Xmen director Matthew Vaughn

http://movies.ign.com/articles/110/1109996p1.html

X-Men Following Star Trek's Lead
Director Matthew Vaughn talks about rebooting the X-Franchise.
August 2, 2010
by Cindy White

IGN had an opportunity to speak with director Matthew Vaughn about this week's DVD and Blu-ray release of Kick-Ass, but of course we couldn't resist getting in some questions about his next project, X-Men: First Class.

Vaughn, speaking on the phone from Pinewood Studios in London, where he's in pre-production on the film, said that he hopes to follow the model of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot, paying homage to the original source material, while taking it in a new direction with a fresh, young cast.

"Obviously [Abrams] couldn't make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job," Vaughn said. "He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It's very similar, in a way. But we're doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven't seen before."

While Vaughn was guarded about revealing any details of the story, as conceived by former X-Men director Bryan Singer, it does sound as though it might play a bit with the canon timeline, just as Star Trek did.

"The story that Bryan Singer came up with is very, very smart," Vaughn said. "It's very clever when you see how he has integrated the characters into the time period where the film is set. I'll put it that way. I just don't want to give it away. ... It's a very clever way of getting these characters involved in recent history, in recent world events."

Vaughn wouldn't go so far as to say that the story is completely original and not based on the comics, but he doesn't worry about criticism from die-hard fans about the faithfulness of the adaptation. "There's always that risk, but I think that when they see the film they will be very excited about the direction that we've chosen."

The director also talked about the preparation the cast members are doing to get ready for filming, which begins later this month.

"The quality of the actors that we've got in these roles is truly world class," Vaughn said. "James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are really working well together. We're about to start a rehearsal period before the shoot and they are coming up with some great ideas. They really care very deeply about their characters and how they interact in the film. And the younger cast members as well, the other mutants, they're really incredibly talented. And it's going to be a pleasure to work with them. It really is. They're all very, very committed as well. They're training every day for several hours. Literally, right now they're training with the stunt teams and they're all taking their diets very seriously and exercising a lot and working very, very hard. It's very exciting to see it come together."

http://filmonic.com/inception-causes-last-minute-changes-to-x-men-first-class

Inception causes last minute changes to X-Men: First Class

by Liam on August 2, 2010 · View Comments

xmen first class movie Matthew Vaughn has been hard at work on pre-production for X-Men: First Class since he signed on to direct in May, and with test shots beginning tomorrow at Pinewood Studios in London Vaughn will be mentally preparing himself for a mutant-filled 4-5 month shoot.

The last thing Vaughn and any director would want to do on the eve of filming would be to discover a movie currently ripping up the box office contains similar elements to the film you are about to spend the next year working on, but that’s what happened when the director took a trip to see Christopher Nolan’s Inception this weekend.

From Hero Complex:

“I saw ‘Inception,’ which I loved,” Vaughn said Monday. “But my heart sank when I saw that a few of the ideas we had were up [on the screen]. So it’s either leave it in and look as if you’re copying or change things. We completely ripped out about 12 pages of the script and the storyboards.”

The jettisoned sequence was a sort of dream-space combat, according to Vaughn; that reminded me of “psi war” scenes from “The Uncanny X-Men” No. 117 way back in 1979, but the filmmaker said for the film the fight involving Professor X (James McAvoy) and some other mutants involved spinning rooms and other physics-bending imagery — visions that he felt drifted too close to signature moments in “Inception,” which has now piled up $363 million in worldwide box office and garnered some of the strongest reviews of any 2010 release.

Great minds think alike I suppose. Being the most powerful telepath in the world Charles Xavier may have been having mind battles with the villain, or the villain may have been projecting images into the minds of the X-Men. It would have been a cool sequence, so it is a shame they have had to remove it. Hopefully they come up with something equally cool to replace it.

X-Men: First Class, which will be released June 3rd 2011, also stars Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Alice Eve as Emma Frost, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Kevin Bacon will be taking on the bad guy role, although his character has yet to be revealed.

http://goodfellamedia.com/2010/08/x-men-first-class-has-a-lot-of-heart.html

‘X-Men: First Class’ ‘Has A Lot Of Heart,’
Submitted by Nyght on August 3, 2010 – No Comment

By Rick Marshall
Director Matthew Vaughn dipped his toes into the comic book movie waters with “Kick-Ass,” his gritty adaptation of the controversial comic book series of the same name. With his next film, “X-Men: First Class,” he’s diving into the deep end.

Speaking to MTV News while promoting this week’s release of “Kick-Ass” on DVD and Blu-ray, Vaughn said he isn’t worried about the growing cast list for the film, which includes James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, “Twilight” alum Edi Gathegi and Alice Eve, among others.

“It doesn’t feel that busy,” Vaughn told MTV News when asked whether he’s concerned about cramming too many mutants into the film. “I don’t feel worried about it. I think it will be really cool to see all these guys doing their stuff. I’m very keen that it has a lot of heart, this movie. You understand where these characters have come from, and you obviously know where they’re going, but to see that very important point of their lives where they’re discovering their power and working out their ethical take on what to do with their power is a very interesting story to tell.”

Vaughn also offered up some details about the setting for the film, which he said “absolutely” positions it as an in-continuity prequel to the other “X-Men” films made over the last decade.

“I have to give a lot of credit to ['First Class' producer] Bryan Singer, because he came up with a very clever, very interesting way of integrating the characters into recent history — not necessarily too recent, though. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but … it just kind of worked. How he integrated the characters into the world and the political climate of the time, it was very clever.”

According to Vaughn, the film will focus on the first meeting of Charles Xavier (originally played by Patrick Stewart, now played by McAvoy) and Magneto (formerly Ian McKellen, now Fassbender), and follow the pair through their friendship and subsequent parting of ways. The film will also feature a veritable who’s who of new mutants from Marvel Comics’ stable of X-Men characters, including Banshee and Darwin, as well as returning favorites like Beast.

“The backdrop of what’s going on in the world when [Magneto and Xavier] first meet, it’s very interesting,” said Vaughn. “To see them and their relationship develop and play out with this major political event in the background is very clever and cool.”

http://screenrant.com/xmen-first-class-reboot-rob-71821/

X-Men: First Class Is But Isn’t A Reboot

Director Matthew Vaughn causes a little bit of confusion about whether or not X-Men: First Class will be a true X-Men prequel or a franchise reboot.

Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class Reboot

With the DVD/Blu-ray release of Kick-Ass happening today, director Matthew Vaughn is rightfully getting a lot of media attention and the press is taking advantage of the opportunity to discuss his next gig, X-Men: First Class.

X-Men: First Class, as we know, has had its start date delayed several times and it’s now set to being production in early September. Possibly more worrisome is that it’s been re-written six times recently as well while its release date still sits in June of 2011. If that wasn’t enough, after Vaughn saw Christopher Nolan’s Inception, he had to literally pull out twelve (12!) pages of the First Class script which featured a similar dream action sequence that would have been too reminiscent of Nolan’s latest success.

With all of that in combination with the plethora of headlines about X-Men: First Class casting, fans are starting to wonder what direction the project is taking and whether or not it’s still a prequel or some sort of quasi-reboot.

IGN had a chance to speak with Vaughn on the matter and the British director compared his X-Men movie to what J.J. Abrams did with Star Trek, which hints at the film acting as a sort of franchise “reinvention.”

“Obviously [Abrams] couldn’t make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job… He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It’s very similar, in a way. But we’re doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven’t seen before.”

Vaughn continued to praise Bryan Singer’s story with the following (and very interesting) statement:

“The story that Bryan Singer came up with is very, very smart… It’s very clever when you see how he has integrated the characters into the time period where the film is set. I’ll put it that way. I just don’t want to give it away. … It’s a very clever way of getting these characters involved in recent history, in recent world events.”

He refers to “time period” and recent world events. Will time-travel play a role in this film? We’ve expected that there would be flashbacks since X-Men: First Class is incorporating elements from the never-going-to-happen X-Men Origins: Magneto film and there has been talk at Fox meetings about the time-traveling mutant, Cable…

By comparing to Abrams successful time-travel-dependent reboot of the Star Trek franchise and referencing the concept of time, we’re now open to quite a few possibilities for how they’re handling X-Men: First Class. I’ll let you speculate on what this may mean.

Before you start thinking this film is out of continuity though, Rick Marshall at MTV spoke with Vaughn yesterday and directly asked the director if X-Men: First Class is a true prequel to the X-Men trilogy.

“Yeah, I would say absolutely so… You’ve got Magneto and [Charles] Xavier when they first meet… The backdrop of what’s going on in the world when they first meet, it’s very interesting. You see them and their relationship develop and play out with this major political event in the background.”

I’m happy this isn’t a reboot because they’d be off to a poor start due to character selection. Should Fox decide to restart the franchise in the future, they need to do it right and start with the proper roster of mutants and go from there so they’re not breaking further and further from continuity with each successive franchise film.

I’m also intrigued by how they’re going to tie the history of key characters into real-world events of the past. My only concern is that with the delays, rewrites and last-minute scrapping of large segment of the script, that First Class will be rushed since its release date hasn’t budged at all. With Vaughn and Singer at the helm, I’m not too worried though.

Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

X-Men: First Class stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Alice Eve, Nicholas Hoult, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Till and Jennifer Lawrence. It’s currently still set to hit theaters June 3, 2011.

Sources: MTV, IGN

http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/7341/director-matthew-vaughn-compares-x-men-first-class-to-j-j-abrams-star-trek-reboot

Director Matthew Vaughn Compares X-Men: First Class to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Reboot
Posted 08.03.10 by BrentJS

So far, practically all of the talk about Fox's prequel to the X-Men franchise, X-Men: First Class, has focused on the actors who will be playing the new mutants and the younger versions of the characters seen in the original trilogy, with very little heard about how director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) plans to re-envision the X-Men for a whole new generation of fans. However, while discussing the DVD and Blu-Ray release of his last comic book-inspired movie, Kick-Ass, Vaughn told IGN that he plans to approach First Class as more of a reboot than a straight prequel, comparing it to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot.

[Abrams] made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It's very similar, in a way. But we're doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven't seen before.

Vaughn said that "it's very exciting" to see the project come together and had high praise for the cast of actors who will be bringing the Marvel Comics characters to life, calling them "truly world class" talents.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are really working well together. We're about to start a rehearsal period before the shoot and they are coming up with some great ideas. They really care very deeply about their characters and how they interact in the film. And the younger cast members as well, the other mutants, they're really incredibly talented. .... They're training every day for several hours. Literally, right now they're training with the stunt teams and they're all taking their diets very seriously and exercising a lot and working very, very hard.

First Class is currently in pre-production at Pinewood Studios in London, with principal photography scheduled to begin within a matter of weeks. The "other mutants" that Vaughn referred to include Edi Gathegi, Caleb Landry Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Alice Eve, Jennifer Lawrence, and Lucas Till.
Next Showing: X-Men: First Class opens June 3, 2011

http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2010/08/x-men-first-class-will-fit-in.html

X-Men: First Class will fit in with previous films and real-world politics
By David Bentley on Aug 4, 10 07:52 PM

EVER since X-Men: First Class was announced, there have been questions on fan forums about whether it's a prequel to the existing films or a total restart.

The confusion has been furthered by the existence of a comic of the same name, which features Marvel's 'original five' - Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel and Iceman. In the movie continuity, however, Angel and Iceman are far too young to have been among the first pupils at Xavier's school.

Director Matthew Vaughn this week told IGN he hoped the First Class movie would follow the model of JJ Abrams' relaunch of the Star Trek franchise.

Vaughn said: "Obviously [Abrams] couldn't make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job. He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters.

"And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It's very similar, in a way. But we're doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven't seen before."

Abrams' Star Trek established an alternate timeline through time travel via a black hole, and fans are wondering if First Class will somehow also create another reality through the altering of history. This would give the film - and any sequels - more freedom without having to connect completely to the existing movies. There are no clues as to whether this will happen.

The storyline of the film was conceived by former X-Men director Bryan Singer, who is also a producer on the project.

Vaughn wouldn't give away any details of the plot but he did say the characters were integrated into the political climate of the time in which the film is set, thought to be the 60s: "The story that Bryan Singer came up with is very, very smart. It's very clever when you see how he has integrated the characters into the time period where the film is set. I just don't want to give it away. ... It's a very clever way of getting these characters involved in recent history, in recent world events."

And he wasn't too worried about criticism from diehard fans: "There's always that risk, but I think that when they see the film they will be very excited about the direction that we've chosen."

He added: "The quality of the actors that we've got in these roles is truly world class. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are really working well together. We're about to start a rehearsal period before the shoot and they are coming up with some great ideas. They really care very deeply about their characters and how they interact in the film.

"And the younger cast members as well, the other mutants, they're really incredibly talented. It's going to be a pleasure to work with them. It really is. They're all very, very committed as well. They're training every day for several hours. Literally, right now they're training with the stunt teams and they're all taking their diets very seriously and exercising a lot and working very, very hard. It's very exciting to see it come together."

Although IGN interpreted Vaughn's comments in such a way that its headline described the film as 'rebooting the X-franchise', Vaughn has told MTV it is a prequel to the existing films. Asked if it fitted into continuity, he said: "Yeah, I would say absolutely so."

He added: "You've got Magneto and Xavier when they first meet. The backdrop of what's going on in the world when they first meet, it's very interesting. You see them and their relationship develop and play out with this major political event in the background."

Another worry from fans, following a series of casting announcements, is that there are too many characters in the movie, but Vaughn doesn't believe that's true.

He said: "In terms of having a lot of mutants, it doesn't feel that busy. I don't feel worried about it. I think it will be really cool to see all these guys doing their stuff.

"I'm very keen that it has a lot of heart, this movie. You understand where these characters have come from, and you obviously know where they're going, but to see that very important point of their lives where they're discovering their power and working out their ethical take on what to do with their power -- it's a very interesting story to tell. I want it to be a very good film, and I'm working very hard to create one for you."

He wouldn't answer whether there is more focus this time on the relationship between Cyclops and Jean Grey, in the absence of Wolverine: "I can't shed any light on that at all. I think that would be giving too much away. You'll just have to wait and see. It's going to be worth it."

http://scifipop.com/news/2010/08/06/mined-to-death-x-men-director-says-hollywood-is-killing-the-superhero-movie/

August 6th, 2010 - 33 views
‘Mined to death’? ‘X-Men’ director says Hollywood is killing the superhero movie

X-Men First Class team

The clock is ticking on the superhero craze in Hollywood, according to Matthew Vaughn, the director now filming “X-Men: First Class” for Fox in London.

“It’s been mined to death and in some cases the quality control is not what it’s supposed to be,” Vaughn said. “People are just going to get bored of it.”

Vaughn, who produced, directed and co-wrote “Kick-Ass,” says he pounced on the chance to make a film about the uncanny mutants from Marvel Comics because he expects the current boom in superhero cinema to fizzle out in the near future.

Vaughn, who produced, directed and co-wrote “Kick-Ass,” says he pounced on the chance to make a film about the uncanny mutants from Marvel Comics because he expects the current boom in superhero cinema to fizzle out in the near future.

“I’ve always wanted to do a big-budget superhero film and I think we’ve kind of crossed the Rubicon with superhero films,” Vaughn said. “I think [the opportunity to do one], it’s only going to be there two or three more times.”

“Then,” he added, “the genre is going to be dead for a while because the audience has just been pummeled too much.”

Next summer, “X-Men: First Class” will join “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Thor” and “Green Lantern” in a parade of costumed heroes in big-budget films at the cineplex.

Vaughn said audience fatigue is already starting to set in. The subject material can’t sustain the Hollywood trample, he said, and the inevitable box-office duds and derivative projects will mark the end of the gold rush by studios.

“It is a crowded room,” Vaughn said “It’s too crowded.”

Claudia Schiffer and Matthew VaughnThe 39-year-old filmmaker (who is married to German model Claudia Schiffer) is known for a candor that is rare in Hollywood circles.

He had been in talks to direct the third “X-Men” film but that didn’t work out (he instead went off to make the underrated “Stardust“) and the superhero project went to Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour“), who delivered “X-Men: The Last Stand,” the 2006 film that became the biggest money-maker in the franchise despite far more sour reviews than the two previous films.

Vaughn didn’t shy away from slagging on Ratner’s film: “As it happens, I could have made something a hundred times better than the film that was eventually made,” Vaughn told the Daily Telegraph. “It sounds arrogant, but I could have done something with far more emotion and heart.”

Vaughn made his mark in movies as the producer of three Guy Ritchie films — “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch” and “Swept Away.” He made his directorial debut with “Layer Cake” in 2004. “X-Men: First Class,” starring James McAvoy as Charles Xavier (aka Professor X) and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr (aka, Magneto) is due in theaters in June 2011.

– Geoff Boucher

http://www.slashfilm.com/exclusive-matthew-vaughn-reveals-magneto-professor-xmen-class/

Exclusive: Matthew Vaughn Talks Leaked ‘X-Men: First Class’ Photo, Reveals Magneto and Professor X Images

Posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 by Peter Sciretta

Remember that X-Men: First Class cast photo that leaked online yesterday that you hated? Director Matthew Vaughn hated it too. While I was heading out the door to the airport (Sundance Film Festival here I come) I received a phone call from Vaughn who wanted to set the record straight about the photo. And to make up for it he gave us two much more inspiring images of the main characters in his upcoming superhero film.

“I freaked out on them yesterday. I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the f&#! is this s$#!, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’…

Vaughn assures fans that he has the best intentions.

“I’m a fan of X-Men. We’re not bastardizing X-Men, I’m trying to get them back to being whole again.

As for the costumes…

The costumes are blue and yellow as well, because f&#! it, lets take it back it the original. Also, by the way, those costumes are hardly in the movie. The main costumes are like these cool 60’s James Bond…”

You have to remember that this is a prequel story about how the mutants gathered together and formed the X-Men. I’m sure the suits don’t come together until very late in the game. Vaughn provided us with two exclusive images from the film which show James McAvoy as a pre-wheel chair Professor Charles Xavier and a costumed Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, complete with Magneto’s trademark helmet.

Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto in X-Men First Class

James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class

“Imagine the Cuban Missile crisis and discovering that mutants exist, both at the same time.” … “The actors are so great. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are very very hard to replace. When I’m watching Fassbender and McAvoy you just think, it sort of reminds me of Daniel Craig doing Bond, you kind of forget there were other people playing him. And that’s what I feel about these two.”

I think a lot of people saw the image and the first thing that came to mind was Fantastic Four, and Vaughn says X-Men: First Class is as far away from Fantastic Four as you can possibly get.

“It’s definitely more serious and more realistic, and I think that’s something that had to happen. That’s my feeling about the world we live in right now. I think the glossy colorful superhero film sorta had its day. I think Batman Begins started it, Dark Knight, dare I say Kick-Ass was fun and it had some real pop to it, but at the same time we grounded it in reality as much as possible. I think that’s what the audience wants. And that why that image is more Fantastic Four than it is X-Men. And I say that with all due respect to the Fantastic Four team. That was then and this is now. It’s a different time. I mean, look at me — I’m not exactly mister light.”

When asked if not having suits for a big portion of the movie might mean we could expect less action than previous installments, Vaughn responded that First Class “has a fair amount in there.”

It’s funny that you say that because if you watch [the other x-men movies] there isn’t as much action as you’d think. I think X-men 3 had the most action. But X1 and X2 had cool set pieces. But for me, I think it’s boring watching CG and big explosions. I’m sorta over that. I’d say it’s got more character-driven action than action for the sake of action.

As for keeping the fans of the series happy, Vaughn says he did “a lot of research on the X-men comics” and is trying to be faithful to the mythology set-up over the years.

I’d say this is more like Casino Royale than [JJ Abrams] Star Trek. If you think about it, Casino Royale just totally rebooted Bond — they kept what they wanted and got rid of what didn’t work. You sort of saw Bond become a double O for the first time and yet it didn’t seem to matter [what they changed]. I think my rule is to make a stand alone movie that is as good as possible and do as many nods and winks towards the comics and the other films, but not get tied up in knots worrying about that. It’s sort of a stand-alone movie in my mind with a reboot being a real reboot. Because if you’re a stickler for continuity, in X3 when you see Patrick Stewart…. well, I don’t want to give away anything about the plot but we’ve been as respectful of the other movies and comics as we I can feasibly can be without compromising the story.”

Vaughn is currently busy editing the film in London. The first teaser poster premiered on Aint It Cool News earlier tonight. I asked when we could expect a first trailer, but he was unsure. I can’t wait to see more.

http://scifipartyline.net/?p=5451

Vaughn Talks Leaked X-Men Photo, Releases More First Class Stills
Written by comicbookroadshowandnoapologies on 20 January 2011

The saga of that X-Men: First Class cast photo — y’know, the one that appeared online Tuesday only to be yanked by the studio, then released again on Wednesday? — continues, this time starring director Matthew Vaughn.

The image, obviously cobbled together in Photoshop by someone (presumably at 20th Century Fox), drew quick criticism from fans, many of whom expressed doubts about the quality of prequel. But an annoyed Vaughn wants to assure them the photo wasn’t pre-approved and, more importantly, doesn’t reflect X-Men: First Class.

“I freaked out on them yesterday,” Vaughn tells Slashfilm. “I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the f&#! is this s$#!, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad Photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’ [...] I’m a fan of X-Men. We’re not bastardizing X-Men, I’m trying to get them back to being whole again.”

Better still, the director released two more stills: Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, wearing his Magneto helmet; and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, apparently employing telepathy.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/01/22/x-men-first-class-matthew-vaughn/

X-Men: First Class' scoop: Director Matthew Vaughn says 'imagine Bond'...and 'Twilight'
by John Young

The X-Men are heading back to the ’60s, which, considering that the first X-Men comic hit stands in 1963, is maybe where they truly belong. X-Men: First Class (out June 3) explores the initial friendship and eventual schism between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Inglourious Basterds‘ Michael Fassbender, pictured right), two young mutants who later became known as the feuding Professor X and Magneto. But first they’ll have to thwart a bent-on-world-domination secret society, the Hellfire Club.

EW recently checked in with Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn (pictured above, inset), who talked about how his version of Magneto will resemble a certain silver-screen icon from the movie’s time period, why he’s not worried about die-hard X-Men fans, and how he returned to the X-Men universe after famously stepping away from X-Men: The Last Stand.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How would you describe First Class to the uninitiated?

MATTHEW VAUGHN: 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.

If Magneto is Bond, then what about Charles Xavier?

You’re seeing Xavier become a professor. For me, Magneto is the good guy in the film, but he’s a sort of a good bad guy. He literally kicks off the movie, and Xavier goes along on the ride trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and trying to persuade Erik that you don’t have to kill everyone.

I know you’re under tight restrictions about what you can reveal regarding the plot, but, well, what else can you say?

In the beginning of the film, no one knows that mutants exist, and all the mutants don’t know that each other exist. They’re all in hiding. Kevin Bacon plays a very megalomaniac mutant [Sebastian Shaw] who decides that he can take over the world and that mutants are the future. Erik and Charles then meet each other and hook up with the CIA to try and prevent World War III. You find out everything about what went on between Erik and Charles.

And there are flashbacks with Erik and Charles as young children?
They’re not flashbacks — we start there. It starts in 1942, and then works its way up to 1962.

Did you have any concerns about how, no matter what you do, you may anger some of the die-hard fans?

Yeah, but I could tell those fans that they’re wrong. One thing about the X-Men world is that, if you know your X-Men universe, every writer reinvented the storyline. I did my research, and none of the histories of the characters make any sense. Each writer just totally changed the history to make their plot work. So I can quite safely say that X-Men has a history of reinventing its history for the sake of the plot.

Is the movie related at all to the First Class comics?

Not really. There are a lot of nods to the X-Men world and the X-Men movies, but it’s definitely its own beast.

You were going to direct X-Men: The Last Stand and then dropped out two months before filming started. The story is that you thought you weren’t going to have enough time to see your vision through…

That’s true. It was as simple as that. In retrospect, I probably would have had more time then than I do now, which is highly ironic. But I also have more experience now than I did then. And I had no idea how big-budget filmmaking worked, so I was just applying small-budget independent-style logic to the wrong equation. And when I saw the film, I realized that Fox would have given me all the tools I needed. I was just stupid enough not to take them. But we both decided to cross the bridge together again. I definitely had burned a bridge. But they asked, so we met and we both kissed and made up and went off to make the film.

X-men-3-castImage Credit: Murray CloseHow did you settle on James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto, respectively?

Professor X is a very hard character to cast. Out of all the characters, he’s the dullest if you really think about it. He’ll be in a wheelchair eventually, and he’s sort of a sanctimonious preacher half of the time. 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.

And, please, one more story tease?

It’s got a lot of teenage angst. The Twilight girls will like it.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30058

03 February 2011 | Source: Exclusive

Our man Chris visited the set of X-Men: First Class to keep an eye on what director Matthew Vaughn ahd his team are up to, and he's got a few tidbits from the visit in the latest issue of Empire. Not least his thoughts on casting his leads, and the promise that this still looks like being a franchise.

Vaughn himself talks about his reasons for taking the job. "I've always wanted to do a movie set in the '60s. The difference is that now I have experience. On X3 [which he was at one point set to direct] it was cast and I just had to tell the story. Here we have to recast every role, recreate the '60s - which is not easy - and redesign everything. We've been playing catch-up, but it's working."

Ah, that recasting: Vaughn explains why he went for Michael Fassbender as Eric "Magneto" Lehnsherr and James McAvoy as Charles "Professor Xavier" Xavier. "I wasn't trying to cast the young Patrick [Stewart] or Ian [McKellen]. I was trying to cast the young Professor X and Magneto; what those characters are in my mind. For me, I'm trying to make a movie that stands on its own two feet. Hopefully there'll be a lot more of this version of the franchise."

For much more on X-Men: First Class (out on June 2), and why James McAvoy calls Professor X "a sex pest", pick up the new issue of Empire now.

http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/9935/director-matthew-vaughn-reveals-that-colin-firth-was-almost-in-x-men-first-class/

Director Matthew Vaughn Reveals that Colin Firth Was Almost in X-Men: First Class
Posted 04.12.11 by Ryan

Director Matthew Vaughn has assembled a terrific cast for his upcoming X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class, that includes James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, and Kevin Bacon as the movie's antagonist, Sebastian Shaw. In an interview with Total Film, Vaughn revealed that the role of Shaw was almost played by recent Academy Award winner Colin Firth (The King's Speech).

There were only two people I wanted for Shaw. It was between Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon. The reason I thought Firth would be interesting was purely because you've never seen him play a villain and I think he would've done something really special with it. So I said [to the studio] if you're willing to go with a European actor, I want Firth — and if it has to be American, I want Bacon because I think both those guys are such great actors.

The studio obviously went ahead with Bacon as Shaw, a move that Vaughn is pleased with considering what the actor brings to the role, calling him one of the movie's "greatest assets."

Kevin Bacon is one of this film's greatest assets. There's a Bond villain aspect to his performance, all the trappings are there, but he doesn’'t camp it up.

While Firth's potential casting in the same role as Bacon could be seen as a rare fact for "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" trivia enthusiasts, the two actors already co-starred together in the 2005 drama Where the Truth Lies.

Read more about Director Matthew Vaughn Reveals that Colin Firth Was Almost in X-Men: First Class by www.reelzchannel.com

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32494

Vaughn Schools CBR on "X-Men: First Class"

by Adam Rosenberg, Contributing Writer |

Wed, May 25th, 2011 at 2:58pm PDT

Director Matthew Vaughn discusses "X-Men: First Class" with CBR

It was fair to view Fox's announcement of the prequel story "X-Men: First Class" with caution after "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" failed to meet audience expectations. The hiring of "Kick-Ass" director Matthew Vaughn to helm the prequel was the first sign that changes were in store. Vaughnn originally replaced Bryan Singer on "The Last Stand," and was responsible for the casting of Kelsey Grammar and Vinnie Jones before he dropped out himself to deal with private concerns. "First Class" is, as Vaughn put it in this exclusive interview with Comic Book Resources, "unfinished business."

The movie is great, as you'll learn in more detail from our review next week, though Vaughn doesn't stick to the script or continuity established in Marvel's "X-Men: First Class" comics. Indeed, the director admits to never having read and not knowing anything about the series of miniseries, beyond the fact that they're not what his movie is. Vaughn is fine with that, and never once worried that a poor reception might stem from this lack of faithfulness to the comic's story.

"I didn't give a s$#!, to be honest," the director told us matter-of-factly. "I got pitched a story by Fox as being set in the Cold War with the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. [They said] I could go off and make my 'Bond meets X-Men' movie, and that's really all I cared about."

You definitely get a sense of the Bond DNA permeating Vaughn's creation while watching the movie. Classic Bond, that is -- the slick, even fun-loving MI6 super-spy who was a fan of free love and daring escapes, as opposed to the grittier, more naturalistic Bond we've seen in the recent Daniel Craig-starring efforts. Vaughn watched "You Only Live Twice" a number of times as he prepared for this superhero period piece, along with all of the Sean Connery-led Bond flicks, but he didn't limit himself to Ian Fleming's greatest creation.

"We looked at the '60s [X-Men] comics and I loved all the old '60s and '70s movies growing up. So I was very comfortable about creating the look that I wanted. It wasn't that hard," Vaughn explained. "Our biggest fear was falling into 'Austin Powers' territory, so I had to make sure we were nowhere near any kind of camp."

Vaughn admits that the costumes -- not just the superhero outfits, but the actual period costuming -- were all inspired by how the characters dressed in the '60s comics. Similarly, "You Only Live Twice" stood out among the Bond movies he looked at, the narrative arc of a villain trying to set off a nuclear war sharing common ground with the unfolding events in "First Class."

Vaughn gives a lot of credit to Bryan Singer, who of course directed the first two "X-Men" movies for Fox and remained involved as a producer for the remaining films in the franchise. However, despite his close involvement in the initial development of the X-Men film mythology, Singer took a very hands-off approach to "First Class" as the movie came together.

"He was the perfect producer," Vaughn told us. "Once I pitched him how I wanted to make the movie, then went off and wrote the script and gave it to him, he read it and went, 'Look, you've got a handle on this. I'm a director, you're a director. You know the last thing you need is a producer interfering. If anyone does, call me and I'll get them off your back. Good luck!'"

The sotry of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr is at th heart of Vaughn's X-Men film

"He let me get on with it," Vaughn continued. "I'm going to sound arrogant, but they didn't hire me to be a director who would do what they wanted, they hired me to go off and make my own film. They hired me to direct it -- and I'm quite opinionated."

Indeed, Vaughn's opinions work in the context of the movie, but there are bound to be a few comic book purists who, if nothing else, take issue with the title and its complete lack of a connection with the comic books bearing the same name. Vaughn admits to knowing "every frame" of the previous "X-Men" movies, and slyly states that he studied "X2" "far harder than 'X3' or 'Wolverine,'" but pleasing the comic book fans wasn't his first priority.

"It's my job to make a film as good as possible. I need to please a cinema audience, number one, and a comic book audience, number two," he said. "Hopefully I can do both, but you have to make a film that works."

"I just wanted to make my own version of an 'X-Men' film. I didn't put too much thought in; I just had a vision for what I thought the film should be."

The results will be right there on the screen for all to see on Friday, June 3, but early reports -- and my own response to the critic's screening -- point to a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It's the rare blockbuster-style movie that also serves up a compelling narrative, one with enough plot threads that can't be easily summed up in a single sentence. Despite the existence of the earlier trilogy, "First Class" in many ways feels like the first chapter of a new franchise.

"I think it could go anywhere we want [for a sequel]," Vaughn said. "There are just so many opportunities. That's why I think the end of the movie, the way it sets you up, is great. Now we're gonna see two people that were great to watch as friends, now let's see them as enemies."

That shouldn't be a spoiler; anyone who has been following this movie knows that the relationship between Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is at the heart of the film's story. Vaughn is already thinking about where he'll take things next, and even has a strong idea of how the next movie will start, assuming there is one.

"I have a fun idea for starting the [sequel] with [President John F.] Kennedy being shot, and we reveal that Magneto is the guy controlling the 'magic bullet.'"

"X-Men: First Class," in theaters on June 3, stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr, Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme, Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok, Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy/Banshee, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, Oliver Platt as the Man in Black, Jason Flemyng as Azazel and Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggart.

http://www.freemoviestheatre.eu/blog/matthew-vaughn-james-mcavoy-is-amazing-for-the-role-in-x-men-first-class/

Matthew Vaughn: James McAvoy is amazing for the role in “X-Men: First Class”
27 May, 2011

In an interview with editors of the website HeyUGuys.co.uk, director Matthew Vaughn testified that Scot James McAvoy (32 years) was the first person who he thought when he held tryouts for the selection of the actor who will portray Charles Xavier / Professor X’s prequel in “X-Men: First Class” as the star of the movie “Wanted”, “The Last Station”, “Atonement” and “Becoming Jane” seemed perfect to get inside a superhero.

Although he noted that he wanted James McAvoy in the distribution of the movie from the moment, filmmaker, whom officials at the production company 20th Century Fox gave him a budget estimated at 120 million dollars to get safely to the end of this prequel to be released in cinemas in the United States of America on 06/03/2011, feared that the young Scot could abandon the project because of irritation caused by the fact that he was forced to participate in listening to all candidates to the role of Eric Lensherr / Magneto to give their this reply: “When we talked about who could play the Professor X, I thought that McAvoy would be perfect. He was the head of my list of preferences. I think I stepped on his nerves because of the reason that I’ve make him to support auditions with every actor who compete for the role of Magneto. I told him every day that he has to read the lines with one actor or another. And when Michael Fassbender occurred after only 20 seconds with them two together, I said that is fine and that I found Magneto.

Matthew Vaughn also said it was very important for him to check before it start shooting if there is chemistry between the actors involved in the project and it was a confessed fan of the franchise “X-Men” comic and behind this film series: “Normally we need about a year to know whether or not I am proud of a movie. I love the X-Men universe, so for me it was fun to go through comics magazines. People always ask me which my style as a director is. And the answer is very simple: I just want to tell a story and every frame follows the narrative of this tale”.