There are plenty of reasons why the X-Men movies of the 2000s remain beloved amongst superhero devotees, and something that audiences still talk about is the superb ensemble cast. Some fans may not be aware, though, that there was a bit of strife amid the making of the films, particularly with regard to the second installment. I’ve personally been aware of the drama that unfolded on set, but what I didn’t realize is that “trauma” played a role in at least some of the cast staying in touch over the years.

Someone who worked on the X2 set was Alan Cumming, who made his franchise debut as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in Bryan Singer’s 2003 superhero sequel. Cumming’s performance has since been praised, and Singer’s movie received high praise and amassed some significant box office receipts. However, as Cumming alluded to via comments he shared with People, he and his co-stars remain linked by more than the success of that comic book flick:

Some have said that the notion of trauma bonding is quite real, but I’m still surprised Cumming would want to stay connected with his co-stars over what he previously described as a less-than-positive work experience. However, when I think about it, I guess it makes sense since his co-stars apparently weren’t what made the film shoot tough. With Cumming reprising his role alongside some of his co-stars in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, he spoke about his standing with them and whether they were on set together:

During the last decade or so, some X-Men cast members have opened up about what it was like working on some of those films, specifically the ones helmed by Singer. Many of those details seem to pertain to X2. For his part, Cumming claimed that Singer (who apparently banned comic books on the set of the OG film) would deride the cast on set, leading to issues with some of the other actors. Cumming specifically remembered Halle Berry having problems with Singer, and she eventually confronted the filmmaker as a result.

On top of all that, there came a point at which the actors apparently threatened to quit the movie if producer Tom DeSanto was barred from the set by Singer. DeSanto notably called for filming to be halted after Hugh Jackman sustained a stunt-related injury. So, needless to say, the X2 set was quite tumultuous based on the anecdotes shared by the cast.

The few details that the X-Men stars have shared about working on Joe and Anthony Russo’s Doomsday, though, suggest that the experience has been much better this time around. Cumming revealed he initially thought he was being pranked when Marvel Studios called, though he was happy to reprise Nightcrawler. The really “great” part for him was not having to be in the makeup chair as long to play the blue character. Cumming seemed to have a blast, even though he apparently injured co-star Pedro Pascal during a scene.

While the X-Men cast may hold onto that shared “trauma” years after making those early films, I’m hopeful that their experience on Marvel’s highly anticipated team-up flick will give them some better memories to bond over. On that note, check out Alan Cumming and his co-stars in Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in theaters on December 18 amid the 2026 movie schedule. Fans can also stream those classic X2 and other movies featuring the famous mutants using a Disney+ subscription.

It's no secret that the comic book genre is wildly popular, but there was a time when this wasn't the case. Before share universes like the MCU (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription) there was Bryan Singer's 2000 X-Men movie. Bill Mechanic was the chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment at the time, and recently revealed some wild feedback about the movie he got from execs. And I can't stop laughing given what we know now about the genre.

Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order will recall that The X-Men movies came about before shared universes were commonplace, and they were a huge gamble. After all, the movies were expensive and had the herculean task of bringing the comics to life. In an interview with Business Insider, Mechanic revealed how folks from Fox originally responded to the project, offering:

Pardon me while I LOL. Because as we know, there have been a ton of Marvel movies in the decades since X-Men was released, including the 37 titles that have come out of the MCU (so far). So the answer is to that question about "why" is very clear: because audiences would eat it right up. The shared universe has given of signs of slowing down, with a number upcoming Marvel movies arriving this year including Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday.

In the end the X-Men franchise would keep going for nearly two decades, with the final chapter being Simon Kinberg's Dark Phoenix in 2019. Clearly the OG movie's haters were wrong, and they learned their lesson now that superhero projects are all over both TV and film.

For years fans lamented that the X-Men were noticeably missing from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but luckily that changed. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and its properties, the door was finally open for both mutants and the Fantastic Four to finally make their way over. A number of OG X-Men stars will soon reprise their roles as part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, in addition to the developing movie coming from Jake Schreier. So Bill Mechanic definitely got the last laugh.

The X-Men movies are streaming in their entirety on Disney+, and Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on December 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully we get news about the developing X-Men movie sooner rather than later.

Years before shared universes like the MCU and DCEU were launched, the X-Men movies were among the few film series helping to popularize the superhero film genre. Bryan Singer directed the first two installments, then later returned for Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. That means he’s worked with Halle Berry three times, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing with them. The Storm actress clashed with Singer on several occasions, and she most recently recalled confronting him during the filming of X2: X-Men United.

Halle Berry has making the press rounds with Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo to promote their new 2026 movie Crime 101, which is now playing in theaters. In their interview with EW, she was asked if she ever had a chance to stand up for herself in real life reminiscent of what her Crime 101 character does in a crucial scene (no spoilers here). Berry brought up when she told Bryan Singer “just where to go and how to get there” while working on the second X-Men movie, continuing:

Halle Berry didn’t provide any specific details about what happened during this confrontation, though it was clearly a fulfilling experience for her. However, back in 2020, it was reported that she and other actors on X2: X-Men United came to Singer and threatened to quit if producer Tom DeSanto, who called for production to be paused after Hugh Jackman was injured while performing a stunt, was removed from the set. Nightcrawler actor Alan Cumming also recalled how Berry told Singer he could “kiss my Black ass” after he was angered over the cast members confronting him.

After Halle Berry recalled this moment during the Crime 101 interview, Mark Ruffalo said it was the “best story,” to which she said:

Halle Berry isn’t the only X-Men actor who’s had issues with Bryan Singer, even ignoring the multiple lawsuits claiming he sexually assaulted minors. Olivia Munn, who played Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse, detailed her struggles with Singer stemming from his lengthy absence during the middle of filming. Sophie Turner, who played Jean Grey in the same movie, said her time working with the director was “unpleasant,” and Mystique actress Jennifer Lawrence mentioned him once while talking about the “emotional men” and “biggest hissy fits thrown on set” she’s seen working on movies.

Bryan Singer hasn’t directed a movie since 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, although he was replaced late in the production by Dexter Fletcher due to repeated absences and conflicts with the cast and crew. As for Halle Berry, although she won’t reprise Storm in Avengers: Doomsday, she is set to team up with Djimon Hounsou in the thriller Red Card.

Freddy Krueger, Edward Scissorhands, Wolverine. Three characters with blades for hands, and three characters so wholly associated with their live-action actors that it’s nearly impossible for another performer to step into the roles. Hugh Jackman attempted to bid farewell to the X-Men franchise and his mutant hero years ago, but has yet to actually shed his adamantium skeleton for good, and fans expect to see him in more upcoming Marvel movies like the Russo brothers’ Doom-ified sequel Avengers: Doomsday.

Well-known as being one of the nicest gents in Hollywood and beyond, Jackman appeared on the podcast Sibling Revelry to talk to its two genial hosts, Oliver and Kate Hudson, about his belief that being a bit of an impatient dick during his first X-Men audition helped spark enough interest that the casting directors brought him back. In a clip shared on Instagram, Jackman explained that the Marvel movie came about as he was striking out to get his career going outside of Australia. Speaking to his local caché at the time, he said:

To leave one job to try out for another one would seemingly just be asking for trouble, especially when there's a time element involved. But Jackman was confident enough that he could try out for the role and still make it back without disrupting any evening performances. And when it looked like that might not actually happen due to all the other actors auditioning, the Logan star said he flipped a passive-aggressive switch:

It sounds like thsoe who were present during that initial audition process liked the energy they saw coming off of a heated Hugh Jackman. Enough so that chose not to turn him away, and still let him say his piece. And thank goodness, because Jackman said that seemed to be what held their interest, even if he completely lost that vibe the the time he'd returned for the first callback. As he put it:

Not that putting on brusque airs automatically put him above all the other actors circling the Wolverine role at the time. He's stated in the past that the aforementioned audition was around 20 seconds long, and that he returned for upwards of seven total auditions before he was officially cast as the brooding badass. He also said Kevin Feige, who had yet to become the head of Marvel Studios, threw him an olive branch that also helped keep him in the loop long enough to land the part. Fast-forward 26 years, and now we're wondering if he'll be back for the first official MCU X-Men project.

Before any further Wolverine news gets confirmed or debunked, fans can see Hugh Jackman in musical co-lead form alongside Kate Hudson in the Neil Diamond tribute band biopic Song Sung Blue, which has been winning critics over ahead of its December 25 release in theaters.

Magneto, the X-Men's long-time arch-nemesis, has been a staple in comic books since his debut in The X-Men #1 in September 1963. However, like all characters with a long publication history, the antagonist we know in pop culture has evolved. For instance, did you know that his helmet didn't initially block Professor X's psychic powers? That was created for Bryan Singer's groundbreaking superhero movie (which is possibly one of the best movies of the 2000s), and a writer on the film has finally shared the reasoning behind this decision. 

A person who is a fan of comic books and goes by the username @RedLReviews posted a message on X (formerly known as Twitter), which quickly went viral. The post stated, "I still lie awake at night thinking about how Magneto's helmet-blocking telepathy just straight up wasn't a thing at all until the movies. Like, how the fuck is that real what." But seriously, how the heck does that happen? Well, this post received a response from the screenwriter of the movie, David Hayter, who wrote:

That makes sense to me. And, to be fair, the director had a good point because this is something that has happened to the villain in the comics. In season one of the beloved 1990s X-Men The Animated Series (which Disney+ is reviving), Xavier was seen mentally subduing Erik. 

While unique ability that Magneto's helmet possesses was initially created for practical film reasons, it later found its way into comic books. In Marvel's 1602 miniseries, which was released in 2003, the villain of Earth-311 receives the Grand Inquisitor's helmet from Carlos Javier. This prevents Javier (the equivalent of Charles Xavier) from reading his thoughts. There' also a counterpart in the Ultimate Universe, where the helmet shields Erik from psionic attacks. Quicksilver later mass-produced the helmet's blueprints, selling them widely during the anti-mutant hysteria post-Ultimatum. 

Movies have often influenced the abilities of comic book characters. Here's just a short list of some of the other superhero film decisions that have led to changes in the comics:

• Ant-Man (2015)/Darren Cross: Darren Cross lacked a villain name in the comics. The 2015 MCU release transformed him into Yellowjacket (a pre-existing alter ego held by others), and the moniker adopted was adopted by Cross in Astonishing Ant-Man #12 in 2016.
• Superman: The Movie (1978): The movie introduced the crystal-based Fortress of Solitude, unlike the comics, where Superman built the fortress without crystals.
• Blade (1998): Wesley Snipes' appearance as the Daywalker transformed Blade into a modern icon with an edgier design, reshaping the tone of comic book movies.
• The Dark Knight (2008)/The Joker: Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker inspired a similar version of the Crown Prince of Crime in the graphic novel "Joker" by Brian Azzarello.
• Iron Man (2008): Jon Favreau's hit introduced J.A.R.V.I.S. an AI that later evolved into The Vision, and RDJ's portrayal of Iron Man was adopted into the comics.

There are no specifics of how Magneto will factor into the slate of upcoming Marvel movies or the Multiverse Saga's timeline as a whole. But based on The Marvels’ end-credits scene, the mutants have a big future in the MCU. And I can’t wait to see what powers the purple-clad baddie’s helmet might have in its next iteration. 

You can revisit Magneto’s groundbreaking first big-screen appearance in X-Men (2000), which is available to stream with a Disney+ subscription. 

It’s no secret that the comic book genre is absolutely dominating the entertainment industry. But prior to shared universes becoming commonplace, making a superhero movie was a major risk. Fox’s X-Men franchise started back in 2000, with the first few movies directed by filmmaker Bryan Singer, who has been involved in some controversies over the recent years. Mystique actress Rebecca Romijn recently explained her experience with Singer, and why she hasn’t spoken out about his behavior like other X-Men actors.

In the midst of the #MeToo movement, a number of stories and controversies have come out surrounding Bryan Singer’s behavior on his projects. That includes the X-Men franchise, with actors like Halle Berry admitting she clashed with him on set. Rebecca Romijn starred as Mystique in the original trilogy of movies, and recently spoke to Independent about her experience with the Bohemian Rhapsody filmmaker. In her words:

Well, there you have it. It looks like Romijn didn’t personally have issues with Singer, but she heard about him clashing with other members of the X-Men cast. That being said, his work as a director seemed to impress her as they collaborated in the early aughts. 

Since the allegations about Bryn Singer came to light, the filmmaker has largely been out of the public eye, and hasn’t been working on major film projects. His last credit was on the Oscar-winning musical biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, although Singer was actually fired weeks before the movie wrapped principal photography.

Later in that same interview, Rebecca Romijn further spoke about her experience with Bryan Singer, and the drama that she witnessed and heard about while playing Mystique in the X-Men franchise. As she put it:

It looks like Romijn is able to separate the artist from the art, at least in the case of Singer. In the same interview, she revealed she actually had issues with X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner. Although she didn’t reveal the details of their feud.

Rebecca Romijn has been keeping busy with roles in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We’ll just have to see if/when the X-Men join the MCU. In the meantime, be sure to check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

While Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a widely loved superhero franchise, there are still plenty who pine for superhero flicks of old like Fox’s X-Men saga. The long-running film series had its ups and downs but is regarded as being instrumental in helping to kick off the modern comic book movie craze. Though the features are a lot of fun, the stars themselves have since revealed that working conditions weren’t always easy. Many have attributed this to Bryan Singer, who helmed four installments. Much has been said about how he allegedly operated on set, and we’re going to discuss comments from the cast. 

Franchise OGs Halle Berry And Hugh Jackman Have Been Honest About Working With Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer’s work in the superhero genre began with X-Men, which dominated the box office in 2000 and was met with considerable praise. Based on the quality of the production, one might think that the set was harmonious, though Halle Berry has since claimed that she and Singer had fights amid production. Berry once detailed just how serious their behind-the-scenes confrontations would get: 

It should be pointed out that the Oscar winner didn’t specify the productions on which they had their disagreements. Though what she did say is that the flair-ups were partially initiated by “because of whatever he’s struggling with.” Based on what’s been said about Bryan Singer (who previously sued for alleged rape), he’s been known to disappear from set from time to time. Berry even mentioned that he didn’t always seem “present” when he was around. Considering the stories that have circulated in the past several years, one can’t help but wonder how the stars now feel about the legacy of the films. Hugh Jackman was asked whether Singer’s reputation taints them and provided a diplomatic answer: 

It’s hard not to empathize with Hugh Jackman – and his colleagues as well – as they produced some beloved films that clearly left a dent in pop culture. It’s easy to understand why the Australian actor would be somewhat conflicted when reconciling his pride over the work and his feelings on the director. Though some of the actors who worked on the later movies provided answers that were a bit more clean-cut.

Additional Comments Have Been Made By Sophie Turner And Olivia Munn

The two prequel films that Bryan Singer directed, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, brought in an array of new faces. One of those actors is Olivia Munn, who portrayed Betsy Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke in the latter film. It was her first major studio movie and, as Munn explained, she had her share of struggles with Singer while making it:

The actress further claimed that he’d send texts to the actors, in which he’d tell them that he was busy but that they should continue filming without him. While making those comments she also mentioned Fox’s eventual decision to hire him as the director of Bohemian Rhapsody, which he was later fired from. In that case, he reportedly clashed with lead actor Rami Malek, and Jean Grey actress Sophie Turner cited Malek when discussing her experience with the director on X-Men: Apocalypse:

The various comments that have been documented so far indicate that the stars’ time working with Bryan Singer was less than favorable. Singer was even called out by Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in the prequel films, when she discussed the “emotional men'' she'd work with on film sets. Amid all of these sentiments, another X-Men alum provided a different kind of outlook more recently.

Brian Cox Recalled Working With Bryan Singer On X2

X2 is still revered as one of the franchise’s best installments, and one of the reasons for that is Brian Cox’s pitch-perfect performance as the villainous William Stryker. Cox was recently asked about what it was like working with the Usual Suspects director and, while speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment, he mentioned that the filmmaker was “under a lot of strain” during production. He also shed some light on his creative process: 

Despite everything that’s transpired with Bryan Singer over the years, few would deny that he’s produced some memorable films, X-Men-related or otherwise. Singer hasn’t been credited as the director of a movie since 2018 and, after the allegations and array of comments from actors, one can only speculate as to whether he’ll ever helm another motion picture.

The X-Men movies (which we’ve sorted chronologically) can be streamed using a Disney+ subscription. As you wait for news on the upcoming MCU reboot, read up on other upcoming Marvel movies.

Although Hugh Jackman kicked off his acting career appearing in various Australian and UK theatre and film productions, he made his first big splash to the world at large playing Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men. 23 years later, the Marvel Comics mutant superhero is still Jackman’s most well-known character, and he’ll be putting the adamantium claws back on soon for Deadpool 3. However, for nearly a decade now, multiple sexual assault allegations have come out against Bryan Singer, who directed Jackman in the original two X-Men movies, X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse. Jackman has now commented on whether or not these allegations have tainted his views on the franchise.

While Bryan Singer was accused back in 1997 of asking minors to film a shower scene for his movie Apt Pupil, between 2014 and 2019, he was the subject of multiple lawsuits claiming he sexually assaulted minors, with these incidents allegedly stretching back to the late 1990s, all of which the filmmaker has denied. While X-Men and 2003’s X2: X-Men United were among the key movies that helped popularize the superhero movie genre at the beginning of the new millennium, Singer’s involvement in them has caused their legacy to be reexamined. When The Guardian asked Hugh Jackman if he looks at these X-Men movies differently now given what’s been said about Singer, the actor answered:

There’s no question that without X-Men, Hugh Jackman wouldn’t have been catapulted to Hollywood stardom, or it would have at least taken him longer to do so. So while Jackman wasn’t willing to provide any specific commentary on the Bryan Singer allegations, it does sound like he’s now seeing the X-Men movies through more of a mixed lens. On the one hand, he acknowledges that “question should be asked,” indirectly referring to Singer’s conduct, but on the other hand, he’s pleased with how these cinematic products turned out and the role they played in making superhero movies Hollywood mainstays.

During this same interview, Hugh Jackman also addressed a claim from 2020 that X2: X-Men United was a tumultuous production, including Bryan Singer allegedly being under the influence of narcotics while behind the camera. It was also said at the time that many X2 cast members nearly quit after Jackman was injured shooting a risky stunt. Several months after that initial report came out, Halle Berry (Storm) acknowledged that she fought with Singer on several occasions, and she more recently said that he’s “not the easiest dude to work with.” Here’s what Jackman said when he was asked about his direct experience working with Singer:

Bryan Singer initially left the X-Men franchise after X2 to work on Superman Returns, leading to Brett Ratner helming X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Then, as mentioned earlier, he returned for X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse, though it was Simon Kinberg who ended up concluding the main X-Men film series with Dark Phoenix. Singer was most recently credited as the director of 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, but he was fired just a few weeks before filming was set to conclude and replaced by Dexter Fletcher, who’s credited as an executive producer. Singer had also been lined up to helm a Red Sonja movie, but he was dropped from that project in March 2019.

There hasn’t been any word on what’s going on in Bryan Singer’s professional or personal lives lately, but should any notable updates on those fronts come in, we’ll pass them along. As far as Hugh Jackman goes, we’ll see him back in action as Wolverine when Deadpool 3 is released on November 8, 2024 as part of the upcoming Marvel movies slate. In the nearer future, you’ll be able to watch him in The Son, which opens in theaters on January 20.

Oscar Isaac’s difficult time on Bryan Singer’s final X-Men movie, X-Men: Apocalypse, has been heavily documented. The star went as far as saying his time as the titular villain was excruciating. How does Isaac feel almost seven years later? Has his tone changed after taking another chance on a superhero franchise, Marvel’s Moon Knight, a series available to anyone with a Disney+ subscription? 

While talking to the New York Times, Isaac spoke about why he was initially onboard to tackle the Apocalypse character and doesn't "disown" the work he did in the timeline of Marvel movies. The actor expressed his original excitement around the role was in part due to the fact he was sharing the screen with such talented costars:

It seems that most of Isaac’s frustration comes from wearing the clunky Apocalypse suit and not being able to interact with some of his favorite fellow actors unencumbered–a complaint I feel sympathetic towards. I would imagine one of the upsides to being an actor and taking on one of these tentpole franchises would be the chance to bond with some of the best working actors.

Even though it was a less-than-ideal situation for the actor, it doesn't seem like Isaac’s time in the Fox X-Men universe was all terrible:

It’s doubly upsetting that the actor's time as Apocalypse wasn’t fulfilling, considering he was an X-Men fan and the portrayal of the character just wasn't handled particularly well. However, I’m happy to hear that Oscar Isaac looks back on his time as Apocalypse with some fondness, and it didn't sour him on taking up superhero roles altogether. Had he been turned off by superhero movies, we might not have seen him in his starring role in Marvel’s top-tier dark series Moon Knight. 

Though a return as Moon Knight has yet to be announced as one of Marvel’s upcoming movies or in another Marvel Disney+ series, it's hard to imagine he won’t be making a return in some capacity after critics and fans alike praised Isaac's work in the series. 

Given the darker tone of Moon Knight, perhaps an appearance in the upcoming Marvel Blade movie would be a natural fit for Isaac’s return to the MCU? We'll let you know if Blade gets any more updates...

In reflection, the attempts made in the 1980s to adapt Stephen King’s “Apt Pupil” had the makings of a “cursed movie” legend. We know that the curse didn’t pan out, as director Bryan Singer was ultimately able to bring an adaptation of the story to the big screen in 1998 – but learning about the production hurdles faced a decade earlier gives the impression that there was some kind of supernatural force at play trying to stop the film from being made (ironic given the lack of anything supernatural in the source material).

According to Creepshows by Stephen Jones, Richard Kobritz (a producer on both Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot and John Carpenter’s Christine) first teamed up with fellow producer William Frye to make an adaptation of “Apt Pupil” in 1987 – five years after the novella was first published in the collection Different Seasons. The plan was to make an indie movie with a budget of $5.5 million, one that heavily toned down the content of Stephen King’s story, and British director Alan Bridges was attached to helm. But issues mounted throughout development.

James Mason, with whom Richard Kobritz worked on Salem’s Lot, was the filmmaker’s first choice to play the villainous Nazi Kurt Dussander, but he died before Kobritz could finalize the acquisition of the book rights. The role was then turned down by Alec Guinness, Paul Scofield, and John Gielgud – and while Nicol Williamson was eventually cast in the part (opposite Ricky Schroder as protagonist Todd Bowden), the production had to shut down ten weeks into filming because financial backing fell through.

An hour of movie was assembled with the footage that existed, but the hiatus lasted long enough that Ricky Schroder aged out of the part and the project had to be abandoned. What exists of this attempted adaptation has never been publicly released.

Even when the rights reverted back to Stephen King in 1995 and Bryan Singer purchased them (for a dollar and a percentage of the future profits), the problems persisted. Singer first teamed with Scott Rudin and Spelling Films to make a new feature adaptation of Apt Pupil, but, according to Scott von Doviak’s Stephen King Films FAQ, the project hit a major roadblock due to clashes between Rudin and the director. Less than a year later, Mike Medavoy – a former head of TriStar who was starting up his own shingle, Phoenix Pictures – successfully resurrected the project, and production began in February 1997. The finished film was released in theaters on October 23, 1998.

So was the juice worth the squeeze? That’s a complicated question because “Apt Pupil” is a complicated story – but I will nonetheless attempt to answer it in this week’s Adapting Stephen King.

What “Apt Pupil” Is About

As I noted in my columns about Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me and Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, all four of the novellas in Different Seasons were written in the immediate aftermath of King completing a major novel. In the case of “Apt Pupil,” the story was written in the two weeks after the author finished The Shining – and it was controversial from the start.

While “The Body” is a wonderful story about childhood friendship, and “Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption” is a gorgeous tale about the power of hope, the darkness of “Apt Pupil” successfully freaked out Stephen King’s publishers as New American Library, and they went as far as to request that the novella not be a part of Different Seasons. This only made King more impassioned to include it, as he explained to Douglas E. Winter for Stephen King: Art Of Darkness: 

“Apt Pupil” is unequivocally one of the darkest stories Stephen King has ever written, supernatural or not, and the fact that it is wholly grounded in reality does skyrocket the horror factor. Monsters masked by the veil of humanity like Todd Bowden and Kurt Dussander could be your next door neighbors, and you don’t have a clue.

Set in mid-1970s Los Angeles, the novella begins as Todd Bowden – a sharp high school student and all-star baseball player – offers a proposition to Arthur Denker, an elderly German immigrant who lives in his neighborhood. Bowden wants the man to tell him all of the “gooshy” details about the Holocaust, and in exchange he won’t go public with the revelation that Denker is in actuality Kurt Dussander, a Nazi war criminal who oversaw the execution of thousands at concentration camps before and during World War II. The teen has learned about the history at school and read books with personal accounts, but they haven’t properly scratched his itch, and he wishes to know more.

While the Nazi is initially reticent, he complies and spends hours with the protagonist every week telling him about his experiences. The stories eventually have a deteriorating and corrupting effect on Todd – eventually allowing for a turning of the tables that sees Dussander threaten his protégé’s future – and the demons resurrected inevitably drive both of them to satisfy bubbling homicidal urges.

How Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil Differs From Stephen King’s Novella

In totality, Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil can be categorized as one of the more faithful Stephen King adaptations brought to the silver screen, even with macro changes like the setting being changed from 1974 to 1984, and the events playing out over the course of a single year instead of three. That being said, the movie stands apart from the source material as a different emotional experience because of the content that is excluded. The film may have been graded with an R-rating by the MPAA, but put side-by-side with the novella it feels practically Disney-fied.

The first half hour of Apt Pupil is, for all practical purposes, exactly the same as Stephen King’s version of events, but it’s after that point that the deviations start to pile up. The first real significant change is what happens with Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen) and the stray cat he brings into his house to put in his oven: in the movie, the cat is able to struggle out of Dussander’s grip and get away; in the novella, he is successful in his psychotic aim, and not only kills the cat, but eventually goes out to get a dog to kill as well.

The film does feature the reescalation of Dussander’s violent behavior, as the Nazi war criminal lures a homeless man (Elias Koteas) into his house to be murdered, but in the book he does in many times over and not just once. What’s more, King’s novella additionally sees Todd (Brad Renfro) start to go out and murder vagrants – a plot development that’s not featured in the film at all (his only act of physical violence is killing a pigeon by crushing it with a basketball).

The adaptation actually edits out a great deal of Todd Bowden’s corruption. Like in the source material, his grades start to slip, and he has horrible nightmares as a result of his conversations with Kurt Dussander, but the content of those dreams is very different (for example, in the movie he has visions of Jewish prisoners in a gas chamber, but the novella sees him rape a young Jewish girl as Dussander observes). King’s version of the character is also much more influenced by the Nazi’s anti-Semitic rhetoric, and he eventually starts blaming his impotence on the fact that his girlfriend is Jewish, and makes frequent use of horrible epithets and slurs in his internal monologue (as captured by the third person storytelling).

Changing the steepness of Todd’s degeneracy in Apt Pupil ultimately changes the end of the story in substantial ways. In the film, Todd’s guidance counselor, Mr. French (David Schwimmer), confronts the protagonist when he realizes that Kurt Dussander was pretending to be his grandfather during a meeting at school, and Todd scares him off by threatening to go public with accusations that French made sexual advances toward him.  

Stephen King’s version is far darker: the titular apt pupil shoots the educator three times with a rifle after the accusations about Dussander, and he then proceeds to a spot over the freeway to engage in a shooting spree – a moment he has been practicing and waiting for. The shocking final line reveals, “It was five hours later and almost dark before [the police] took him down.”

Is It Worthy Of The King?

Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil in some ways reminds me of Lewis Teague’s Cujo. Both are based on books that deal in horror of the real world, the verisimilitude significantly adding to the darkness that is captured, and both felt the need to censor and downplay the source material in order for it to be palatable in live-action.

In the case of the former, however, the changes and cuts are far more detrimental. The fact that the film adaptation of Cujo ends without the death of Tad Trenton doesn’t undercut the terror that comes before it, but the same cannot be said about Apt Pupil, which is watered down to a point where it is incapable of wholly capturing the emotional experience of reading Stephen King’s novella.

The movie arguably hampers itself most significantly by substantially reducing the timeframe of the story – in doing so not permitting a proper pace for Todd Bowden’s mental deterioration that’s fundamental to the point of Stephen King’s story. Brad Renfro delivers an excellent performance (as does Ian McKellen), and the fall that we see the character experience is realistic for the timeline that is utilized (it makes sense that he wouldn’t become fully radicalized over the course of a single school year), but the limited depth correlates to limited impact when it’s compared to the source material.

This isn’t to say that I don’t understand why the filmmakers involved with the making of Apt Pupil made the changes that they did and found them to be necessary. What Stephen King succeeds in doing with the novella is masterful but also terrifically painful, and directly translating it into a live-action feature would create a cinematic experience so miserable that might distract from the themes of the story – which would render the whole thing a pointless exercise. The 1998 movie had to find a middle-ground in the approach, and it got overcooked in the process.

Apt Pupil ultimately sits in a strange position in the cinematic legacy of Stephen King, as while it is an imperfect adaptation, it’s also not a movie that calls for a remake. The material is certainly as relevant today as ever, but any filmmaker approaching the material would have to walk an even finer line than Bryan Singer’s movie did, and that likely won’t yield better results. Reading the novella is a powerful and heart-shredding journey unto itself, and it’s perhaps best left as an untouchable literary work.

How To Watch Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil

Watching Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil is quite easy should one feel inclined. The film isn’t presently available on any subscription streaming services, but you can find it available for rental or purchase digitally on iTunes and Amazon Prime (it’s also on Vudu, but only for purchase). If you’re looking for a physical copy, things get a bit trickier. While a domestic Blu-ray was released in 2011 by Image Entertainment, it has since gone out of print. There is an Australian Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment that is easy to find, but it only works if you have a region-free player.

For next week’s column I will be taking an in-depth look at one of the most heralded Stephen King adaptations – one that strikes a complex balance portraying the beauty and horror of our world. Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile, the Oscar-nominated 1999 film based on the 1996 serial novel of the same name, will be strapped into the hot seat for examination, and you’ll find the piece here in the CinemaBlend movie section on Wednesday. For now you can browse through past features by clicking through the banners below.

Going into 2000, Halle Berry was already famous for movies like Jungle Fever, Boomerang and The Flinstones, but her turn as Storm in the first X-Men movie certainly helped boost her profile. Berry went on to reprise the weather-manipulating mutant in three more movies, and three quarters of her time in the X-Men franchise saw her being directed by Bryan Singer.

In a recent interview, Halle Berry admitted that she fought with Bryan Singer on several occasions, describing the filmmaker as “not the easiest dude to work with.” Berry continued:

Halle Berry isn’t the first actress to talk about having difficulties working with Bryan Singer. Olivia Munn, who played Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse, mentioned back in April how during the making of the 2016 superhero movie, Singer disappeared for 10 days and instructed that filming keep going in his absence. It was also reported in late July that X2: X-Men United’s principal photography the many members of the main cast, including Berry, threatened to quit when Singer was preparing to remove producer Tom DeSanto from the set.

Continuing in her interview with Variety, Halle Berry offered an example of how Bryan Singer was checked out during their time together on the X-Men franchise, saying:

After directing X-Men and X2: X-Men United, Bryan Singer left to work on Superman Returns, resulting in Brett Ratner taking over helming duties on X-Men: The Last Stand. Singer and Halle Berry collaborated one more time on 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, although Storm’s role wasn’t nearly as nearly as prominent compared to her prior three appearances. Alexandra Shipp took over as a younger Ororo Munroe in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix.

While the X-Men franchises unquestionably played a huge role in popularizing superhero movies, the main film series suffered from diminishing returns towards the end of its run. Yes, spinoffs like Deadpool and Logan proved critically and commercially successful, but X-Men: Apocalypse was met with mixed reactions and Dark Phoenix proved to be a dud across the board.

Now that 20th Century Fox has been absorbed into Disney, the plan is for the X-Men property to someday be rebooted within the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity. As for Halle Berry, she’s recently starred in Kingsman: The Golden Circle and John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and can be seen next in Bruised, which she also directed.

We here at CinemaBlend will keep you apprised of what the MCU’s plan for the X-Men is as soon as news trickles in. For now, look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what else this superhero franchise has coming up.

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Years before Cinematic Universes became commonplace, the X-Men franchise was in theaters. Beginning with Bryan Singer's original 2000 blockbuster, the mutant-centric property ended up continuing for a whopping 13 movies including Deadpool and The New Mutants. But there's been some controversy around Singer's behavior on set, with a story recently coming to light where the majority of X-Men 2's cast nearly quit the project after Hugh Jackman was injured.

With the proper X-Men franchise at an end and Bryan Singer under fire for a variety of allegations, THR recently did a deep dive into the various controversies that have plagued the property over the years. One of which reportedly involves the cast of the sequel gathering outside Singer's trailer and threatening to walk out of the highly anticipated blockbuster.

According to the extensive report, X-Men producer Tom DeSanto clashed with Bryan Singer during production for X2: X-Men United. The controversial filmmaker was reportedly incapacitated and under the influence of narcotics while working behind the camera, which is when DeSanto was concerned over the safety of the cast.

Bryan Singer allegedly pushed for a risky stunt to be recorded, despite a lack of a stun coordinator on set since the sequence was scheduled to be filmed the next day. Hugh Jackman was ultimately injured and bleeding as a result, with Tom DeSanto shutting down the set. But the studio reportedly sided with Snyder, and wanted DeSanto to leave the set. That's when the cast got invovled.

According to the in-depth report, the cast of X-Men 2 (with the exception of Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn) gathered in full superhero regalia outside of Bryan Singer's trailer. They reportedly threatened to quit of Tom DeSanto was removed from the set. Ultimately this campaign as successful, although Singer would go on to direct future installments of X-Men franchise Days of Future Past and Apocalypse.

X-Men Days of Future Past and Apocalypse are both streaming on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

The X-Men franchise might have been historic, but the film sets weren't free of their set of controversies. The various allegations made of Bryan Singer have also shut down any future directing gigs he had like Red Sonja. While Simon Kinberg completed the X-Men franchise with Dark Phoenix, there's no doubt still some negative feelings about the property after learning about the on set drama.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things X-Men as details become public. in the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

There have been a number of insightful pieces written about Bryan Singer’s original X-Men movie as the superhero origin story turns 20 years old. They have touched on everything from casting to costuming. Today, things get darker. The Hollywood Reporter takes a deep dive into the rampant allegations of sexual misconduct and disorganized production maneuvers on Singer’s set. And leading off the scathing report is the news that pop icon Michael Jackson pitched himself for the role of Professor Charles Xavier.

Yeah, we’re just as confused by this as you are.

THR begins its report with this bizarre casting nugget, and uses it as a primary example of the type of unpredictability that was swirling around Bryan Singer’s production offices during X-Men. At the time, Singer was his successful directorial debut The Usual Suspects and its uneven follow up, Apt Pupil, when he tackled Marvel’s mutant family. And the trade notes that Singer wasn’t an X-Men fan, though producer Tom DeSanto was a die-hard follower who agreed to help him pen a treatment.

Singer’s lack of understanding of the team might explain why Michael Jackson was even allowed to come by and pitch himself for the role of Professor Charles Xavier, the team’s leader.

According to the report, Michael Jackson came to the Fox offices and showed off a short film entitled Ghosts, in which the pop singer plays an old, white mayor who leads a crowd of protestors who dislike a performer who enjoys performing magic tricks for children. It’s… different. Here, if you want to see the short film Ghosts in full:

Michael Jackson apparently figured this was enough visual evidence to play Charles Xavier on screen in X-Men. And when producer Lauren Shuler Donner decided to bring this up with the singer, it went down like such:

Reading the behind-the-scenes account on the original X-Men, is miraculous that the movie turned out as good as it did. The Hollywood Reporter explores the various allegations that have plagued Bryan Singer over the course of his career (allegations that the director continues to deny). They also lay out the string of high-profile screenwriters that contributed to the various phases of the X-Men script, with everyone from Joss Whedon and Ed Solomon to Christopher McQuarrie taking a crack at the mutants.

But X-Men, both creatively and financially, did succeed. It established that corner of the Marvel storyline, long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing. It launched a franchise that produced a number of winning X-Men films (and Wolverine spinoff films) and a handful of whiffs. We’ll be excited to see where the legacy of the X-Men continues to go when these popular characters transition to the MCU, as soon as the MCU is able to get back on the treadmill and keep running.

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The last son of Krypton had the honor (and curse?) of being the first superhero to spawn a franchise of blockbusters back in the ‘70s with Christopher Reeves’ portrayal. Superman movies have remained a staple in Hollywood over the years, but not without some growing pains. Even as a mustachioed Henry Cavill joined Zack Snyder to reveal the upcoming exciting return of the Man of Steel for the filmmaker’s long-awaited version of Justice League coming to HBO Max, Warner Bros is technically at a stand still with Kal-El.

There have been a ton of Superman projects that were in the works at one time but never made it far enough into production. What's surprising is the amount of esteemed filmmakers that have been at the center of these scrapped projects on the hero in the past 30 years. Let's go through them:

Jonathan Lemkin’s Superman Reborn

Back in the early ‘90s after The Death of Superman comic book crossover event made waves, Warner Bros was shopping for a comeback for the superhero. The studio purchased the storyline from DC and hired Jonathan Lemkin (Devil’s Advocate, Lethal Weapon 4) to write a script. Lemkin came up with a storyline that involved Superman losing a massive fight with Doomsday. Just as he reaches his death, his life force goes through Lois Lane and she ends up being impregnated with his child through virgin birth. Yes. This was an actual Superman script.

Lois’ child quickly grows into an adult in the matter of a few weeks as a resurrected Superman who finishes the job for Sups. Warner Bros reportedly passed on the script because it had too many similarities with Bruce’s arc in Batman Forever, according to The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made. Hey I don’t see it, but there you have it, that's the story of why Superman Reborn never got past the script process.

Kevin Smith And Tim Burton’s Superman Lives with Nicolas Cage

Script-writing duties were then placed into the hands of Kevin Smith, who had broken out with Clerks and Mallrats at the time. His film called Superman Lives also included Doomsday, but under the orders of Brainiac and Lex Luthor. The villains outsmart Superman by blocking the Sun (the source of his powers) from him. But he is then resurrected by the Eradicator, a Kryptonian robot, and becomes sheathed in a robotic suit to take down Brainiac.

Following his work on the Batman movies, Tim Burton was hired to direct the script and Nicolas Cage came on board to play Superman. Smith had originally thought up Ben Affleck for the role and some other frequent collaborators in key roles such as Michael Rooker as Lex Luthor and Jason Mewes as Brainiac. Big names such as Kevin Spacey, Sandra Bullock and Chris Rock were ultimately approached, but it was later put on hold for being too expensive. Burton moved on to Sleepy Hollow and its since become one of the most famous movies that never happened.

Wolfgang Peterson’s Batman vs. Superman

Wolfgang Peterson, the director of Das Boot and Outbreak was once attached to making a previous Batman vs. Superman team-up film in 2001 based off an idea from Seven writer Andrew Kevin Walker. The pitch followed a newly divorced Superman and a newlywed Batman, who has lost Robin, Alfred and Gordan and hung up his cape. When the Joker murders his new wife, Bruce blames his best man Sups for heartbreak and a rivalry forms.

It was set to shoot in 2003 ahead of its summer 2004 release date before Warner Bros changed their minds and decided to focus on independent Batman and Superman projects. Wolfgang Petersen revealed that Christian Bale was in the running for Superman to MTV back in 2010. One writer Akiva Goldsman decided to add a fun Easter Egg in I Am Legend for the cancelled film: a poster of the logo (peek the above image).

J.J. Abrams and Brett Ratner’s Superman: Flyby

Before he did Star Trek or Star Wars and even before LOST, J.J. Abrams almost wrote a Superman movie. Back in 2002, Abrams was hired to write a new origin movie for Clark Kent following his early success with Armageddon, Felicity and Alias. At first his script was put on hold for the Batman vs. Superman script, but once he turned in a rewrite then the former was placed on hold. Rush Hour director Brett Ratner was hired to direct, Christopher Reeve was put on as a consultant and actors including Paul Walker, Brendan Fraser and Jude Law were considered.

The script kept Krypton standing after Kal-El’s journey to Earth. It centered on Jor-El’s evil brother Kata-Zor who sends Jor-El to prison and launches his son to Earth. Once Superman becomes popular on the planet, Kata-Zor and three of his partners venture to Earth to defeat him. Clark dies and finds himself with his dad Jor-El in Kryptonian heaven (who committed suicide in prison). Superman somehow gets resurrected and goes back to Earth to finish the job. Over the years, some awesome storyboards have been revealed about the project that never was. Ratner left due to casting difficulties and Charlie’s Angels’ director McG came on board before Bryan Singer was replaced to make 2006’s Superman Returns.

Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns 2 with Brandon Routh

Superman Returns made some money for Warner Bros, but not enough for the studio to pursue the planned 2009 sequel Superman Returns 2: The Man of Steel. Months before the release of Superman Returns, the sequel was announced with the core cast set to return and Bryan Singer back as director. The movie was expected to finally bring Brainiac to the big screen and introduce Metallo.

Singer instead went on to make Valkyrie instead and plans for Christopher Nolan’s Man of Steel reboot began to take shape. Brandon Routh never got to reprise his version of Kal-El in another movie, but the actor did recently resume the role in Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event in 2019 alongside Smallville’s Tom Welling.

George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal with D.J. Cotrona

Another especially high-profile Superman project that never happened is George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal. The movie to be directed by the Mad Max: Fury Road filmmaker was also in development following Superman Returns and would have offered a fresh new take on the superhero genre. D.J. Cotrona was hired to play Superman, Armie Hammer was to be Batman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as Flash, Common as Green Lantern, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord and Teresa Palmer would play Talia Al Ghul.

Cotrona described it as “allegorical, like a story of Greek Gods” and Brody thinks it would have “been a classic.” This movie fell through the cracks due to ill timing. Warner Bros wanted more work to be done on the script just as the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike was in effect. Oddly enough, Cotrona and Brody both suited up in the third act of Shazam! As adult superhero versions of Billy Batson’s adopted brothers.

Man of Steel 2?

It took seven years between Superman Returns and Man of Steel, but many would agree it was worth the wait. Henry Cavill was an incredible choice for the role and Zack Snyder’s vision for the character was an exciting one. In 2014, a sequel was announced to be in the works (with the potential of George Miller helming even a possibility). It was reported that Man of Steel was part of a three-film arc until plans to bring Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League took priority over another standalone flick.

Back in 2018, it was rumored that Henry Cavill was done with the DC universe and other comic book projects were being moved ahead of another Man of Steel movie. In late 2019, Cavill assured fans that he has “not given up the role” and updated the status of the hero’s future as “you’ll see”. The actor does have a packed schedule between The Witcher and an upcoming Sherlock Holmes film, but perhaps the character will find regained interest with 2021’s release of Snyder Cut?

It's been no easy journey for Superman movies. What do you think? If you could save on Man of Steel project, which one would you like to see? Vote in our poll below.

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2018’s award season was as packed with accolades for Bohemian Rhapsody as it was surrounded with controversy about Bryan Singer’s unexpected exit from the movie that had Dexter Fletcher assuming the role of director late in production. On set issues with the director were not isolated to Bohemian Rhapsody, however, as X-Men: Apocalypse’s Psylocke Olivia Munn can attest. The actress is now speaking out about her experience on the 2016 film, and it doesn't sound great. As she explains it:

Speaking with Variety, the Love Wedding Repeat actress remembers Bryan Singer being away from the set of the almost $200 million film for over a week to deal with “thyroid issues” about 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles. By her estimation, the director could have received treatment in the city in Canada during the extensive shoot.

The director has been dealing with sexual abuse allegations against him dating back to 1997. Ahead of production starting up on X-Men: Apocalypse, Bryan Singer was dealing with two lawsuits concerning allegations of abusing underaged boys, which were later dismissed. Though Singer’s publicist said in a response to Munn's comments that Singer was only off set for two days in the making of the blockbuster, Olivia Munn recalled her experience with the director as being abnormal:

Bryan Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody with less than three weeks left on the film’s production schedule. The director reportedly clashed with Best Actor winner Rami Malek on the project, who later called the experience working with him “not pleasant.” X-Men’s Dark Phoenix actress Sophie Turner echoed Malek’s statements about her own time with the filmmaker.

Due to his reputation and more allegations in 2017 and 2019, Bryan Singer’s name was removed from BAFTA’s nomination for Bohemian Rhapsody and the GLAAD Media Awards withdrew the movie from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s list of Outstanding Film as well. Singer was also initially going to make a Red Sonja reboot that has since been placed on hold. The director reportedly walked away from Bohemian Rhapsody’s record-breaking $800 million success with $40 million added to his pocket.

Olivia Munn had a supporting role in X-Men: Apocalypse as Psylocke, primarily featured in the film’s battle against Oscar Isaac’s En Sabah Nur as an ally of the villain. She did not reprise her role for Fox’s final X-Men series installment Dark Phoenix before rights to the franchise was turned over to Disney’s Marvel Studios.

Olviia Munn just starred in Netflix’s rom-com Love Wedding Repeat, and is set to lead the timely drama about a female movie executive called Violet.

The reboot of Red Sonja was announced back in 2017 with the intent of fast-tracking it to production, and last year Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer was brought aboard to helm the movie. Then, earlier this year, Millennium Films put the swords and sorcery property on hold. Now Red Sonja is back on, but Bryan Singer will not be the person directing it.

Bryan Singer has been dropped from Red Sonja and Transparent creator Jill Soloway has been tapped to write and direct the film, according to Deadline. Soloway is said to have a “bold new take” on the property, and that take and the hiring of Soloway has apparently already drawn interest from studios for the Millennium Films production. Andrea Sperling, who is partners with Jill Soloway in Topple Productions, is also joining Red Sonja as producer.

Jill Soloway is probably best known for being the creator of Amazon’s Emmy-winning Transparent as well as I Love Dick. In addition to the aforementioned productions, Jill’s writing credits also include episodes of United States of Tara and Six Feet Under. On the movies front, Soloway wrote and directed the 2013 comedy Afternoon Delight but this will easily be their biggest directorial effort yet. Soloway called the Red Sonja opportunity “an artistic dream come true.”

Despite being fired from Bohemian Rhapsody, Bryan Singer was still attached to Red Sonja and expected to command a huge payday for the film. But allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against the director surfaced. The writing seemed to be on the wall after that, even though Singer was still publicly attached to the film.

Distributors had no interest in a movie about a sexual assault survivor as long as Bryan Singer was directing, and Millennium Films would have likely had an issue finding an actress to play the part under the circumstances. So Bryan Singer was dropped from Red Sonja.

When that happened, the movie was put on hold and Millennium Films went back to the drawing board; the gig ultimately went to Jill Soloway. Now Soloway and Topple Productions have to begin the process of writing, casting and prepping Red Sonja for production. Since that is still a heavy load, it is likely that Jill Soloway will direct something else beforehand, having nearly finished up Transparent.

No word yet on what Jill Soloway’s take on the property is or who might be eyed to play the heroine, but it is exciting that this movie is finally back on track after years and years in development hell. Hopefully Red Sonja will actually happen this time around.

We’ll keep you updated on Red Sonja as news develops. In the meantime, check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see what’s headed your way the rest of this year.

Mamma mia, this movie can't stop winning! Bohemian Rhapsody came out November 2, 2018, but here we are in April 2019 and it's still picking up cash around the world.

The Queen movie was made off a reported production budget of $52 million and currently has a worldwide total of $901,417,909. It's amazing. This troubled movie is pushing a billion. It isn't likely to get there, or even much closer than this, but who saw it even getting here?

Bohemian Rhapsody's current totals are $216,217,834 from the domestic North American (U.S./Canada) box office and a very strong $685,200,075 from the foreign box office, per Box Office Mojo.

As THR noted, a late run in China (with censored scenes) and popular play in Japan helped push the movie over the $900 million edge this weekend. China just gave the Rami Malek movie $13.9 million, but so far it's really Japan that has stepped up. Bohemian Rhapsody has made $114,658,629 so far in Japan alone. Apparently it has become something of a cultural phenomenon in Japan, bringing new life and popularity to Queen.

Bohemian Rhapsody is already the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, and it's now 20th Century Fox's No. 4 title of all time, if you don't adjust for inflation.

It was the sixth highest grossing movie of 2018, worldwide. Sixth may not sound that impressive, but it definitely is when you consider its peers -- Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Incredibles 2, and Aquaman. Bohemian topped the worldwide grosses of Venom, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Deadpool 2, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Ready Player One.

All of those movies had pretty massive action blockbuster budgets and ambitions -- except Bohemian, which was "just" a music biopic made for under $55 million.

Bohemian Rhapsody was also a big winner on the 2018-2019 awards circuit, which surprised the critics who never understood any of the love for the film. Bohemian won four Oscars -- including Best Actor for Rami Malek, plus Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. The movie itself, nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, won Best Motion Picture – Drama at the the Golden Globe Awards.

Bryan Singer directed most of the film, and will still reportedly make some good money from it, but he was fired in December 2017. Dexter Fletcher was hired toward the end to complete the film. That led to some scene reordering and at least one editing issue.

Queen and the late Freddie Mercury's family should also pick up quite a bit of money from Bohemian Rhapsody's impressive box office run. And while that run is winding down, it's clearly not over yet. Will 2019 have another success story like Bohemian Rhapsody? We'll see. Keep up with everything headed to theaters this year with our 2019 movie guide.

It's no secret that superhero movies are everywhere. The comic book genre is massively popular, so tons of studios are trying to get in on the game. But before comic book movies became commonplace, the X-Men franchise was there. Starting back in 2000, the mutant-centric property has routinely released new blockbusters, with Dark Phoenix set to arrive this summer.

Sophie Turner is taking center stage on Dark Phoenix, after being introduced as a young mutant in X-Men: Apocalypse. That movie was directed by franchise creator Bryan Singer, and brought in some new characters alongside the First Class ensemble and Oscar Isaac. But according to Turner, she didn't have a good time working with the controversial director. She recently spoke to this, citing Rami Malek's recent comments about Singer. As she put it:

While becoming a superhero was a great did for Sophie Turner, it doesn't look like she enjoyed her time working alongside Bryan Singer in X-Men: Apocalypse. Ultimately she seems to have persevered, as she'll be the titular character of Dark Phoenix.

Sophie Turner's comments come from her recent profile from Rolling Stone. Bryan Singer has had a long career as a filmmaker, but he's currently got his share of controversies. Singer was recently accused of sexual misconduct, and was seemingly removed from a variety projects in response. He was famously removed from Bohemian Rhapsody before it was completed, which put the project in jeopardy during filming. And recently, Singer was removed from his Red Sonja reboot.

In her conversation with Rolling Stone, Sophie Turner directly mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek. About two months ago, Malek finally broke his silence about Bryan Singer, in the wake of his sexual misconduct allegations. When describing his working relationship with the director, he said:

Rami Malek's quote was meant to give solace to some of Bohemian Rhapsody's critics, as the movie was celebrated, and therefore so was Bryan Singer's work as director.

It's fascinating to see how both Sophie Turner and Rami Malek had such a hard time working with Bryan Singer, considering his long tenure in the business. It's a wonder that someone could be so successful, while also being so difficult to work with. But in the modern age, this seems like a trend that is falling out.

You can see Sophie Turner return as Jean Grey when Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters on June 7th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Bohemian Rhapsody has found incredible success as the highest-earning music biopic worldwide, and as a four-time Oscar winner. The movie centering around Queen’s history as a band swept most of the technical categories at the Academy Awards, including Best Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Film Editing. The latter has been most heavily criticized online for its win, especially for the cut of the band’s first meeting with manager John Reid, which became a viral example of Oscar "injustice" on Twitter.

John Ottman, who was Bohemian Rhapsody’s editor, received a ton of honors during awards season. He was recently told of a viral video specifically criticizing the editing of that band meeting scene. Here was his reaction:

The Bohemian Rhapsody editor told The Washington Post that the restaurant scene was one of the few scenes shot by Dexter Fletcher shortly after previous director Bryan Singer was fired from the film. Some of the storyline was reordered, leading to a reshoot of the meeting between the band and their manager outside a London pub. Check out the scene found all over Twitter after the Oscars in all of its glory below:

Feeling that whiplash? The flashy cut switches in this scene in particular caused an outcry over the internet, all questioning how the movie won an Oscar for Best Editing. John Ottman said he was under pressure to get the first act of Bohemian Rhapsody moving quickly, so some scenes ended up looking this way.

Later, when the movie was screened for test audiences, their feedback indicated they enjoyed learning about the band in their early years. So Ottman went back over those scenes and slowed them down. However, due to time constraints, he didn't get to do the same for the now much-mocked meeting scene. The editor certainly seems to regret it now looking back, per his recent words.

A recent video by Thomas Flight breaks down just why the Bohemian Rhapsody restaurant scene in question, and many of the other dialogue scenes, have terrible editing. Take a look:

You know there’s something wrong when a simple dialogue scene has 60 cuts in under two minutes – more than an action sequence in Transformers: The Last Knight. The video breaks down some major problems with the editing in Bohemian Rhapsody, along with why it may have been recognized for it by the Academy – because it’s noticeable. Though the YouTuber notes great movie editing is often not easy to detect.

The 2019 Best Film Editing honor isn’t the only Oscar winner that has been criticized this year. Best Picture going to Green Book has also perplexed moviegoers, along with First Man over Avengers: Infinity War for Best Visual Effects.

Did you notice Bohemian Rhapsody’s flashy editing and did it bother you when you watched it? Sound off in the comments below!

Watching movies can certainly be an emotional experience, but so can making them. When people pour their heart and soul into their job it can be emotionally taxing. Sometimes, however, your co-workers just drive you to break down. That's apparently what happened to John Ottman, the editor on the Tom Cruise World War II drama Valkyrie. Apparently, the star would come in and work with Ottman in the editing room, then writer Christopher McQuarrie would come and make changes to what Cruise had done, which would then be followed by director Bryan Singer making more changes. Eventually the constant changes would cause Ottman to break into actual tears in frustration. According to the editor...

It seems that on the set of Valkyrie there were simply too many cooks in the kitchen. John Ottman was the film's editor, but he was getting multiple voices telling him how to go about editing the film. That would have been fine if all those other voices had been in agreement, but clearly they didn't all have the same vision for the project.

It's pretty standard for a film's director to be closely involved in the editing phase of a film, however, it seems that Bryan Singer didn't have complete control during Valkyrie. According to Deadline, Singer was mostly "off elsewhere" during editing. Whether he was working on other projects or simply "done" with the movie is not clear. Ottman says Singer would still show up on occasion, mostly to undo everything that Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie had done with him in the editing bay. Then the cycle would repeat. How would you not break down in tears at that point?

John Ottman worked with Bryan Singer again on the film the troubled director would start but would not finish, Bohemian Rhapsody. Singer was fired from the production and the film was completed by Dexter Fletcher. Ottman has been nominated for his first Academy Award for editing the movie

The fact that Bohemian Rhapsody was shot by two different directors likely made the editing of the movie especially challenging. All the more reason that success should be rewarded.

If Ottman wins the Oscar, you'll get to see it happen live, as the decision to award that category, and three others, during commercial breaks, has been reversed by the Academy.

Following the success of Wonder Woman in 2017, Millennium Media announced that it would finance and produce a reboot of Red Sonja, which is a project that has been in some stage of development for many years. Then last year, director Bryan Singer became attached to direct the film and a new Red Sonja looked closer than it’s ever been to actually happening. But now Bryan Singer’s Red Sonja is officially on hold.

In comments to Deadline, Millennium Films stated that Red Sonja is not on its slate at the moment and that the film is not for sale at the European Film Market, the trade fair that is currently going on during the Berlin International Film Festival. This move comes after Red Sonja was on Millennium Films’ slate just last November at the American Film Market where director Bryan Singer pitched his vision for the film to international buyers.

But a few months time clearly changed things for Millennium and now the project has been pushed to the back burner. No reason was given for why Red Sonja has been put on hold or when we might expect to hear more about the project’s future.

While it might be easy to assume that this move has to do with the various allegations made about Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer, who was set to helm the film, he has not been officially removed from his role, for which he is reportedly commanding a huge payday.

Although the cast for Red Sonja had not been set, the film was expected to shoot this year in Bulgaria after languishing in development hell for a decade. Now Red Sonja’s stay in development hell has been extended. We are left to once again wait and see what happens. and if this current iteration of Red Sonja makes it to the finish line someday or undergoes behind the scenes reshuffling before trying again.

This is a big move for Millennium Films, because the studio clearly envisioned Red Sonja as a title with a lot of potential. In an age where female-led films are not only more accepted, but have proven lucrative, a movie about a vengeful badass redheaded heroine could really connect with audiences. Red Sonja would also be a big-budget action-fantasy movie, exactly the type of thing audiences might be thirsting for after Game of Thrones wraps up.

Red Sonja is based on a character that first appeared in Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian and made her big screen debut in a 1985 film starring Brigitte Nielsen. In her original story, Red Sonja suffered the murder of her family and a sexual assault before rising up to seek revenge thanks to some powers granted to her by a goddess.

We’ll keep you updated about what the future holds for Red Sonja as news becomes available. In the meantime, check out all the movies you can look forward to this year in our 2019 Release Schedule.

Oscar-nominated Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek was just honored at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and he took the opportunity to address the allegations against director Bryan Singer. Malek told the crowd that his situation with Singer "was not pleasant." Singer had been fired from the film with a few weeks left to filming. Just recently, Singer was met with additional allegations of sexual misconduct against underage boys.

Rami Malek was asked about the claims against Bryan Singer during the film festival panel discussion, and here's how Malek responded:

The Freddie Mercury star also hinted to some darkness in his own experience working with Bryan Singer:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rami Malek was visibly emotional after talking about his unpleasant situation with Bryan Singer.

Bryan Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody with fewer than three weeks left to filming, but the reasoning was not connected to any sexual misconduct allegations. From Singer's perspective, he asked for time off to go back home to handle an ailing parent's health concerns, and Fox denied him. Director Dexter Fletcher was hired to finish the film, and did add a few scenes, but most of the film was by Bryan Singer and he retained his director's credit.

THR reports that Bryan Singer could make more than $40 million from Bohemian Rhapsody, which was a very profitable movie, making more than $800 million worldwide on a budget of just over $50 million. Singer will also reportedly get an upfront fee of $10 million to direct Red Sonja.

Bohemian Rhapsody was a surprise winner of the 2019 Golden Globe for Best Drama, and it has five Oscar nominations going into the 91st Academy Awards. Rami Malek -- who worked so hard to transform into Freddie Mercury -- has an excellent chance of picking up his first Oscar for Best Actor for playing the Queen frontman.

We'll find out if Rami Malek wins, and if Bohemian Rhapsody can continue to defy its critics, when the 2019 Oscars air Sunday, February 24 on ABC. Here's what's playing in theaters so far this year.

Bryan Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody with fewer than three weeks left on the production schedule. He was replaced with Dexter Fletcher, but was still credited as the director of the movie. Now that the Rami Malek showcase has gone on to make more than $800 million worldwide, and pick up five Oscar nominations, Singer is set to pick up a lot of money.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Singer is expected to walk away with more than $40 million.

THR came to that figure via "two knowledgeable sources," and it comes from Bryan Singer's track record of making money, especially from the X-Men movies, in addition to what was reported to be an impressive backend provision in his Bohemian Rhapsody contract.

Considering Bohemian Rhapsody had a reported production budget of $52 million (per Box Office Mojo) and made $817,637,665 worldwide, plenty of people are making plenty of profit off of this movie.

However, THR noted a potential snag. Backend provisions can be forfeited if a director is fired for cause. That may be the case here, but Bryan Singer was allowed to retain his director credit. So it's likely that negotiations were held at some point, allowing for Singer to retain credit and get some kind of box office-contingent compensation. But that would've happened before the film took off to make nearly $1 billion around the world, sources suggested to THR.

Either way, Bryan Singer is walking away with a lot of money -- and the ego boost of seeing the film do so well at the box office, with fan reviews, and at awards shows.

Bryan Singer posted that it was an "honor" for Bohemian Rhapsody to win the Golden Globe win for Best Drama. Since then, the movie was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, and Best Actor for Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury.

Bryan Singer spoke out after he was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody. From his perspective, he asked Fox for some time off toward the end of filming to return to the U.S. to address the pressing health concerns of one of his parents. That taxing experience took a toll on his own health, he said. The studio was unwilling to accommodate him, he said, and fired him. Dexter Fletcher was hired very late in production, and did add a few scenes to the movie, but most of it was from Bryan Singer.

Next, Bryan Singer is reportedly negotiating an upfront fee of $10 million to direct Red Sonja. That would be his highest upfront fee to date, THR reports.

Bryan Singer has also had a controversial year on another front. In early 2019, Singer was met with more allegations of sexual assault against underage boys. In response, GLAAD withdrew its nomination for Bohemian Rhapsody at this year's GLAAD awards. Millennium Films, which is making Red Sonja, issued a statement of support for Singer from producer Avi Lerner, saying the film was still in development and Singer was still attached.

Bohemian Rhapsody will compete at the 2019 Oscars on February 24 on ABC, with Rami Malek looking like a strong candidate for Best Actor. Don't forget to keep our 2019 film schedule handy to follow every movie release in this very busy year.

Awards Season is in full swing in Hollywood, as various ceremonies begin announcing their nominees. Last night was the 76th Golden Globe Awards, recognizing the best that TV and film had to offer over the last calendar year. For the movies side of things, some of the biggest prizes were given to Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic starring Rami Malek as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

Bohemian Rhapsody's success was far from guaranteed, and the film had a rocky road to theaters. One of the controversies surrounding the project ahead of its release was the firing of director Bryan Singer, who departed Bohemian Rhapsody before it wrapped. Singer was still credited as the film's director, and he posted a reaction to the movie's Golden Globe win for Best Drama, with:

Simple and efficient, Bryan Singer seems to appreciate the multitude honors Bohemian Rhapsody was given by the Hollywood Foreign Press. Singer helped get the project green-lit, and much of his work made it into the finished product-- even if it was an unceremonious departure

Bryan Singer's Instagram post shows the X-Men visionary directing Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody. The scene in question was the biopic's nearly shot for shot recreation of Queen's iconic "I Want To Break Free" music video. It's a sequence that delighted hardcore fans of the band, as Singer methodically had the Bohemian Rhapsody cast emulate performances from the original.

Much of the conversation around Bohemian Rhapsody is surrounding its star Rami Malek. The Mr. Robot standout completely transformed into Freddie Mercury, using his mind, body, and teeth to become the legendary Queen vocalist. That performance earned Malek the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Golden Globes, with all eyes on whether or not he'll have the same luck at the upcoming Academy Awards.

The odds were stacked against Bohemian Rhapsody before it hit theaters, making its wild success all the more fascinating. Bryan Singer's departure from the project was certainly an unexpected twist, and seemed to put the biopic in jeopardy long before its release. While the movie's schedule continued and it was released as planned, success was far from guaranteed.

Another controversy surrounding Bohemian Rhapsody was the film's portrayal of Freddie Mercury's love life, especially his same-sex attraction. The biopic largely focused on Freddie's relationship with girlfriend Mary Austin. Some advocacy groups believe this was a disservice, and that the project might be straightwashing the Queen frontman.

Bohemian Rhapsody also wasn't a critical darling, faring medium to poorly with many publications. But audiences still responded to the project, resulting in an impressive box office performance. And now that the movie has snatched a few trophies, there's no doubting the success of Bohemian Rhapsody, and Bryan Singer's direction.

Bohemian Rhapsody is still in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.

Comic book movies and shared universes may have become commonplace in the past few years, but there was a time when superhero movies arrived in theaters sporadically. 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise started back with the 2000 original, and is still going strong in the almost two decades since. Bryan Singer brought the mutants to theaters for the first time, although it appears he had a surprising rule on set: no comic books.

Hugh Jackman has recently hung up his claws for good, after playing Wolverine in a ton of main installments and three spinoffs. The Oscar winning actor recently revealed what it was like in the early days, and why director Bryan Singer banned comics from the set, saying:

Well, that sounds intense. While comic book fans now expect each actor to be come experts on their characters' lore, it seems that Bryan Singer had a different idea when filming the first X-Men movie. Because in order to make the mutant cast realistic, he barred Marvel's pages from being referenced during filming.

Hugh Jackman's comments to MTV are sure to confuse comic book fans, who take the research involved in superhero adaptations very seriously. With so many comic book properties currently in theaters, actors are expected to become very familiar with their character's history on the page. This can be seen in the research done by Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson, or Logan director James Mangold being inspired by Watchmen. Yet Bryan Singer had a different idea.

Of course, Bryan Singer had no way of predicting the success of X-Men, or that it was the first in a long line of big screen adventures. If the director/producer knew he was crafting the beginnings of a shared universe, perhaps his feelings about comic books on set would have been different. Still, he was determined to create a realistic version of the mutant team, which can be seen in their appearance alone.

Rather than colorful costumes and over the top powers, X-Men outfitted its team with matching black leather uniforms. Their abilities are also pulled back a bit, with characters like Rogue, Storm, and Jean all less powerful than their comic book versions. And Bryan Singer's vision seems to have paid off, as new installments in the franchise are on the way with Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants.

The X-Men franchise continues, without Hugh Jackman, when Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters June 7th, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman obliterated the long-held misbelief that female-led hero films couldn't work, that they wouldn't make money and boys didn't want to see them. With that myopic notion now gone, there is a race among studios to capitalize on the market that drove Wonder Woman to such success. Millennium Films is aiming to enjoy that kind of success with its Red Sonja reboot. We heard a few weeks back that X-Men director Bryan Singer was being eyed to direct the pic, and it was said that Millennium would pay him top dollar for the project. Now we have an idea of just how much that is: a whopping $10 million.

As reported by THR, Bryan Singer is negotiating a fee of up to $10 million for the Millennium Films remake. This is a stunning figure and shows how serious Millennium is about the Red Sonja reboot and its desire for this film to launch its own superhero franchise. Clearly Millennium Films thinks that Bryan Singer is the right man to direct the story about the powerful female warrior and set this franchise off on the right foot so that it will pay dividends for the production company in the future. Of course, Bryan Singer is not unproven in this regard. The director of The Usual Suspects directed 2000's X-Men, which ushered in the comic book movie age and launched a series that is still going and has grossed billions at the box office.

Bryan Singer's eight-digit payday for Red Sonja is remarkable in its own right, but it is especially notable in light of the director's recent troubles. Allegations of sexual misconduct have dogged Bryan Singer for years, but the recent #MeToo movement has seen him once again come under accusation. In December, Bryan Singer was sued for an alleged rape that allegedly took place in 2003, when the accuser was 17. The director has categorically denied the allegations. Given this controversy, it is somewhat surprising that Bryan Singer is still commanding such a fee. He probably wasn't very in demand, as many studios are extremely risk-averse to talent with baggage attached to them right now, and directors have lost jobs for mere tweets.

Those allegations aren't the only issues Bryan Singer has had of late either. The director was fired from the upcoming Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody after being absent from the set for what he said was a family health emergency. The film was almost finished, so he will still be credited as director, but you might think this could raise some red flags. Apparently not though, and Millennium Pictures is willing to take the chance on the director and hoping that the experience and talent Bryan Singer brings to the table will make the $10 million spent on his services look like a smart investment when Red Sonja hits theaters.

Regardless of who is behind the camera, a Red Sonja reboot seems like a smart idea. The character was originally part of the Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian series before she got her own movie starring Brigitte Nielsen in 1985. The character has some name recognition and this is an opportunity to put a badass female warrior in a different setting than the traditional superhero films, spy movies or YA adaptations that we are used to seeing.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated on Red Sonja as it develops. To see all of the biggest movies you can look forward to this fall, check out our release schedule.

While Red Sonja may not be one of the more well-known comic book characters, she does have the distinction of having already led her own movie. 12 years after she debuted in the pages of 1973's Conan the Barbarian #23 at Marvel Comics, the character was played by Brigette Nielsen on the big screen, and since the start of the decade, there have been numerous attempts to get Red Sonja back in theaters. The latest update is that X-Men director Bryan Singer is being eyed to direct the Red Sonja reboot for Millennium Pictures.

Nearly a year after Millennium announced its renewed efforts to finance and produce a new Red Sonja movie, THR dropped the news that Bryan Singer is in negotiations to helm this big return. Sources who spoke to the outlet said Millennium is would pay Singer "top dollar" for this job, and it is described as a "step toward rehabilitating the director's image" following the controversy that's surrounded him. Of course, Singer already has plenty of experience when it comes to comic book adaptations, as he's directed four of the main X-Men movies and Superman Returns.

Within the last year, Bryan Singer has been a controversial figure on two fronts. In December 2017, three years after Singer was accused of sexually assaulting a minor in the late 1990s, the director was sued by a man claiming that Singer raped him in 2003. Then there was Singer's time on the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which ended when he was fired from the production after Thanksgiving break last year. It was reported that Singer had failed to return to set after the break, which Singer attributed to having to help one of his parents as they dealt with health problems. However, sources stated that Singer had also frequently shown up late to the Bohemian Rhapsody set and clashed with star Rami Malek multiple times. Eddie the Eagle's Dexter Fletcher ended up replacing Singer, although the latter will still be credited as director. In any case, Millennium believes that Singer is the right person to tackle Red Sonja, although it remains to be seen if a deal will be finalized.

Although Red Sonja started out as a Marvel Comics creation, in recent years she's been fighting the forces of evil within the pages of Dynamite Comics. When the movie reboot was announced back in 2010, Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan were attached to direct and star, respectively, but those plans later fell through. X-Men: First Class' Ashley Miller is writing the Red Sonja screenplay, and Millennium is hoping that by bringing in the same audience that enjoyed Wonder Woman, this will launch a franchise.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how Red Sonja is developing, but for now, feel free to look through our 2018 release schedule to plan your trips to the theater for the rest of the year accordingly.

Comic book movies and cinematic universe have become commonplace, but in many ways it all began with Bryan Singer's X-Men franchise. The beloved mutants lead a franchise before the likes of Tony Stark hit theaters, and its a property that is still going strong now. While the fandom is eager for more information about X-Men: Dark Phoenix, a new photo has just surfaced from the set of Days of Future Past. Singer returned to to helm that sequel, which united both casts for a time traveling epic. Singer has just released a behind the scenes image, featuring the cast of X-Men legends on set. Check it out.

Albeit a bit blurry, this photo is packing more mutants than you can shake a stick at. With both icons and single movie characters in tow, fans can get a glimpse into life on the set of Days of Future Past. And it looks like a ton of fun.

Bryan Singer's recent photo features the set of the future timeline of X-Men: Days of Future Past. We learn than things have only gotten worse since the events of The Last Stand, with mutants all but non-existent in a dystopian world ruled by advanced Sentinels. In one last attempt to save their species, villains and heroes unite in a final battle, while Logan is sent through time to stop Mystique from killing her first victim. It's an epic concept, allowing for all of the X-Men to appear in one film, with both version of Charles Xavier even sharing the screen for a telepathic conversation across time.

In the above photo, we see X-Men royalty in costume, including Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, and Ellen Page. They're also joined by the likes of mutants Colossus, Bishop, and Blink. Those large ensemble scenes made for some of the most exciting aspects of X-Men: Days of Future Past, especially once they're found out and forced to one by one sacrifice themselves at the hands of the shape shifting Sentinels.

You can check out part of the epic future battle below.

The X-Men franchise is going full speed ahead, showing no signs of slowing down. Deadpool 2 was a critical and box office success, and fans have both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants to look forward to in 2019. Bryan Singer is currently involved in his own set of controversies, and his Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody will arrive November 2nd.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix will arrive in theaters on February 14, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

There's been a peculiar trend when it comes to blockbuster directors. Quite a few major movies have seen their director depart before wrapping, for various reasons. While Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord were canned by Lucasfilm, Zack Snyder departed Justice League after suffering a family tragedy. Bryan Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody after being absent from the set in the wake of a reported family emergency, with director Dexter Fletcher brought on to complete the Freddy Mercury biopic. But despite being fired and not completing the shoot, Singer will still be credited as Bohemian Rhapsody's director.

News of Bryan Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody credit, which comes to us from Deadline, shouldn't be a major surprise. The majority of the upcoming musical film's contents were in the can when he left. Furthermore, it seems like Dexter Fletcher simply kept the schedule and movie machine going in order to wrap on time. Ultimately it'll be interesting to see how focused the vision of Bohemian Rhapsody is, and if it ends up being disjointed due to Bryan Singer's departure.

When Bryan Singer stopped showing up to the Bohemian Rhapsody set, he reportedly needed to tend to a pressing medical situation for one of his parents. Singer was denied the request from the studio, which ultimately led to his decision to leave the project altogether. In response, Fox severed all ties with the director and his projects.

Bohemian Rhapsody had a fair amount of controversy surrounding it before Bryan Singer's surprising departure from the film. He reportedly clashed quite a bit with the film's star, Mr. Robot's Rami Malek. Given the various wild cards associated with Bohemian Rhapsody, the pressure will be on for the final film to deliver. Movies with multiple directors can often feel disjointed, even if the director got along with the cast. Add on drama from the set, and there's a bit of a dark cloud currently surrounding the movie.

Bohemian Rhapsody will follow the formation of the legendary band Queen, as well as details about the life of singer Freddie Mercury. Supporting members of the cast include Mike Myers, Game of Thrones alum Aiden Gillen, and Ben Hardy (X-Men: Apocalypse). While there may be concern over the quality of the upcoming film, the first trailer is energetic, exciting, and featured plenty of the band's beloved catalogue.

The replacement of directors in big budget movies hasn't given the optimum results as of late. Justice League was a bit of a jumbled mess. While Solo: A Star Wars Story was far more cohesive, it's failing to perform at the box office the way Disney was no doubt hoping.

The upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic will arrive in theaters on November 2nd, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

There are few rock bands quite as iconic and prolific as Queen. Freddie Mercury's vocals are unmatched to this day, and the band's music is still constantly played on the radio, in addition to movies, TV shows, and commercials. As such, you'd think that a biopic around Queen and specifically Mercury himself would have been produced. Alas, this story hasn't been mined for the silver screen... until now. Bohemian Rhapsody will portray the rise of the band, as well as the personal demons frontman Mercury faced in the wake of their success. A first trailer just hit, check it out.

If you've gotten through that first trailer without at least humming along to one of Queen's songs, then you're beyond hope. All jokes aside, this first trailer promises an emotional and heart thumping ride for Bohemian Rhapsody, all told to the band's beloved catalogue.

The Bohemian Rhapsody trailer starts off with Freddie Mercury's iconic multi-octave vocals. After getting glimpses of Mercury in various parts of his career (complete with absolutely stunning costumes), the action of the story begins, with Queen still very much in the early moments of its long tenure. After the band of iconic musicians forms, we see as Queen starts getting gigs in little clubs. And while all of the band members will be major characters of the movie, the story seems very much focused on Mercury's vision, as well as his somewhat sordid personal life.

One idea that Bohemian Rhapsody's first trailer really hammers in is that Queen's massive success wasn't guaranteed, in fact, there were plenty of reasons why commercial success seemed almost impossible. The band's name and unique perspective somehow managed to resonate with generations of fans, and the upcoming biopic will no doubt focus on that journey.

Bohemian Rhapsody stars Mr. Robot actor Rami Malek, who is an absolute chameleon through Freddy Mercury's various looks and ages. The actor is almost unrecognizable with Mercury's costume and accent, and it looks like a real star-making moment for Malek. Both musicals and biopics clean house during awards season, so he's got a lot going for him to hopefully snag a few nominations.

Of course, there is a fair amount of controversy revolving around Bohemian Rhapsody. The movie was originally helmed by X-Men director Bryan Singer, before being taken over by Dexter Fletcher. Singer was one of the many powerful Hollywood men accused of sexual assault, after the scandals surrounding Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey broke the floodgates. Additionally, some reports indicated that the director left the project after repeatedly clashing with Rami Malek. Singer maintains that he departed the project to tend to family matters, but the controversy and his exit from Bohemian Rhapsody seems to be surrounding the biopic. At least until now.

Bohemian Rhapsody will arrive in theaters on November 2, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

While superhero franchises are commonplace now, there was a time when the genre was still very much its its beginnings. It seemingly started with the X-Men franchise, which is still going strong to this day. Bryan Singer's 2000 classic was a major success, and was quickly followed up by a sequel, X2: X-Men United. X2 is still considered a high point of the overall franchise, as the characters established in the first film were given more room to grow and change. While much of the plot revolved around William Stryker's evil quest to eradicate mutants, it turns out that wasn't the original plan. It was actually going to be about the Dark Phoenix Saga, which was eventually pushed to the less than thrilling threequel. Ready Player One screenwriter Zack Pen just revealed this, saying:

Zack Penn has worked on a ton of major scripts in his long career, but now it looks like he's the one responsible for the Dark Phoenix plot line being pushed off until X-Men 3. It's unclear exactly if Penn was right, although X2 ended up being majorly successful with that mcguffin.

Penn's comments to THR, which he made known during the writing of X2, do have some merit to them. Concepts like cinematic universes and spinoffs were but a pipe dream at the time the sequel was released in 2003. Instead of introducing major concepts like cosmic space entities, the sequel instead told a much more capsulated story. William Stryker's evil plot in the present connected to Logan's past, and we saw as villains and heroes united in an attempt for survival.

While Zack Penn ultimately stopped working on X2 before it was released, he maintains the push against Dark Phoenix was his biggest contribution to the project, saying:

Ultimately, the Dark Phoenix plot line was explored in X-Men 3: The Last Stand, which is one of the franchise's weakest entries. Rather than bringing the cosmic entity into the narrative, they retconned a dark power from Jean's childhood. The word Phoenix was never even uttered, with Jean instead having some sort of psychic break and siding with Magneto and The Brotherhood for the majority of the film's runtime.

The X-Men franchise will have the chance to try again when X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters February 15, 2019. It was recently pushed back, so it's unclear if there are some troubles happening with crafting that challenging and iconic comic book plot line for the silver screen. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Fourteen years ago, famous director and producer Bryan Singer reportedly spent time on a yacht with a 17-year-old boy. During that time, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman alleges Bryan Singer forced his face toward the director's genitals, asking for oral sex. He also says Singer later performed oral sex on him, even though he asked Singer to stop. Finally, he alleges the director raped him. The man is now suing the X-Men: Apocalypse director for the incident that occurred back in 2003. And the director and producer is categorically denying the incident ever happened. More details, below.

Per the lawsuit filed on Thursday, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman says that Bryan Singer told him that he could help the young man achieve great heights in his career. He also indicates that Singer told him not to report the alleged incident or he would "hire people" who could theoretically ruin Sanchez-Guzman's life. The incident reportedly occurred on a yacht belonging to investor Lester Waters, who is known for buying into tech properties.

Bryan Singer's Lawyer Andrew Brettler explained to TMZ that the director will be fighting the allegations, as his client says they never happened. Brettler also seems to believe that Cesar Sanchez-Guzman has reasons for coming forth with the allegations, now.

Controversy has followed Bryan Singer before, and in fact, in 2014 when he was sued for similarly spending time with Michael Egan, the lawyer on the suit, Jeff Herman, was the same as in the new Cesar Sanchez-Guzman case, per Andrew Brettler. Michael Egan also made allegations against Singer, which later fell apart under scrutiny. Rumors at the time also ran around about underage parties in Hollywood.

Bryan Singer has been in the news a lot over the past week. His deal with Fox was ending, and then he was unceremoniously fired from the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and replaced with Dexter Fletcher. According to Singer, Fox was uncooperative about him needing to leave set to deal with an ailing relative. Singer also went on record with TMZ this week to explain that he doesn't feel the allegations that have been lobbied at him in the past and currently had anything to do with the firing, although he did note he is fine the studio didn't give a specific statement as the reasons for firing him he feels were "inaccurate and embarrassing."

We'll keep you updated as the Cesar Sanchez-Guzman lawsuit moves forward through the court system.

Following the news late last week that the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was temporarily suspending production due to the "unexpected availability" of director Bryan Singer, it was announced earlier this week that Singer was fired from the movie. There are different accounts about why he was terminated from the project, but whatever the exact reason was, 20th Century Fox moved fast to find the creative mind to guide Bohemian Rhapsody through its final weeks of filming. Now we know who that person will be: Eddie the Eagle director Dexter Fletcher.

Fox has officially announced (via THR) that Dexter Fletcher is stepping in to fill Bryan Singer's directorial shoes on Bohemian Rhapsody. With Fletcher at the helm, cameras are expected begin rolling again on the biopic next week. Along with Eddie the Eagle, Fletcher's other directing credits include Wild Bill and Sunshine on Leith. As an actor, his resume includes appearances in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Band of Brothers, Stardust, Kick-Ass and Hotel Babylon. What's particularly interesting about Fletcher's recruitment is that back in 2013, when Ben Whishaw was expected to play Freddie Mercury, Fletcher was on board to direct Bohemian Rhapsody, but later departed reportedly due to creative disagreements.

Bohemian Rhapsody's behind-the-scenes troubles first became public last Friday when we learned that production had been halted. While the official reason provided for this was that Bryan Singer was dealing with a personal health matter concerning him and his family," other source stated that Singer had failed to return to the Bohemian Rhapsody set in London after the Thanksgiving holiday break, and that there was consideration into replacing him. Then on Monday, Singer was officially let go, the reason reportedly being that he frequently clashed with lead actor Rami Malek, who supposedly accused Singer of "not being present on set, unreliability and unprofessionalism." One of Singer's absences allegedly lead to cinematographer Thomas Newton Sigel filling in as the director on certain days.

However, Singer claimed on Tuesday that the real reason Fox fired him from Bohemian Rhapsody is because he needed to deal with a health matter concerning one of his parents, but Fox was unwilling to accommodate him. He also said that the rumor that his departure was sparked due to his disagreements with Rami Malek were false, and that the two had been able to put aside their differences. Whatever the fully story behind this directorial shakeup is, it looks like this is the end of Singer's relationship with Fox, as his production company, Bad Hat Harry, has had its offices cleared off the Fox lot.

Bohemian Rhapsody will cover a 15-year period of Queen's history, from the band's founding in 1970 to when they performed at Live Aid in 1985. Along with Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury, the cast includes Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech, Lucy Boynton, Aaron McCusker, Aidan Gillen and Tom Hollander.

Bohemian Rhapsody is still scheduled to rock out in theaters on December 25, 2018. To see what other movies are coming out next year, read through our 2018 premiere guide.

Following the news that Bryan Singer has been fired as the director of the Freddie Mercury biopic, it appears that Fox is going a step further and terminating the relationship with Singer entirely. It seems that Singer's production company, Bad Hat Harry, which had its offices on the Fox lot, is on the way out.

Following a halt to production of Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, it was announced yesterday that Bryan Singer had been fired from the film with about three weeks left in in its shooting schedule. While some reports claim that the director and star Rami Malek were combative on-set, Singer claims he was fired only after the studio refused to give him time off to help deal with a sick family member. Singer did not return to the set following Thanksgiving, and the studio made the decision to terminate him.

While the complete removal of Bad Hat Harry from the Fox lot may seem like an extreme reaction, it apparently was going to happen anyway, it's just taking place sooner than expected. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Singer's deal with Fox actually expired in October, but he worked out an extension with them to keep his offices on the lot until he was done directing Bohemian Rhapsody. Well, regardless of the reason, Singer is now done directing Bohemian Rhapsody, so it's time for the offices to close.

Bryan Singer's relationship with Fox goes back to the original X-Men movie in 2000. Since then the company has been involved in the production of the rest of the X-Men film franchise, which Singer has also mostly directed, as well as the brand's recent expansion onto television including Legion and The Gifted. With the decision not to renew Singer's deal, that relationship was already going to come to an end. Bad Hat Harry is currently listed as one of the production companies behind the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. It's unclear where that association currently stands.

No announcement has been made yet about who will be taking over as director for the rest of Bohemian Rhapsody 's final shooting schedule as well as post-production. Fox will almost certainly get a replacement in there as quickly as possible if only to keep the film from being delayed any more than it already has.

It doesn't appear that Bad Hat Harry had any sort of follow-up deal after the Fox partnership came to an end, so exactly where the company goes from here, in a physical sense, is unknown. Considering the way that Bryan Singer exited Fox, it's possible the production company could have a more difficult time finding a new studio that will let them set up shop. At this point, it's a bit early to tell.

The Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has had an arduous journey on its road to the big screen. The newest hurdle has been seeing the film's director get fired. Now, that director is speaking out. While the word coming out of Bryan Singer's firing was that it was due to the director's repeated clashes with star Rami Malek, and that he was "unavailable" on the set on several occasions. Singer claims that the reason for his unavailability was that he needed to deal with important health matters for one of his parents, and that Fox refused to give him the time off to do so. According to Singer...

When production on Bohemian Rhapsody originally closed down due to Bryan Singer's absence from the set, the reason given was due to a health matter concerning Singer and his family. Apparently, Singer is confirming that original word to be the real story. This seemingly contradicts a recent report that the primary catalyst for the director's firing was an ongoing conflict between Singer and actor Rami Malek who plays Freddie Mercury in the upcoming film. That news came from The Hollywood Reporter, leading Singer to send them his statement of what really happened. As far as the rumored conflict, Singer downplays it, claiming that while there were disagreements, the two were able to work together professionally without a problem.

To be fair, none of this necessarily contradicts the earlier reports. The original word of the conflict on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody reportedly led to an ultimatum for Bryan Singer from Fox, that then resulted in his firing only after he did not return to the set after Thanksgiving. If the reason for his not returning was this family health issue, then it appears that was the ultimate reason for the firing, even if the on-set altercations had been the initial problem.

According to Bryan Singer, there were only about three weeks left in production on Bohemian Rhapsody. There's no word who will be finishing up filming, though we'll probably learn that shortly.

Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie about Freddie Mercury and the musician's time with Queen, finally kicked off principal photography this past September after spending nearly a decade in development hell. But last Friday, it was reported that the production was being halted due to the "unexpected unavailability" of director Bryan Singer. At the time, Singer's absence was officially attributed to him dealing with a health matter in his family, but a separate statement said that he was hoping to get back to work on the biopic after the holidays. However, now we've learned that Singer has officially been fired from Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bryan Singer's firing comes not only after he unexpectedly disappeared from the Bohemian Rhapsody set several times, but also after he reportedly has numerous clashes with the movie's main star, Rami Malek, who plays Freddie Mercury. According to THR, Malek complained about Singer to the studio, accusing him of not "not being present on set, unreliability and unprofessionalism." Supposedly their disagreements were so bad that in one confrontation, Singer threw an object. Cinematographer Thomas Newton Sigel reportedly had to fill in for Singer on some days when he wasn't around, and actor Tom Hollander, who play Queen's manager, Jim Beach, apparently quit the movie temporarily due to Singer's behavior, though he was convinced to return.

After being warned by several 20th Century Fox bigwigs that they wouldn't tolerate anymore unprofessional behavior, Bryan Singer reportedly resolved his differences with Rami Malek. However, after Singer didn't return to the Bohemian Rhapsody set in London after the Thanksgiving holiday break (he's supposedly been in the United States for the last 10 days), Fox decided that was the last straw and have fired him. One source alleges that Singer is "suffering from post-traumatic" stress due to the drama during the biopic's production. Bohemian Rhapsody has two more weeks to go before wrapping principal photography, and Fox is expected to announce who will fill Singer's directorial shoes in the coming days.

This isn't the first time in 2017 that directors have been abruptly fired off a major motion picture in the middle of production. Back in June, Phil Lord and Chris Miller exited Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Ron Howard was brought in to replace them. However, while Lord and Miller's reasons for leaving were due to creative disagreements with Lucasfilm, Bryan Singer's firing is a combination of things getting downright hostile between him and Bohemian Rhapsody's lead actor, as well as his numerous disappearances. In any case, Fox clearly isn't wasting time trying to get things back on track, although it remains to be seen if this having a new director overseeing the production will require extra filming to be tacked on in order to ensure that Bohemian Rhapsody is the best product possible.

As things stand right now, Bohemian Rhapsody is scheduled to be released on Christmas Day, 2018. To find out when next year's other big movies will arrive, scan through our 2018 premiere guide.

After years of languishing in development hell, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody finally started making significant progress over the last year. Bryan Singer was tapped to direct the movie, Mr. Robot star Rami Malek was hired to play the Queen frontman, the supporting cast was gathered this past summer and the cameras started rolling in September. However, 20th Century Fox announced today that Bohemian Rhapsody has halted production due to Singer's "unexpected unavailability."

Per BBC, Bryan Singer's representative stated that the reason for the sudden suspension is a "personal health matter concerning Bryan and his family." A separate statement said that Singer "hopes to get back to work on the film soon after the holidays." However, THR has heard from its sources that Singer failed to return to Bohemian Rhapsody's set after the Thanksgiving break, a move that made producers so nervous about the production that there's been consideration about replacing him. Supposedly shooting Bohemian Rhapsody hasn't been an easy process either. Rami Malek and the producers reportedly had "grown tired" of Singer's behavior, which included him frequently arriving late to set. A different source claimed that during one of Singer's absences, a cinematographer filled in to direct. Apparently this isn't the first time Singer has vanished while shooting a movie, having previously done so on Superman Returns and X-Men: Apocalypse.

This is certainly an unusual development and adds another preverbal speed bump in Bohemian Rhapsody's long journey to be made. It's unclear how much filming is left on the biopic, but if the plan is still to release it by the end of next year, then Singer will have to be back in the director's chair by next month (or perhaps early February at the latest) in order to stay on schedule. Of course, if things get drastic enough and Singer does need to be replaced, it wouldn't be the only major motion picture that's recently brought in a new director in the middle of production. Back in June, Lucasfilm recruited director Ron Howard to replace Phil Lord and Chris Miller on Solo: A Star Wars Story after 75% of principal photography was completed.

The Bohemian Rhapsody movie will chronicle the formation of Queen up until the band's appearance at the Live Aid concert in 1985. Along with Rami Malek as the lead, its cast includes Lucy Boynton, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech, Aaron McCusker, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander and Mike Myers. Original Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May are attached as Bohemian Rhapsody's music producers.

Bohemian Rhapsody is still slated to be released Christmas Day, 2018. As for when next year's other major theatrical releases will arrive, you can find that information in our 2018 premiere guide.

If you've been even slightly interested in the world of TV and film production, you'll notice that superhero properties and shared unvierses are everywhere. And while the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe may be battling for dominance, Bryan Singer's X-Men franchise was a game changer in the early 2000s. The franchise has routinely put out new installments, and now the X-Men universe has also arrive on the small screen. FOX's The Gifted premiered last night, with True Blood actor Stephen Moyer playing protagonist Reed Strucker. Moyer is married to franchise favorite Anna Paquin, and he recently revealed the advice he got from the Rogue actress.

Stephen Moyer's comments to Movie Fone sure make it seem like he's in a supportive and hilarious marriage. Because while Moyer was originally hesitant to take a role in The Gifted due to its shooting schedule and location, Anna Paquin was able to convince vampire Bill to join the X-Men franchise. And then she gave him all the pointers he needed to give a truly great performance in the new FOX series.

In particular, Anna Paquin seems to understand the research involved in taking on a comic book character, given how hardcore the fandom is. Comic book fans typically want silver or small screen adaptations to be faithful to the source material, although directors are known to take creative liberties. For instance, Paquin's Rogue in the films didn't have the super strength and flight typically associated with the character, instead just having Rogue's original power.

It's also nice to see how Bryan Singer and Anna Paquin are still close, considering how they worked together on three X-Men films. And since it was Paquin who managed to convince her True Blood co-star and husband to join The Gifted, with Singer directing the pilot, we have to give Rogue the props she deserves.

The Gifted airs Monday nights on FOX. Be sure to check out our fall premiere list to plan your next binge watch.

Director Bryan Singer has been hard at work developing his new film about the legendary rock band Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, but the project up to this point has only had one actor attached. Rami Malek has been set to play Freddie Mercury in the movie for months, however, we've been patiently waiting for the production to cast the rest of the group. Today we finally have that news, as its being reported that Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy and Gwilym Lee have all boarded the highly-anticipated feature, and will respectively play Queen's famed bassist, drummer, and lead guitarist.

Rami Malek has been attached to Bohemian Rhapsody since November of last year, but The Hollywood Reporter has now gotten the scoop on the other key players in the ensemble. In case you couldn't tell, these aren't A-list names that have been hired, but it is noteworthy that each star does have an interesting passing resemblance to the character that they are playing. Let's take a closer look at them each individually, shall we?

As Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May is the band's second most famous member behind Freddie Mercury, and Gwilym Lee will have the responsibility for bringing the axe man's personality and incredible skills to the big screen (though he'll probably have to put on a big frizzy wig if he wants to get the look completely right. Lee has been working as an actor since the late 1990s, and has primarily spent his career on the small screen over in the UK, but he made his film debut back in 2010 with a bit part in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Tourist.

Movie-lovers will probably always recognize Joe Mazzello as the nerdy, dinosaur-loving Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, but the young actor has actually carved out a substantial adult acting career for himself - even before joining Bohemian Rhapsody. The image above comes from his supporting part alongside Jesse Eisenberg in David Fincher's The Social Network, but his small screen performances in The Pacific and Justified both made his talents very clear. In the Bryan Singer movie, he'll be playing Roger Taylor, so you can look for him at the back of the set keeping the beat on drums.

Bohemian Rhapsody will be Bryan Singer's first non-X-Men movie since 2014, but he's keeping a piece of those experiences with him by bringing one of his actors along for his next project. After a long run on the British soap EastEnders, Ben Hardy got his big screen debut playing Warren Worthington III/Archangel in Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse, and now its confirmed that the actor and director will reunite for the Queen film. Playing John Deacon a.k.a. "Deacy," Hardy should have a substantial role to play, as he was not just the bassist, but composed many of the band's biggest hits and managed their finances.

Justin Haythe, who previously earned acclaim for the script he wrote for Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road, wrote the screenplay for Bohemian Rhapsody, and the project is set up to be produced and released by GK Films, 20th Century Fox, and New Regency. The new movie is currently slated for release on Christmas Day in 2018 - so while THR doesn't mention when production will start rolling on the project, we can expect that to probably happen in the next few weeks.

It's been an exciting week for fans of the X-Men franchise. The OG shared universe has moved forward with the next film, X-Men: The Dark Phoenix, in quite a few ways over the past few days. Because in addition to reportedly bringing back the full cast of Apocalypse, a director was found in the form of X-Men writer and producer Simon Kinberg. And while he and Bryan Singer have worked together many times throughout the year, many were wondering how Singer feels about handing over the directing reins. And it turns out, here's more than happy about the choice.

Bryan Singer is pretty active on his various social media accounts, routinely giving X-Men updates to the fandom. Regarding Simon Kinberg's direction of The Dark Phoenix, Singer took to Instagram to reveal his thoughts.

Classy move, Bryan Singer. In order to unite the fandom to back Simon Kinberg's full control over the next X-Men film, Singer officially passed the torch to his successor. He even tagged it #torchpass for safe measure.

It should be interesting to see how Simon Kinberg approaches X-Men: The Dark Phoenix, now that he has a more important role in the franchise. Kinberg has already produced and/or written every X-Men film since The Last Stand, so he's very involved in the franchise as a whole. Although considering how divisive the X-Men films can be, it's unclear if this experience is a hinderance or advantage in Kinberg's outing as a director.

That being said, Simon Kinberg will have a significant amount of power in The Dark Phoenix, as he'll be writing, producing, and directing the film. This single vision may allow the next X-Men movie to be a more focused and deliberate big screen outing, as there will be less cooks in the kitchen. Hopefully this will help the film not be so overcrowded and basic as some of the past movies (I'm looking at you, Apocalypse).

That being said, X-Men: The Dark Phoenix looks like it's going to be a game changer for the long running franchise. Much like the MCU, X-Men may be headed to space, as the iconic Dark Phoenix storyline typically focuses on Jean's possession by a cosmic spirit known as The Phoenix. And with Jessica Chastain possibly joining the film as Shi'ar empress Lilandra, all signs point to an intergalactic adventure. While space adventures are fairly common in the X-Men comics, every silver screen adventure has been wholly focused on planet Earth.

Utilizing a new setting and characters in The Dark Phoenix may grant Simon Kinberg the ability to make bold plot choices, especially since he'll be both writing an directing the movie. And hopefully what results is a better quality X-Men film, ala X-2 or Days of Future Past. Fingers crossed, because with the DCEU now on the board with Wonder Woman, there's some stiff competition coming from both DC and Marvel Studios.

Check back with us here at CinemaBlend for updates on all things X-Men. And in the meantime, check out list of upcoming X-Men films to plan your next trip to the movies.

As Logan has drawn Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine to a close, there's been a lot of reflection on the work he's done in the 17 years he's put into the X-Men franchise. One of those memories deals with the fact that Jackman lacked one crucial piece of knowledge to guide his performance. The truth is, Hugh Jackman had no clue that wolverines actually existed, as he exhibits in the following recollection:

It takes a big man to admit that such a grievous error had been made, and sure enough director Bryan Singer noticed that his star was acting rather strange in his portrayal of Wolverine. When confronted by Singer, Hugh Jackman admitted to AP Press that he didn't know of the existence of wolverines. Bryan Singer's response was classic, as he gave Jackman the following piece of interesting, if not blunt, advice:

Oh, if only all of life's greatest mysteries could be solved by a trip to the local zoo. But in the case of Hugh Jackman, it was definitely information that he could use in his super-powered performance as the lynch-pin of the X-Men franchise up until this point. Still, you have to admit, the wolverine isn't exactly the most common animal, so it's semi-forgivable that Jackman wouldn't know of its existence. Though his research methods could have been a little more rigorous.

No matter his knowledge on mammalian lifeforms, Hugh Jackman turned the role of the man known as James "The Wolverine" Howlett into the tour-de-force that culminates in his swan song performance he gave in this year's Logan. So whatever mix of initially incorrect research, followed by corrections and revisions that he undertook, clearly paid off. Although, we do have to wonder if his roar of Berzerker rage is more on the wolf side or on the wolverine side of his skill set. If we have any zoologists out there reading this piece, feel free to set the record straight with us.

If you haven't had the chance to experience Logan for yourself, the film hits home video on Tuesday. If you're impatient, and would rather watch it now, then you can buy the Digital HD version, which is currently available for viewing, through all leading digital platforms.

If fans of the X-Men want to have a good time watching the mutants kick ass and take names in live-action, there hasn't really been anywhere to go beyond the big screen, since past efforts to bring the Marvel super squad to TV haven't worked out so well. But that's all changing soon with the arrival of Fox's still-untitled X-Men pilot, which has franchise vet Bryan Singer behind the camera. And Singer shared some particularly interesting info about the cameo-friendly comic book icon Stan Lee.

Hells yeah! Marvel projects aren't exactly defined by their Stan Lee cameos or anything, but those particular easter eggs are what makes those comic book movies a little different from everything else out there. But there hasn't been that same kind of brand consistency with Marvel's TV projects, especially on the Netflix side of things, so it's awesome that there was relatively zero wait time to discover Lee's involvement with this new project. All hail Bryan Singer's Instagram.

It does make sense that Stan Lee, even at his health-sensitive age, would make the effort to show up in what could be the first live-action X-Men project on TV, since he was a major force in their creation. And perhaps it would have been more questionable without the involvement of Bryan Singer, who has worked on two other Lee cameos while helming four of the six X-Men features. Lee and project developer Matt Nix don't have the same kind of working relationship, although it would have been pretty sweet to see the comic creator getting fresh with Sharon Gless on Burn Notice.

As far as Stan Lee's TV work goes, we only have two live-action cameos to go with. (Unless you count his very first Marvel appearance for the TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.) He was in a Season 1 episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., titled "T.R.A.C.K.S." and then later showed up in the quasi-spinoff Agent Carter, for the episode "The Blitzkrieg Button." Both of those were major network series on ABC, which possibly had something to do with why he showed up in person. Over on the streaming side at Netflix, Lee has only shown up on screen via photograph, though we're certainly hoping it was all a big lead-up to a major cameo in the upcoming Defenders miniseries.

True Blood vet Stephen Moyer is at the head of Fox's X-Men pilot, which is tentatively being referred to as Gifted, and he'll be joined by actors familiar faces like Jamie Chung, Amy Acker, Coby Bell and Natalie Alyn Lind. The project focuses on two parents whose lives get turned upside down when its discovered their children have mutant powers, which makes them targets for the government. Thankfully for all involved, a secret mutant resistance is out there, and the central family teams up with the rebels to fight back.

There's still no sign just yet for when fans will get to hear more about the fate of Fox's X-Men project, but we'll be tuned into Cerebro to see if we can find anything new. In the meantime, head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see what else is hitting the small screen soon.

If there's one thing that unites an otherwise very divisive audience, it's a good old fashioned movie cameo. For the more geeky film fans, this includes Stan Lee's cameos in nearly every Marvel-based film ever made. But now it turns out that another Marvel figure nearly had a cameo in the superhero film that started it all: Bryan Singer's 2000 hit X-Men.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently was kind enough to record an episode of Nerdist's Matlin on Movies podcast. During his conversation with hosts Jessie and Leonard, Feige revealed that he was actually supposed to have a cameo role in X-Men. He said,

Classy move, Kev.

It looks like then newcomer Kevin Feige nearly got his own cameo. But since he wasn't exactly a household name, it's not like Bryan Singer and company wanted to feature his likeness in X-Men. Instead, he was going to be covered up from head to toe, so the cameo would be for insiders only. This seems like a great way for Feige to have a special part of the film that started his career, while not taking away from the movie itself.

In 2000 Kevin Feige was hired as an associate producer for X-Men, mostly due to his knowledge of Marvel comics. He quickly moved up in the rankings, and was Marvel Studio's second in command by the end of the year. Since then, he's had his hand in the honeypot of every installment in the MCU, as well as earlier films like the Blade, Spider-Man and Daredevil franchises of the early 2000's.

But while Kevin Feige was been working on the majority of popular superhero films in the past few decades, he's yet to make an on screen appearance in any of the projects. This is in stark juxtaposition to Marvel creator Stan Lee, who has had a cameo in nearly every Marvel-based movie, regardless of film studio. Marvel fans spend their time in theaters waiting for Lee's eventual cameo, and with the right director and writer it can lead to some truly exciting payoffs. Just check out his grade A appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man.

I mean, come on.

Alas, it looks like Kevin Feige might not end up appearing in one of his movies just yet. And considering his first attempt was only going to be done while he was completely covered up, we probably wouldn't even know if he changed his mind.

The next installment in the MCU is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which hits theaters on May 5, 2017.

When an actor goes into an audition, they have to try and figure out a specific way to stand out amongst the crowd so that they can land the part. Tyler Mane dreamed up a particularly ingenious plan ahead of his audition for the role of Sabretooth in the original 2000 X-Men film, as he not only leafed his way through dozens of comics, but he bought fangs and Polydent so that he could look like the character, too. It turned out to be a stroke of genius on his part, because director Bryan Singer was so impressed that he cast Mane as Sabretooth. After revealing that he'd bought a whole heap of comic books as preparation for his Sabretooth audition, Mane recalled:

Talk about making an entrance. Clearly Bryan Singer was hugely impressed, and I'll guess a little flabbergasted, too, by Tyler Mane's efforts as soon after he cast him in the film. It sounds like when it came to portraying Sabretooth, Mane was a model actor to work with, too, as the former wrestler insisted during the same interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the director never had to scream at him to provoke an angrier performance. Hugh Jackman previously admitted that Singer used to scream at him in an attempt to make him a more furious Wolverine, which is further confirmation that the Australian actor is just an all-around wonderful human being.

Tyler Mane's Sabretooth was a key component of X-Men, as he was the henchman to Ian McKellen's Magneto. This also saw him go toe to toe with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine during the final sequence on top of the Statue Of Liberty. Sabretooth actually had the better of Logan in the fight sequence, too, but then Jean Grey and Cyclops had to get involved. You can relive their exchange of fisticuffs atop New York's most famous landmark below.

After falling off the Statue Of Liberty to what looked like his death, there was no chance of Tyler Mane reprising his role on-screen in either X2 or X-Men: The Last Stand, though he did voice the character in X-Men: The Official Game. Sadly for Mane, 20th Century Fox decided to replace him as Sabretooth with Liev Schreiber for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One can only hope that in order for Schreiber to top Mane's original audition and secure the role, he shaved a wolf and glued its hair all over his body.

Comic fans have had plenty of options when it comes to superhero TV shows, and the X-Men will soon be making their own primetime debut. Fox has a drama in the works that will focus on folks who discover mutants powers, and the network has landed the perfect person to direct the first episode. Bryan Singer himself will direct the pilot of the possible new series.

Bryan Singer is best known for his work in the wildly popular X-Men film franchise. He worked as director, producer, and/or writer on X-Men, X2, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse. He is also the executive producer on FX's upcoming Legion, which will exist in the same universe as the X-Men films and potentially feature characters who appeared in the films. As a leading expert in successfully bringing the X-Men to live action, Singer is the perfect person to direct the pilot for Fox.

The potential Fox series is currently untitled, but a few details about the plot have been released. The show will follow the stories of two ordinary parents who discover that their children have distinctly extraordinary abilities. The kids are mutants, and the entire family must go on the run to escape the reach of a government that wants nothing more than to take out the mutant population. The family encounters others with special abilities, and they are drawn into an underground network of mutants that must work together to survive. The plot is something that hasn't exactly been tackled by an X-Men film so far. Bryan Singer should have the ideal vision and expertise to introduce viewers to the world of mutants in the very first episode.

Bryan Singer has actually stepped away from the X-Men movie franchise recently. He signed on to helm a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea film that has the potential to take off into a franchise and keep his hands full for the foreseeable future. Still, Singer has said in the past that he doesn't see himself entirely leaving the X-Men behind in his career. Perhaps directing episodes of TV shows featuring X-Men characters will allow him to stay connected to the universe while putting most of his focus on his other big screen ventures.

The new series will feature more than one X-Men fanatic behind the scenes. Executive producer Matt Nix (of Burn Notice fame) is a longtime fan of all things X-Men, and THR reports that he'll be joined by X-Men veterans Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, and Bryan Singer himself as producers. Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb is on board as well.

Fox's X-Men project is still in relatively early stages of development, so we can't say at this point when we can expect the series to hit the airwaves. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what comic-based TV shows you can watch in the meantime.

The X-Men series is the longest running cinematic superhero franchise ever. It may not have as many entries under its belt as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but after nine movies (10 when Logan is released next year), it's built a solid world centered around mutants from all corners of life, both good and bad. Still, after 16 years, the series is starting to show its age a bit, especially since X-Men: Apocalypse didn't earn the same critical praise as its immediate two predecessors. 20th Century Fox may agree, as a new rumor suggests they already have plans on how to make the next movie feel more refreshing and unique. The problem is that said plans are a little hard to understand.

According to sources who spoke to THR, Fox has pressed the "reset button" on the "flagship" X-Men series, i.e. the main movies. Bryan Singer, who directed four of the X-Men movies and executive produced X-Men: First Class, is not expected to return to the franchise. Instead, Simon Kinberg, a writer/producer who's been part of the X-Men world since 2006, is taking the lead by writing on a new script. Now comes the intriguing part: Winberg's script is "optimistically" being written so that James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender could reprise their roles.

From a behind-the-scenes perspective, these rumored changes make some sense. While Bryan Singer did usher in the X-Men film series (which in turn kicked off the modern superhero movie craze) and came back for X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse, one could argue that a fresh perspective is needed for this next chapter. Plus, he has 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody to fill his schedule for the next couple years. Unless Fox is willing to wait on releasing another primary X-Men movie until 2019 or later, there's no way he could return to the world of mutants in a directorial role. That said, Fox may not want to cut ties with Singer permanently. Even if he doesn't helm any more of these movies, his expertise would still be valued as a producer or even as a story-crafter.

The most confusing part of this report is the soft reboot approach Fox is supposedly taking. If they're so keen on hitting that reset button, why hold out hope for James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender to return? Whether you liked their performances as Professor X, Mystique and Magneto or not, those three serve as unavoidable reminders of the "First Class" X-Men series. If the series was keen on following the new X-Men team (seen above) formed at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse, then their involvement might make sense. Going off this report, though, it sounds like the studio want to put some distance between those movies and a future installment, akin to their Deadpool and New Mutants spinoffs.

Wouldn't it make more sense to start from scratch and introduce a new team? It could still be set in the same universe (not that the X-Men series has been a continuity stickler), and if absolutely necessary, characters like Cyclops or Storm could be included to provide some familiarity. This reported idea doesn't sound so much like a reset as a looser continuation. Besides, X-Men: First Class served as a soft reboot in a way, and while that did revitalize the X-Men series for a time, one would imagine that for this next phase, Fox would want to take more drastic action. It's also worth noting that wishing for McAvoy, Lawrence and Fassbender to return might not be wise. Those three aren't exactly hurting for work around Hollywood now that they're big names.

No official plot details concerning the next X-Men movie have been revealed, but there have been some indicators about what might be in store. Bryan Singer said it would be set in the 1990s, which would fit the pattern of the decade time jump between each of the movies starting with X-Men: First Class and its 1960s setting. There were also reports that it could be set in outer space and re-explore the "Dark Phoenix" storyline, which was adapted for X-Men: The Last Stand, but poorly received by fans. However, given this new report, it's hard to say whether this older information is still on the table or not.

What do you think about Fox's reported plans? Does it sound like they're looking at this the right way, or should they move in a different creative direction for the next main X-Men movie? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

For nearly a decade, there have been numerous attempts to create a biopic centered around famed Queen singer, Freddie Mercury, but the project has been bombarded with obstacle after obstacle. The last big update came in December 2015, when it was reported that The Theory of Everything writer Anthony McCarten had been hired to pen the script. Well, nearly a year later, it looks like the biopic is finally back on track, with Mr. Robot star Rami Malek being tapped to play Mercury.

Malek's casting was reported by Deadline, which also mentioned that X-Men director Bryan Singer was in talks to helm the Freddie Mercury biopic. Singer soon confirmed on his Instagram page that he will indeed direct the movie, which is now titled Bohemian Rhapsody, named after Queen's hit 1975 song. 20th Century Fox and New Regency are now handling Bohemian Rhapsody with GK Films producer Graham King. The project's other key figures include producer Jim Beach and executive producer Denis O'Sullivan, as well as Mercury's Queen bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor serving as musical producers.

Rami Malek is the latest actor to score the Freddie Mercury role. He was preceded by Borat's Sacha Baron Cohen and Skyfall's Ben Whishaw, but the former exited due to "creative differences" with the surviving Queen members over the direction of the movie, and obviously it now looks like the latter dropped out at some point. Hopefully Malek's casting will stick, as this is one project that doesn't need any more delays. After guests appearances and recurring roles on TV shows like 24, The War at Home and The Pacific, Malek has found worldwide fame playing Elliot Alderson on Mr. Robot, a role for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series earlier this year. Malek's movie appearances include the Night at the Museum trilogy, Larry Crowne and Battleship. Bohemian Rhapsody, however, will surely be the movie that significantly boosts his Hollywood cred.

Bryan Singer became prominent in the 1990s for directing The Usual Suspects, but he is best known for helming four of the X-Men movies. Following X-Men: Apocalypse's release earlier this year, he said he wanted to take a break from the world of mutants, and now said break will see him helming a movie about one of the most famous rock stars of the 20th century. Singer's other directorial credits include Superman Returns, Valkyrie and Jack the Giant-Slayer, though we can only hope that Bohemian Rhapsody will be better well received from moviegoers than those other movies were. He will also direct the upcoming 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Bohemian Rhapsody hasn't been given a release date yet, but shooting is reportedly being eyed for early 2017. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more relevant details as they come in!

For the better part of 17 years, Hugh Jackman has occupied the adamantium claws and spiky hair of everyone's favorite feral mutant, Wolverine. His time in the role is coming to a close -- if you believe the latest party line -- as the actor concludes his filming on the as-yet-untitled Wolverine 3. But he knows who he owes all of this to, which is why Jackman recently presented this fantastic gift to original X-Men director Bryan Singer.

Singer shared this photograph on Instagram, thanking Hugh Jackman for the thoughtful gift of artwork by the legendary Joe Quesada that depicts the Aussie in his Wolverine garb (from X-Men: Origins, if I'm guessing correctly) and Singer sitting in Professor Xavier's chair. The inscription, written by Jackman, reads:

It was a casting decision that changed the trajectory of Hugh Jackman's career. Prior to the original X-Men movie, Jackman was an up-and-coming actor who, overnight, became a household name. He continued on with the franchise through two other OG X-Men films, and even tried to branch Wolverine out into his own spinoff film. Twice. Then, when Matthew Vaughn effectively reset the X-Men timeline, it was Jackman who was right back in the role, giving Singer the opportunity to tell the most famous X-Men storyline on the big screen, Days of Future Past. And, of course, when Singer needed Jackman for X-Men: Apocalypse, the actor happily conceded.

This has to be very strange for Hugh Jackman, to say goodbye to a superhero he has embodied for nearly two decades. At the very least, Jackman will be going out on top. Even if Wolverine 3 is terrible -- and with James Mangold in the director's chair, I can't see it being a disaster -- Jackman's body of work in the Wolverine role will establish this run as something special.

But because the X-Men universe is currently healthy, and fluid, I honestly can't see Hugh Jackman being COMPLETELY done with the role. A cameo in Deadpool 2? A spot in a future Marvel movie if and when Fox strikes that deal with Marvel Studios? There are too many possibilities in the realm of superhero films to fully put a lid on Hugh Jackman's Wolverine... unless Fox was willing to recast -- and I think that would have happened when Apocalypse introduced younger versions of the regular characters.

For now, Wolverine 3 will be in theaters on March 3, 2017. We don't have a title. Or a trailer. Or even a proper synopsis. But Bryan Singer has some beautiful art for his office wall.

Thanks to a long press tour and many, many interviews with castmembers and filmmakers, the last year has been packed with interesting stories cropping up all over the place about X-Men: Apocalypse. We've been following the development of the movie from its very inception, and as a result have learned many interesting details in the process. Of course, that doesn't mean that we've heard everything about the blockbuster -- as the recently released commentary track for the film proves.

The recent digital release of X-Men: Apocalypse comes packaged with an audio commentary featuring director Bryan Singer and writer/producer Simon Kinberg -- and together they reveal a great number of cool tidbits about the making of the movie and their intentions in specific scenes. All together it's nearly two-and-a-half hours of in-depth comic book movie conversation, but below and on the next few pages we've plucked out some of the best topics of discussion. Read on!

The Full Origins of Apocalypse And Explanations Of His Powers In The X-Men Universe

As it turns out, X-Men: Apocalypse doesn't even really scratch the surface in terms of establishing the history of its titular villain, as Bryan Singer uses the commentary track for the film as an opportunity to trace the character's origins to the dawn of man. The antagonist's original power is his ability to transfer his consciousness from body to body, and he would gain new abilities as he would take over different mutants with different gifts (in the film, as evidenced by the cut that instantly heals, he is taking over a mutant with a healing factor a la Wolverine, Sabretooth or Deadpool). With these abilities, he ruled over civilization -- but whenever a group of rebels would oppose him, he would wipe them all out. This includes the Acadians, the Samarians, and the Babylonians, all leading up to his rule over Egypt. He believed that the Egyptian society was perfect, and with the healing factor he could live forever... but he didn't take into account his Four Horsemen failing him during his transference and leaving him to be buried in a tomb.

The Explanation Behind The Star Trek Episode Playing In Storm's House

In the making of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Star Trek super-fans Bryan Singer and editor/composer John Ottman got permission to feature an episode of the original series in their blockbuster -- and they managed to do the same thing in the making of X-Men: Apocalypse. What you may not recognize, however, is what is special about the particular episode that they selected. As is noted on the commentary, the clip playing on the television in Storm's home is from "Who Mourns for Adonais?" which features the god Apollo, and has a big ending that has the character grow larger than life. This, obviously, was meant to mirror the 2016 feature, which has Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse grow to enormous size while telepathically battling with James McAvoy's Professor X at the end of the movie.

The Very Special Process Used To Create Apocalypse's Voice

Watching Oscar Isaac's performance in X-Men: Apocalypse, you probably noticed that his voice doesn't sound quite human. This is because Bryan Singer and his team used a special technique to try and make the villain sound like a more epic threat. At the end of production, the director brought Isaac in to ADR all of his dialogue, and in addition to using a standard dubbing microphone, he also positioned a bass mic and a drum bass mic on either side of the actor's face. This allowed them to isolate a certain part of his voice pattern that is basically otherwise unnoticeable. When all of the tracks were mixed together, it created the sound of Apocalypse's voice that we hear in the finished cut of the blockbuster.

Why X-Men Fans Should Thank Ryan Murphy For Evan Peters' Quicksilver

It's no secret that X-Men: Days of Future Past added Quicksilver to its roster of mutants surprisingly late in the process, but it turns out that Bryan Singer had a very clear vision of how he wanted the character to be portrayed. Specifically, he wanted Evan Peters for the part. Unfortunately for the filmmaker, the young actor was hard at work on the television series American Horror Story, and had a full calendar to compete with. Obviously everything worked out, but as Bryan Singer notes on the X-Men: Apocalypse commentary, fans should all recognize AHS showrunner Ryan Murphy for having a hand in that. He successfully moved the production schedule around to allow Evan Peters to join the X-Men franchise, allowing the young star to create what is universally agreed to be the best sequence in the film.

Why Bryan Singer Doesn't See The Return Of Jedi Reference As A Dig At The Last Stand

Bryan Singer famously stepped away from the X-Men franchise after making X2, deciding that he wanted to make Superman Returns instead of what would wind up being X-Men: The Last Stand. Considering that film is widely considered one of the franchises' worst offerings, many have assumed that the X-Men: Apocalypse reference to Return of the Jedi was directly targeted at it (with Sophie Turner's Jean Grey discussing how the third movie in a trilogy is always disappointing). This, however, was now how Singer intended the gag to be taken. Instead, on the commentary he explains that it was more a reference to just how hard it is to make the third movie in a trilogy -- acknowledging that X-Men: Apocalypse sits in this position after X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past. It's worth mentioning that Simon Kinberg -- who wrote X-Men: The Last Stand - was sitting right next to him at the time of the comment, but we're willing to take his word in this matter.

Why The Film Playing With Return Of The Jedi Is Also An Easter Egg

As we will discuss more in a bit, the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi reference gets a lot of attention from fans for its presence in what remains of X-Men: Apocalypse's deleted mall sequence -- but what you probably don't know is that the film that is playing in the same theaters is its own special Easter egg. Back in 1980, director Robert Downey Sr. made a Mad Magazine movie called Up The Academy starring a young actor credited as J. Hutchison -- and that young many grew up to be Hutch Parker, a producer on the X-Men franchise since 2013. Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg felt that the 1980s setting of the blockbuster was a perfect opportunity to reference Parker's acting past, so they put the name of his only acting credit up on the marquee.

Why Stan Lee's Cameo Is Particularly Special

Since 2002's Spider-Man, Stan Lee has maintained a tradition of cameoing in just about every film based on a Marvel Comic. X-Men: Apocalypse is no different, with the legendary writer appearing on screen as the titular villain is disposing of the world's nuclear weapons. That being said, this role is just a bit more special than the time he drank Hulk blood soda or was a DJ at a strip club. As seen in the screengrab above, the woman that Lee is holding in his arms is actually his wife, Joan Lee (making her big screen debut). Another plus? The house that the couple is standing in front of also happens to be the Marvel Comics founder's actual home.

Why Comic Book Movies Are Harder To Make Than Dramas, According To Bryan Singer

Over the course of his career, Bryan Singer has struck a good balance between intense drama and fantasy/sci-fi blockbusters. He broke out back in the 1990s because of the Academy Award-winning The Usual Suspects, and has titles like Apt Pupil and Valkyrie on his resume, but to date he has also made four X-Men movies. Which of these does he view as being more difficult? According to the X-Men: Apocalypse commentary, it's the latter. This is exclusively based on the fact that Singer works to have his superhero movies feature the same level of authentic drama and emotion as his non-comic book related titles, and has to do so with the character's wearing ridiculous outfits. This is pretty funny when you consider that Singer steered the franchise away from comic-accurate get-ups for characters at the very start of the series -- but we still get the sentiment at which he's aiming.

Why Quicksilver Doesn't Tell Magneto He's His Son

While Quicksilver confirms that Michael Fassbender's Magneto is his father in X-Men: Apocalypse, telling Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique about it when they are locked up together, it's information that the speedy hero decides not to share with his dad in the big finale of the film. Given that it would have potentially given Magneto to stop working for En Sabah Nur and continue his life, many have wondered why the young mutant made this decision. According to Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg, it's all about context for their future relationship post-reveal. The two filmmakers note that Quicksilver doesn't explain their connection because he doesn't want it to possibly poison any kind of bond they could have in the future (what with the reveal happening while the Master of Magnetism is working to end the world). Is it selfish? Sure. But Quicksilver is a flawed individual.

Does Angel/Archangel Die In X-Men: Apocalypse?

In the climactic battle against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse, Ben Hardy's Angel takes an unfortunate early leave when he finds himself on the X-Men's Blackbird at the wrong moment. While Kodi Smit-McPhee's Nightcrawler was able to teleport the good guys out of the crashing jet in time, the metal-winged mutant was left in the cockpit as it exploded. After that moment, the only shot of him is the one you see above, raising questions about whether or not the fan-favorite character is actually dead. Bryan Singer addresses this on the film's commentary track... and basically leaves the answer up to any future X-Men filmmakers who find a way to possibly utilize him in the future. Singer praises the character a great deal, and is completely non-committal in terms of saying whether or not we've seen the end of his big screen run. (We personally hope that he did survive, simply because he's an important hero in the legacy of the comics)

Why Professor X's Chair Is Extra Special At The End Of The Film

In the last 16 years, we've seen Professor Charles Xavier roll around in a number of different kinds of wheelchairs -- with X-Men: Days of Future Past even going as far as to introduce one without wheels. In case you didn't catch it, however, there is something particularly special about the one that James McAvoy is sitting in at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse. That, in fact, is the same chair that Patrick Stewart sat in during the making of the first X-Men movie all the way back in 2000. It wasn't easy to find and acquire, as the prop had been purchased by a collector that they needed to track down, but they managed to get it in time to be featured in the closing shots of the latest blockbuster in the franchise.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for X-Men: Apocalypse. If you haven't seen the film yet, and don't wish to know important details about the ending, we recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles!

In the world of comic books, it's pretty rare for any character to ever permanently die -- and that's especially true when it comes to major heroes and villains. While they may lose the occasional battle, the sales numbers that these particular protagonists and antagonists bring in are far too appealing to make any significant fatality last forever. The same is most definitely true for superhero stories on the big screen as well, as director Bryan Singer has noted that it's not completely outside the realm of possibility that we could one day see Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse from X-Men: Apocalypse resurrected thanks to his incredible gifts.

The director talks about this potential narrative direction for the X-Men franchise in the commentary track that has been packaged with X-Men: Apocalypse's digital release. Following the dramatic scene where the combined powers of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Storm (Alexandra Shipp) successfully manage to tear Apocalypse apart, Bryan Singer discusses whether or not the villain is actually dead, or if his mutant powers could possibly help him to show up in another chapter of the franchise. Singer explains,

Looking back at Apocalypse as a character in the comics, what Bryan Singer proposes here definitely does hold some weight. In the source material, En Sabah Nur's mutation gives him control over every single molecule in his body -- so when we see him disintegrate at the end of the latest X-Men movie, it's possible that he's not so much dying as just being broken down into much, much smaller parts that will take a while to come back together.

There is another way that Apocalypse could return in another X-Men movie, and given that Bryan Singer is the director of X-Men: Days of Future Past, it's a bit surprising he didn't think of it: time travel. Apocalypse was buried under a pyramid for centuries, and it's entirely possible that someone could go back to any time between Ancient Egypt and 1983 and try and resurrect him -- starting his ascension all over again. Time travel has been key to the return of Apocalypse many times in the comics, and it wouldn't be at all surprising to see the films follow the formula.

Do you think it's possible that Apocalypse could come back in a future X-Men movie... and for that matter, is that something you would want to see? Hit the comments section with your thoughts.