Now that the “Captain America” casting whirlwind has settled down, and allowed the internet to temporarily experience a moment of rare calm, it’s about time for some other geek property to whip everyone up into a shark-like feeding frenzy anew.
I know, how about these ongoing, ever-evolving Bryan Singer / “X-Men: First Class” shenanigans?
Just last week, we reported on a recent juicy L.A. Times piece which gave the extremely strong impression that the fan-favorite director was a hop, skip and a jump away from signing on the dotted line and returning to Merry Marvel Mutant County.
However, it now saddens me somewhat to say that that assumption was a tad premature, as Deadline just reported that Singer will not, in fact, be directing “First Class” anymore, as his duties to Warner Bros.’ “Jack the Giant Killer” film adaptation will prevent him from regrouping with the “X-Men” in time to meet Fox’s desired 2011 release-date. *Sigh* Good to hear they’re not rushing or anything.
But fans can cheer up a bit, at least momentarily, as Singer has agreed to take a producer role on “First Class,” and apparently his treatment for the film — which was scripted by “Street Kings” writer Jamie Moss — went over like gangbusters with 20th Century Fox and will act as the backbone for whatever winds up on-screen. The studio has begun short-listing potential directors to tackle whatever Singer and Moss came up with.
So what does Singer’s involvement on a producing level mean? Tough to say. He’s going to be really swamped with “Jack,” so it seems pretty unlikely he’ll be overly involved with “First Class” — other than perhaps in a creative consultant/mentor-like role. My guess is that he’s agreed to take the position so as to ensure that his efforts on the project aren’t entirely lost in either further development or potential studio manhandling. This is definitely a good thing, as we’ll at least get to see his ideas on-screen — even if he’s not the one personally presenting them.
I must confess that I do worry about taking too much comfort in a great director’s participation as a producer. Maybe others have gotten over it, but I still feel a lingering sting from Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever,” which was produced by Tim Burton. Plus, let’s not forget that Steven Spielberg was a producer on Michael Bay’s lousy “Transformers” flicks …
Perhaps what’s most curious about this latest development, though, is that Fox wants “First Class” in theatres by summer 2011. I had assumed that “Wolverine 2” – which reportedly goes before cameras in January – would stake out that particular time-slot. Could we have two “X”-films hitting multiplexes in a single season? I have a hard time imagining this to be the case, but I suspect that, over the approaching months, we’re going to be getting bombarded with as many “X-Men” movie developments as Wolverine has yellow unitards, and all these momentary confusions will be dissolved.
So, how do you, fellow IJMers, feel about this latest “First Class” development? X-cited? Apathetic? Comment at right or pull a Nightcrawler and transport (BAMF!) over to IJM’s X-Men forum and hit us with your feedback!
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Follow Cam Smith on Twitter at http://twitter.com/camspcepisodes.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the next movie. I liked the first two movies who were directed by Singer and had mixed feelings about the third instalment that wasn’t directed by him. Felt like something was lost on the way when they finally finished The Last Stand. I’ll guess like all the rest I’ll just wait and see what will happen, could be great or could be the death of the movie career of the X-MEN. Just one year to go. See, this is one movie I am waiting for and the wait will be worth it (since there was a question asked about Harry Potter being worth the wait or not.)
yea i heard about the news the other day. personally i still hated what singer did with superman. so i been a bit leery with him now. i said it before i wish he never left xmen in the first place. but i am curious to see where first class goes now.