Before the Evolution Begins, Witness the First Class Origin

Based on the "X-Men" comics 'Uncanny X-Men' (1963) and 'X-Men: First Class' (2006), this summer we'll see the beginnings of the leaders of the two tribes of mutants that waged war across the first trilogy. “X-Men: First Class” will be a quite interesting story, not only since it seems Marvel is trying very hard to avoid the stink of “X-Men: The Last Stand” but also because the original “X-Men” film showed only the first manifestation of Magneto's powers, and we didn't see any of the intervening fifty-plus years in which he met Professor X then strayed from the path of justice. All X-Men fans probably know that Charles and Erik had once been best friends. They also know that the two friends formed a partnership, building Cerebro and starting a school for gifted students; however, there are many fans who have never read the comics or perused the Marvel Directory and read their back stories. In addition, the Kennedy-era setting sounds like it will adds a whole new layer of coolness to the whole affair. Presents an exciting opportunity to further explore the history and relationships of these beloved characters of X-Men universe, director Matthew Vaughn's combination of talent, verve and vision is hopefully will be perfectly suited to the task. Vaughn absolutely is one of the names that fans could get excited about, he was hired to direct “X-Men 3” after Singer dropped out of that one a few years back but also dropped out himself for a variety of reasons. And he swears now that his movie would have been a lot better than what Brett Ratner did with the franchise. It’s clear Fox is trying to win the fans back with the decisions to bring Bryan Singer back as the producer and to bring in Vaughn, the man who demands creative freedom and almost hired to direct the third film in first trilogy, to direct now. And there also a pretty impressive line up of actors including James McAvoy who’s able to capture Charles' compassionate and empathetic nature which is evident in the newly released trailer, Michael Fassbender who portrays Erik ‘Magneto’ Lehnsherr with such charisma that it is easy for fans to root for the bad guy, a trait his forerunner Ian McKellen first conveyed to the screen, and Kevin Bacon as one of the greatest X-Men villains ever since his inception three decades ago, Sebastian Shaw. Other members of ‘First Class club’ are Jennifer Lawerence as Mystique who keeps an intriguing back story about her deep attraction to Magneto; Nicholas Hoult as the young Hank McCoy aka Beast; Jason Flemyng as the teleporting mutant also the biological father of Nightcrawler, Azazel; Lucas Till as Alex Summers (Havok), Scott Summers/Cyclops’ father; January Jones as Emma Frost, a member of the Shaw’s Hellfire Club who can also change her body into diamond form; Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, Charles Xavier's true love who was briefly seen in "The Last Stand"; Oliver Platt as "The Man in Black"; Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore; Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee; and Edi Gathegi as Darwin. All in all, the trailer also looks like a huge improvement on the last two X-films, at least so far. But we might have to wait until it hits theaters to know if we are getting a good “X-Men” film (X2: X-Men United) or a bad one (X-Men: The Last Stand). Fingers crossed!

Set during the 1960s when John F. Kennedy was president of the United States, the story will focus on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, also parallels the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Civil Rights Movement. Before Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

Before they were mutants, these were the facts:

# The fifth installment of the X-Men film series and a prequel to the first three movies, Fox envisions this film as the first in a new trilogy.

# In April 2006 Zak Penn (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand) was hired to write and direct this film; he was going to make a prequel about Magneto, in a vein similar to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009). However, the filmmakers decided to shift the focus from the early years of one mutant to those of the X-Men. Penn found this approach more interesting than what he'd come up with and so stepped down with his blessing.

# Josh Schwartz (“Chuck” TV series) wrote an early version of the screenplay, but once Bryan Singer became attached, his script was ditched as Singer wanted to take the story in a different direction. Jamie Moss (Street Kings) was subsequently hired to write a new draft, which added elements of the “Magneto” spin-off.

# Singer dropped out of the director's position in March 2010 due to his commitment to a “Jack the Giant Killer” adaptation. He formalized his duties from director to producer.

# Matthew Vaughn signed on as Singer's replacement. He wanted to model “X-Men: First Class” after the 2009 “Star Trek” film, taking the franchise in a new direction with a fresh, young cast.

# Vaughn was originally hired to direct “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006), but left citing pressure from the studio to finish the film within a short time.

# This film marks Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy first appearance together since "Band of Brothers" (2001) at the start of their careers.

# A telepathic battle scene between Professor X and Emma Frost that was to have been set in a dream sequence with revolving a gravity-defying room was scrapped after the release of “Inception”.

# The 1960s setting of “X-Men: First Class” will be technologically inspired by the James Bond films of that era, also adding to the international feel of the characters.

# The uniforms the X-Men wear are colored blue and yellow, in homage to the original blue/yellow suits the X-Men wore in the comics from1963 (their debut) to 2001 (when “X-Men” (2000) inspired a change to black leather).

# Filming was originally to take place on Tybee Island, but a producer browsing on the online map program Google Earth found Jekyll Island to be a more suitable location.

# Taylor Lautner was considered to play Hank McCoy (aka Beast) but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Nicholas Hoult was later cast.

# Broadway actor Benjamin Walker was also previously cast as Beast, however he dropped out of the role to star in the Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

# Amber Heard was rumored to play Mystique before Jennifer Lawrence was cast.

# It takes the makeup artist about six hours to transform Lawrence into Mystique with the blue skins and the scales. Lawrence even has a nickname for the process or the makeup -- "Mystink."

# Rosamund Pike was considered to play Moira McTaggert and later for Emma Frost.

# Alice Eve was cast as Emma Frost, but a deal couldn't be reached and January Jones was cast instead. Sarah Harding (St. Trinian's) even was called back three times for the role of Emma Frost.

# Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were considered to appear in the film as the elder Professor X and Magneto, but the idea was rejected as the filmmakers wanted to start a new X-Men trilogy, without any connection to the previous films.

X-Mark your calendar on:
June 01, 2011: France
June 02: Australia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, UK
June 03: Canada, Estonia, Finland, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, USA
June 09: Germany
June 11: Japan
June 18: Armenia

Sources: IMDB, Wikipedia – Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox