Bryan Singer wanted Taylor Lautner for X-Men: First Class

Bryan Singer’s X-Men became 10 years old last week, and it was thanks to Singer and the cast he put together that the film was a success, spawning a trilogy and giving new life to the superhero movie genre. Casting talented actors such Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart gave the film weight, and with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender taking on those roles in X-Men: First Class it would seem Matthew Vaughn is putting together an equally impressive cast.

A week or two ago Showbiz411 reported that 20th Century Fox checked with Taylor Lautner’s schedule to see whether he was available to join the new group of teen X-Men, possibly as Beast. I didn’t think much of this as just about every studio wants some of Twilight‘s success, and Lautner is busy filming the final films anyway. However in a recent interview Bryan Singer revealed that he was the one pushing for Lautner.

From blastr

“I wanted Taylor [Lautner] to do it, I really did,” Singer said in an exclusive interview. “He’s doing a movie in Pittsburgh called Abduction, and then he’s got the next Twilight movie. We talked about it a lot—he is a friend—and I really wanted to make it work. It just doesn’t look like it’s possible to do it.”

I’m not going to hate on Lautner because he is in Twilight and Twilight Suxxkcs!!, I just don’t like the idea of casting someone in a role they aren’t meant for just because they are ‘hot’ at the moment. Thankfully Lautner is busy and Matthew Vaughn is in charge.

Fanboy outcry averted, Singer continued to speak about the current X-Men line-up:

“Kevin Bacon, I do believe, is going to happen,” Singer said even before the deal is inked for sure.

“James McAvoy is definitely cast as a young Charles Xavier, Mike Fassbender is in the movie, Nick Hoult, those are for sure,” Singer confirmed.

“When I got to London four weeks ago, there was only one actor cast for sure, and that was really scary,” Singer said. “I looked at this big board with all the characters and there was only one person cast, McAvoy, and yeah, that was really, really scary.”

But the next part of the process, casting the younger superhero mutants in this prequel movie, is “the fun part.”

We can expect those younger mutants to be cast over the next week or so as filming will begin in London next month.