Bryan Singer talks X-Men: First Class and X3

Last week the X-Men franchise got a bit of a lift as Bryan Singer, director of one of the best superhero movies of the 00′s, X2, announced he would be returning to direct X-Men: First Class.

Since then we leaned that he’s hired Jamie Moss to write the script, and yesterday Heat Vision posted an interview with the director and he spoke a bit more about the film. Those who were disappointed to hear that X-Men Origins: Magneto was at the back of the pile in terms of priority at Fox may be interested in First Class, as it will feature some of the master of magnetisms’ back-story.

Heat Vision: So how did you end up coming back to “X-Men”?

Bryan Singer: It started with a conversation between (Fox co-chairman) Tom Rothman and I some time ago. We not only concluded a deal, but I’ve written a pretty concise treatment. There’s a story that I really want to tell.

Heat Vision: What is the story?

Singer: I can’t tell you that; it’s secret. But it’s basically about the formation of the X-Men. How they began and the relationship between a young Xavier and a young Magneto.

Heat Vision: I remember when you left “X3″ to do “Superman Returns.” It wasn’t under the best of circumstances.

Singer: A lot of that was comical and exaggerated. When you set up a rather lucrative franchise and produce one of the company’s biggest television shows (“House”), I think there is a lot of good energy on a business level.

But also, Tom Rothman and I have a very strong relationship from those early days of “X-Men 1″ when he ascended to the chairmanship and I was involved in this very important movie for the studio. We bonded then. So I think he was frustrated then, as was I, because I couldn’t do a third “X-Men,” but that moment of frustration passed.

We have always looked at different projects to do together, but the timing was never right to do something like this. But now, it’s been about 10 years since the first “X-Men,” and this is a nice opportunity to look back at the origins of that universe.

Heat Vision: Do you think the X-Men can exhaust themselves? You’ve got the original three, you’ve got “Wolverine,” you’ve got a “Deadpool” and “Magneto” in the works …

Singer: This story would probably utilize some of the Magneto story because it deals with a young Magneto, so it might supersede that because this would explore that relationship between a young energetic professor and a disenfranchised victim of the Holocaust.

But no, I don’t see an exhaustion. The X-Men universe is boundless. These are great characters. And as young characters, they are quite different than the characters we have seen in the contemporary movies.

Heat Vision: Would you do “Jack the Giant Killer” first?

Singer: Right now that is the plan. Unless there’s a problem in the development process. There is a script for “Jack”; we’re in visual development. We’ve got artwork and pre-viz that we are doing. But you never know how things go.

I have a writer named Jamie Moss working on “First Class.”

Heat Vision: Why did you choose to work with him?

Singer: He’s a really good writer, and of the writers I met with, he interpreted my story the best and brought the most to it. Because I’m so actively involved in the script development of my movies, I’m very hands-on, I need a certain kind of writer and a certain kind of availability to me. And he fit that bill. He’s quite talented.

The opening scene of X1 is what I hoped the Magneto movie would be like, so now that isn’t happening I’m actually looking forward to Singer’s take on a younger Magneto.