Bryan Singer Reveals Major X-Men: First Class Details

Ever since Bryan Singer gave his first major interview about Fox’s prequel to its X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: First Class, fans have been clamoring for more information about the project. Singer was initially going to direct First Class, but he had to back out due to other commitments, which opened the door for Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) to take the helm. Still involved as a co-producer, Singer subsequently revealed that the plot would revolve around the early relationship between Prof. Charles Xavier, aka Prof. X (to be played by James McAvoy), and Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender), but that still left many questions. Now, Singer has provided several major details about First Class, including the time period the movie will be set in, if the young mutants will wear costumes, and what villain Kevin Bacon will be portraying.

According to AICN, Singer revealed during a recent phone conversation that First Class will not follow the comic book origin of the X-Men, but it will be set during the time period when the comic book was originally published.

The film takes place in the 1960′s…. There is a spirit of a hopeful future that was prevalent in that time. We will see how Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr met—and how they dreamt of a future with Mutant & Human kind. They’re going to be in their late twenties. Xavier—as played by James McAvoy will not be in his wheelchair to begin the film — but we will see how he wound up in a wheelchair…. We’ll see McAvoy and Fassbender’s Magneto formulate what it is they are attempting by creating the X-Men.

Singer also revealed that, unlike the Matrix-inspired black leather costumes the X-Men wore in the original movie trilogy, the costumes in First Class will be “far more comic bookish” in design, with some costumes revealed “in about a month, if not sooner.” Singer also said that the technology used by the X-Men will be “inspired by James Bond’s tech of the time.”

What is sure to be disappointing to many fans of the comic books and of the original movie trilogy is the fact that Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, and Jean Grey, aka Marvel Girl, two of the original five founding members of the X-Men, will not be appearing in the movie. However, Singer revealed for the first time that Kevin Bacon will be playing Sebastian Shaw, the Black King of the secret society known as the Hellfire Club.

Although screenwriter Jane Goldman recently said that principal photography on First Class was “about three weeks” away, which would have put the start date in the first week of September, Singer apparently told AICN that the start date would be August 31st. The initial setting will be Oxford University, but the production will shoot in both England and the United States, with other locales represented, including Russia, for a more “international flavor” in keeping with the “James Bond vibe” that Vaughn is going for.

Next Showing: X-Men: First Class opens June 3, 2011

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