I have to confess something: at this point I have an almost complete lack of interest in X-Men 3. The most intriguing thing about the production so far was the participation of Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn, but he already took the Blackbird back to the
Granted, we don’t know many details about the story yet, aside from the fact that it seems to involve more characters than Robert Altman’s whole filmography. Apparently it takes a hunk of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men comic, in which a scientist creates a “cure” for mutants and Beast (Kelsey Grammar) decides he wants it. The return of Jean Grey as a dark entity is also reportedly a major focus, and depending on who you believe, the movie also features Sentinels, multiple mutant clashes, and the deaths of some main characters.
Maybe a teaser trailer will assuage my concern and ratchet up my excitement level. After all, when Bryan Singer brought just an assembly of early X2 footage to Comic Con, it proved highly effective in the generation of buzz (to the point where Fox actually put it online for all to see). But the dubious description of the X3 teaser that recently appeared at a site called CanMag doesn’t show promise, even if it is simply fanboy fabrication (judge for yourself RIGHT HERE).
Either way, Ratner (and/or whoever is directing most of the film) and his crew only have a few months to hurriedly finish filming, editing, scoring, adding special effects, and taking care of the inevitable reshoots to make the mandated May release date (from what I hear, the studio’s main priority was beating Singer’s Superman to theaters, quality be damned). I genuinely hope X3 is the biggest and best so far, but the pessimist in me remains at the forefront.
Oh yeah, the thing that prompted this article in the first place – Hollywood North has a few new on-set snaps of the X-characters in costume, including Ororo’s stylish new lid and McKellan’s Magneto in his snazzy helmet. Check them out HERE!