. I've got to be careful what I say. They either don't make a good film... You either ignore the comic book and make a great movie or you stay very close to the comic book. But I think a lot of times they ignore the comic book and they don't make a good film so you're just stuck in this no man's land.

Q: Which are your favorites?

VAUGHN: I did like the Spider-Mans. I thought they were very, very good. I liked Hulk. Everyone hated Hulk but I actually thought it was a good film. Admittedly, I saw it after everyone nailed it to the floor and I saw it on a digital projection which probably made The Hulk look better. I like the X-Men, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it... Matrix, I always call that a comic book movie and I thought that was good. One. (Laughs)
 
Q: What do you expect to be the biggest difficulty with X3?

VAUGHN: For me it's just the time [that] we've got a real problem about. They want us to come out next May and that's a problem. We've got a hell of a lot to get done in 12 months. That's the only difficulty I foresee. Making a film is making a movie, it doesn't matter what the budget is.

Q: Are you prepared for the fan reaction? No matter what you do, some will still hate it.

VAUGHN: Fine, let them hate it. As long as I don't have to sit down in a room with them, it doesn't bother me... You can't please everyone... If you make a good movie, that's all that matters. The comic book fans can read their comics and be happy with their comics, but if they don't like it, don't watch it...

Q: Speaking of bad comic movies, one of the big problems has been the overuse of CGI.

VAUGHN: Yeah, I hate CGI. That's why I'm trying to do everything in-camera. Listen, you have to use CGI but I want to do as much in-camera as possible. I'm a gamer, I like videogames and I feel like, when you watch movies, half the time it's like watching an extended game... You just switch off [with bad CGI], I couldn't agree with you more.

[MacGuffin]

A King for Gambit?

Comic Book Movie claims that Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers (who can be seen tonight as The King of Rock n' Roll in the final part of CBS' miniseries Elvis) is up for the role of ragin' Cajun mutant Gambit in X-Men 3.

As cool as I think that casting would be, it's my duty to inform you that IGN FilmForce's trusty X3 sources have branded the rumor "100% false."

In related news, Cyclops actor James Marsden spoke to The Advocate about X3. "It's very complicated. I want nothing more than to be a part of X-Men 3, especially since they're probably going into the Dark Phoenix saga, which would include my character a lot, but the schedule might conflict. I hope it all works out. I told them I'd do it for free." Marsden, you'll recall, is also a member of the cast of the rival Superman Returns.

Finally, Monsters & Critics spoke with X2 composer John Ottman who expressed interest in returning for the third and final X-Men film. "I would love to do X3, and I know they want me to do it. The only hitch would be if Superman conflicts with their schedule. I really wanted to do X3 because I set up all the themes to be expanded upon later."

[Gamblour.]

For a second there, I thought that read Jonathan Rhys-Davies  

[MacGuffin]

Grammer, Grace in X3
Beast and Kitty Pryde cast but what of Colossus?
 
Variety reports that Emmy-winner Kelsey Grammer has been cast as loquacious, furry mutant Dr. Hank McCoy, a.k.a. Beast, in X-Men 3.

"Kelsey was born to play the role," Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad informed the trade. "This is a big role in the new movie, and when we met with him, you can see that Kelsey has that you'd-better-have-a-dictionary-handy intelligence."

IGN FilmForce's own Ken Plume also talked to Avi Arad about Grammer's casting, and Arad discussed how Beast will be brought to life onscreen, saying "there will be make-up and prostheses. It will be a combination of artforms to bring it to life, but a lot of it will maintain around his face – his eyes, his mouth, and so on. It will be very much like the kind of stuff we did with The Thing."

Variety also confirms that Vinnie Jones is in talks to portray the villainous Juggernaut in the sequel, and that Maggie Grace (TV's Lost, The Fog remake) is in talks to play Kitty Pryde. The trade adds that 20th Century Fox "is also searching for an actor to play Angel, a handsome winged mutant who is ashamed of his feathery appendages."

IGNFF's trusty X3 source advised us that the only major parts left to cast are Angel and Colussus. Yes, that's right. X2's Daniel Cudmore will not be returning and the role of the steely Russian strongman will be recast.

In related news, Superhero Hype claims that unknown actor Scott Madej has been cast in X-Men 3 as either Gambit or young Professor X (possibly in flashbacks to Juggernaut's origin).

X-Men 3 begins filming this summer for a Memorial Day weekend 2006 release.

[Ghostboy]

Vaugn's off the show, according to AICN.

What do you want to bet Marvel gets back at DC for stealing Singer and lures Whedon away from Wonder Woman (which will inevitably be terrible no matter what, unless they take a Charlies Angels approach, and thus should not be made) to take over this?

[modage]

thats insane news.  my prediction is that it will not be good, due to the fact that they're no longer making a movie, but making a release date.

[Ghostboy]

I agree. X2 was made under the same time constraints, but Bryan Singer had developed the project himself and was familiar with the cast. Even if the script for this is great, it's going to be hard to pull off.

Stupid studios and their release dates. At least they still give Raimi three years to make his Spiderman films.

[MacGuffin]

Details:

Vaughn Drops X3
Director quits X-Men 3.

Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) has left the X-Men 3 production, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The helmer cited personal reasons for his decision, mainly that he'd come to the realization that he'd need to uproot his family to L.A. & Vancouver for a year for the production. Vaughn, who signed on for the project two months ago, reportedly originally planned to commute between the Vancouver location and his family in London.

Vaughn is the second director to leave the X3 production in the past year. Last August, Bryan Singer left the project, choosing to film Superman Returns instead.

The now director-less X-Men 3 currently has an August 2 production start date and a release date of May 26, 2006.