Bryan Singer Recruits The Dink To Join The X-Men

So far, every bit of casting news for Fox's upcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past (including the recent news that it'll be shot in native 3D) has come direct from Bryan Singer's Twitter feed.  On the one hand, it's great that the director seems excited about the project to the point that he's personally sharing updates with the world instead of relying on bland press releases.  On the other hand, at this point I half expect the movie itself will actually end up being a text-based adventure that Singer releases 140 characters at a time.

According to Singer's latest missive, Peter Dinklage (a.k.a. the best part of Game Of Thrones) has officially joined the cast, making him the first person to come on board who isn't merely reprising their role from a previous X-film.  Much to the internet's consternation, Singer did not reveal which role The Dink will portray, leading to some pretty varied speculation.  The only vaguely famous character who shares Dinklage's short stature is Puck, a Canadian character to whom Fox may not actually have the rights, since he's not strictly speaking a mutant.  Other popular guesses include Sentinel inventer Boliver Trask, The Watcher and even the pale-faced Mr. Sinister.

Dinklage is just flat out talented, but his size obviously tends to limit his casting opportunities.  However, in Singer's mutant-rich environment, it feels like the sky's the limit.  I'd love it if Singer could utilize some motion capture and CG to allow Dinklage to play a character for which he'd typically be overlooked.

Either way, just announce his character's name soon and be done with it.  I can't handle another round of Abrams/Cumberbatch guessing games.  If that becomes the standard operating procedure for geek properties, I may develop a twitch.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Looks For A Future Director In Its Own Past

The X-Men timeline is starting to literally fold in upon itself.

Matthew Vaughn did a hell of a job resurrecting the franchise with X-Men: First Class and needless to say I was pretty damn excited he'd agreed to come back to direct the sequel.  Now it appears that all bets are off, with Deadline reporting that Vaughn has officially left the project for undisclosed reasons.  (I'll bet good money that the official reason will end up being about scheduling.)  Now Fox is scrambling to find a new director so they don't blow their July 18, 2014 release date and it looks like their first choice is...Bryan Singer.

Yes, that's right, after remaining involved as a producer throughout the franchise's run, the man who started it all could be coming back to the director's chair.  It would be his first film in quite some time: while he directed the ill-fated Mockingbird Lane pilot (which NBC is dumping on the air this Friday night) and his recently re-titled Jack The Giant Slayer has recently seen its release date shuffled around once again, the last Singer-directed film that anyone's seen is 2008's underrated Nazi flick Valkyrie.  I've always had a soft spot for Singer so the idea of him returning to helm an X-film is certainly intriguing, especially considering the time-travelling nature of this next adventure.  If Singer really does end up directing, (which is not yet a done deal) I'd think that the return of familiar faces like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would be all but assured.

There's a distinct air of deja vu to the whole thing.  Vaughn famously cracked the story for X-Men: The Last Stand before abandoning the project and opening the door for Brett Ratner to step in and kill the franchise for five years.  Similarly, Vaughn recently elected not to direct the sequel to his other superhero movie Kick Ass, turning those duties over to newcomer Jeff Wadlow.

Honestly, I'm not sure about all this.  While I like the idea of bringing in someone who has a sense of ownership over the entire franchise, I can't help but wonder if Singer is really the best choice here.  Part of me would love to see someone a little more daring step in.

Pipe dream?  I believe Rian Johnson is available...

X-Men Mark Their X-Calendar For DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Part of the reason people have reacted with such gusto to the announcement of Captain America: The Winter Soldier is because the title indicates that film will be adapting one of the most beloved comic arcs in the character's recent history.  It's an interesting approach, as comic films tend to focus more on the broad strokes of the character/world than bringing a specific storyline to the screen.  Marvel's plan certainly has the potential for greatness and Fox seems to concur, as they'll be taking the X-Men down the same path.

Bryan Singer has confirmed that Matthew Vaughn's followup to X-Men: First Class will indeed be called X-Men: Days Of Future Past, adapting what is possibly the most famous of all the X-Men stories.  Originally penned by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, (authors of the Dark Phoenix story) Days Of Future Past centers around a dystopian future in which mutants have all been either interned or killed by the infamous giant robot Sentinels.  The future Kitty Pryde sends her mind back in time to possess her younger self and warn the X-Men in order to prevent this dark future from coming to pass.

Honestly, this announcement almost raises more questions than it answers.  Since the last film took place in the 1960s, will the "future" actually take place in our present day, or will it go even further into the 21st century?  More intriguingly, how does Vaughn plan to handle the elder versions of our mutant heroes?  Does he plan on getting the band back together?  While I wouldn't mind seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan return, my hope is that Fox lets Vaughn continue to re-write the X-Universe as he sees fit, instead of trying to shoehorn it in with the previous Singer/Ratner trilogy.*  I say that this actually presents a tremendous opportunity for Vaughn.  The story is all about changing future timelines, so even if he does decide to bring in folks like James Marsden and Famke Janssen, he can essentially have them do whatever he wants and explain it away ala J.J. Abram's Star Trek.

I'm firmly on the record as having loved Vaughn's first mutant adventure (the Blu-ray is in heavy rotation in our house) and I'm delighted that he and writing partner Jane Goldman are back for round two.  Fortunately they've also got a bit of time on this one, as the film isn't scheduled for release until 2014, but we should start hearing casting announcements in the next few months.  I expect we'll get to see a whole lot of new characters between the two timelines as well, so start your obscure mutant office pool now!

As a fan of the old Fox cartoon and someone who's been thoroughly disappointed by the Transformer films, I'm excited at the prospect of actually seeing the Sentinels brought to life.  Who knows, they might even be purple!





*It's a fine line.  Obviously we've seen Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and a quick cameo by Rebecca Romijn, but part of what worked about First Class is that it was evocative of those future-set X-Men films without feeling like a slave to their continuity.