Every summer for the past couple of years we’ve been flooded with one comic book movie after another where our favorite fictional superheroes come to life on the big screen. Sure, we’re used to it by now but a lot of us have forgotten that “X-Men” was one of the first large superhero flicks that carved out the genre niche for other movies of that type to come. Mutant and proud indeed.
It’s only been a mere couple of months since audiences were last exposed with the surprisingly great “X-Men: First Class,” a prequel to the beloved comic book franchise we’ve all been exposed to for the last decade. Despite fan hesitation and dismay over the reboot of sorts, even those harshest critics (which included myself) succumbed to the engaging story in front of them. Now here we are, just a day shy of the initial release of the “X-Men: First Class” Blu-ray which is also the first summer comic book film of this year to be released before the others. A small group of press, including myself, were treated to a nice presentation where we watched a nice amount of Blu-ray features that included an interactive Cerebro where you, the viewer, can look up any mutant shown in any of the five existing X-Men films and find out more information about them.
After the presentation and the “Magneto revenge score” were completely absorbed into me permanently, I got the chance to converse with producer Lauren Shuler Donner. If you’re an X-Men movie fan and don’t know about her then you should. She’s produced all of the X-Men films and has been with the franchise since the start. I had the honor of talking to the famed producer about “X-Men: First Class,” what happened to “X-Men Origins: Magneto” and why we didn’t see the Hellfire Club in “X-Men 3.” Yes, I had to ask that question because she mentioned during the presentation that one point she was looking to create a spinoff movie just for Sebastian Shaw and the gang.
ShockYa: I’ve always associated you as the mother of the X-Men movies because you’ve been with the film franchise since the beginning. There are so many comic book properties out there, and even in the late nineties when very few people were making those films, you had your pick of the liter. Why was it X-Men?
Lauren Shuler Donner: Because of all of the comic books, they are the most well-written characters. They’re the best drawn, the most complex. To me you need a character that has a lot, one that’s conflicted and they’re all psychologically damaged at a certain point. They all want something. I didn’t grow up with the comics and I needed something to hook into and I immediately hooked into Logan who has no memories, tortured and has an unrequited love. I also hooked into Storm or Xavier. I could hook into all of them because they’re psychologically well-drawn.
ShockYa: And from the Blu-ray interview footage we were shown, it looks like everybody was going through a nostalgia trip with all the previous X-Men films.
Lauren Shuler Donner: Oh yeah, we had a lot of fun making them.
ShockYa: So during the presentation you were talking about how “X-Men: First Class” was conceived back when “X-Men 2” was still being made. You were also talking about the Hellfire Club spinoff. I want to ask why there was never any mention of the Hellfire Club when it comes to “X-Men 3” because they’re a very crucial part of the beginning story line for the Dark Phoenix saga. I apologize, I’m showing how much of an X-Men comic fan I am.
Lauren Shuler Donner: No, I love that! I love it! Well we did talk about it and this is the thing: there’s forty-something years with rich stories in these comic books, what stories do you call? What do you use? In terms of the Dark Phoenix saga, we wanted to build that story so we went in that direction. We all discussed the Hellfire Club and decided not to because it’s sort of its own story. It felt appropriate this time because we were not going to follow the real “First Class” story and Bryan (Singer) wanted to bring another exciting visual element. I said ‘Look, let me show you these books on the Hellfire!’ I mean the look of them is incredible.
ShockYa: When it comes to Magneto in “X-Men: First Class,” played by Michael Fassbender who I love —
Lauren Shuler Donner: He’s so good! He’s got two new movies that are coming out.
ShockYa: I know! Awhile back there was talk about making “X-Men Origins: Magneto” and it appears like it was integrated with “First Class,” correct me if I’m wrong.
Lauren Shuler Donner: You’re not and it was. We had a fantastic script written by David Goyer and Sheldon Turner, it was a really great. I think the feeling was that it wasn’t going to stand on its own. The story is based on the comic book so a lot of that story of Magneto was woven from the comic.
ShockYa: What would you like to see when it comes to any future X-Men films? Is there a particular story line that you’d love to get on screen? Especially now that you fulfilled your wish and got the Hellfire Club out there.
Lauren Shuler Donner: Yes, I finally got the Hellfire Club out there. Well I have a couple but I’m going to keep that to myself because for now I want to see “The Wolverine” get made and “Deadpool.” I want to see those get made. We are discussing the possibility of a sequel to “First Class.” We’re discussing it, it’s not a real thing yet, but those are what I want to focus on right now.
ShockYa: I’m looking forward to Deadpool by the way.
Lauren Shuler Donner: It’s going to be totally different. It’s going to be right for Deadpool.
“X-Men: First Class” comes out on DVD and Blu-ray this Friday, September 9th.
