X-Men First Class to be set in 1960's inspired by 007

[Blowfeld]

BRYAN SINGER: 'X-MEN: FIRST CLASS' IS SET IN THE '60s AND INSPIRED BY 'JAMES BOND'

LOCATION: Xavier Institute for Higher Learning

THE SKINNY: Harry Knowles over at Ain't It Cool News recently had the fortune of speaking with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS producer Bryan Singer over the phone, and Singer indulged Knowles' curiosity about the upcoming X-MEN prequel/reboot (leaning towards reboot, at this point) by dishing several previously unknown details about the film.

First and foremost, the film will be set in the 1960s - at a time when John F. Kennedy is president and Martin Luther King Jr. is still alive and at the forefront of the civil rights movement. It's worth noting that the civil rights movement sets the perfect stage for the introduction of society's discrimination against mutants.

Also, since the film will be taking place at such an early point in the history of the X-MEN, Charles Xavier will still be sporting a full head of hair and is fully functional from the waist down (I'm just saying he can walk, guys, get your head out of the gutter!) Singer says we will bear witness to the event that cripples him, however.


The overall look and feel of the film, Singer explained, is largely inspired by the James Bond films of the time; with all their "retro-future" technologies. And the X-MEN costumes we can expect to see are much closer in appearance to the 'tacky' outfits of the comics than the modernized versions seen in the previous trilogy.

Again, this is a choice allowed by introducing the characters in the swinging '60s.

Neither Cyclops nor Jean Grey will make an appearance in the film, but there will certainly be no shortage of mutants. Cyclops' younger brother Havok (Lucas Till) will appear in the film, along with mutants Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Beast (Lucas Till), Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost/The White Queen (January Jones), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), and of course Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender).

The last detail of particular importance divulged by Singer is that the film will heavily feature The Hellfire Club - an organization of mutants that are in opposition to the X-MEN and fronted by Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost/The White Queen.

Sounds like a pretty large serving of awesome, doesn't it? A question on the minds of many, however, is how director Matthew Vaughn plans to fit such a broad range of content into the span of a single film.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS begins filming Aug. 31.

This story can be found at http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=10057

[Kristatos]

First Nolan, now Singer. It seemes everybody loves Bond films except the people that make them.

[Dr. No]

Sounds kinda cool. It is weird everybody but the Bond people are excited about making the Bond movies. Maybe there is a risk of Bond being irrelevant whenever it does return because so many others will come up to fill the vacuum. I kind of doubt it but more and more are making the next generation Bond while Eon is making gritty early 2000 movies.