“X-Men: First Class“ may very well be the most anticipated movie of 2011. It is the fifth installment of the X-Men Marvel series and hits theater on Friday, June 3rd.
In “First Class,” we will be taken back to the beginning and find out how the X-Men came to life. The Matthew Vaughn film is set in the ’60s where Professor X played by James McAvoy and Magneto played by Michael Fassbender meet, become friends and eventually turn into enemies. This movie will definitely have you at the edge of your seat and will bring out your inner mutant.
GlobalGrind caught up with the stars of the film, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender and got the scoop about making the film, sharing helmets and the fuzzy feeling the movie leaves you with at the end.
Check out the interview below.
Can you talk about taking these roles that were created previously? What your preparation was and whether you spoke with Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen?
Michael Fassbender: Well obviously Sir Ian McKellen did a great job and I was aware the fans of the X-Men comic book were very pleased with what he did. So initially I thought to myself, should I study a young Ian McKellen and study his voice and his physicality. I spoke to Matthew, I think it was like our first or second meeting and he wasn’t so keen on the idea. He wanted me to use my own voice and take it from there, so we just wiped the slate clean on that idea and I really delved into the comic books. There was so much material there that was spoiled in terms of biography and putting together a complicated web around the character.
James McAvoy: I felt the same with Abraham sort of mimicking the voice and all that and we had a good laugh at that, but it didn’t stay an option too long. I’ve looked really closely at Sir Patrick’s performance which I really enjoyed, but I felt just to validate Nick in these movies you have to make the characters different, otherwise it’s just the same performance with a sexy suit. I tried to take the key points of his character and just flip them, you know not extremely, because he’s a good guy and I couldn’t make him a bad guy, but where he was sort of wise, I was unwise and where he’s chased, I was running and vice versa.
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Were there any particular scenes that were specific to the ’60s in this movie that you really enjoyed?
James McAvoy: I enjoyed the cerebral … that thing that’s always in X-Men movies and it’s kind of like the Death Star of the X-Men and we have our own version of cerebral in this movie. Whereas in the other movies, it’s very sleek and shiny and this looks like you got it in IKEA, this one it looks like it’s got lollipops sticking out of it. It’s one of the good things about the films, the design is kind of catchy and naïve. I don’t think we ever felt like we had to play it that much. It was kind of all around us.
What was your initial reaction when you knew you were doing this?
Michael Fassbender: I was intrigued.
James McAvoy: I was a little bit surprised, I didn’t see myself as sort of the Patrick Stewart, bald, Jean Luke Piccard professor. That was great. I read the script, the first 40 pages that existed at the time and I realized that we could take the character in a whole different direction and have a whole lot of fun with him and make him a little more silly and a lot bit more drunk and that was great.
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It appears that you guys have a great rapport and you get along, with such a big cast, was it an instant connection?
James McAvoy: Yeah, me and Michael were sharing helmets and I got to know him on a very intimate level. Then our bond is broken and suddenly he’s not calling me anymore (Laughs). We did get along very well, which is good as well because one thing about the X-Men movies is there is always five thousand characters that you have to get to know and it can be a real task, but I think Mathew did a great job of tying in everyone’s story and I think part of that is due in fact to there is a rapport amongst everyone. That chemistry and connection translates on screen as well.
Michael: The support that was the one thing, everyone sort of came, it was tough, we were under pressure there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare things. We kind of did had to dive into things immediately. I got to say I was really impressed with the younger cast coming into something that is so high profile, starting off with maybe not so many films under the belt, but like a real openness and lack of an attitude or sort of an insecurity that can lead to bad behavior. There was obviously superb talent at the base of it, but just a real openness. I have to say I was really impressed by that.
This film left us in a very different place than the other three X-Men films. At the end when the credits were rolling, we thought, well Magneto’s really got a point here. This is the first film where it’s like he said we are never going to be accepted. Of course you project into the future and you say this battle is still going on.
Michael Fassbender: Yeah I agree with you man, his actions that’s the one thing, but his philosophy stands true, everything he says comes to fruition and you know this idea that the human race as we all know from what history teaches us, that we’re an incredibly destructive race and whenever there is this sort of fear element for something unknown or different we tend to destroy it. So all those discussions that Eric and Charles have in the end, the human beings sort of prove Eric right.
James McAvoy: I think another thing in the other X-Men movies, quite often the forces of humanity are led by Machiavellian humans, also where in this movie I feel like the humans decide to take out all the mutants and it’s because they’re scared. It’s a very human reaction, which makes them less bad guy, but also makes you go, he is right because they’re not even trying to be the bad guys and they’re still going to wipe us out. They’re a huge threat, but they’re just reacting. It makes it more real, I think.
