Lauren Shuler Donner recently sat down for a bunch of interviews to promote the DVD and Blu-ray release of X-Men: First Class this Friday in the US. The producer, who has been involved with every X-Men film to date, was asked whether we will see a sequel to First Class, gave an update on The Wolverine, and updated the status of Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds.
A decision regarding an X-Men: First Class sequel will likely be dependant on the DVD/Blu-ray sales, but Donner says “very big internal discussions” are taking place, and told I Am Rogue the main priory was getting a good story.
Yes. I mean that movie was a very strenuous movie so Matthew and everybody took some time off. Now we’re back and regrouping and kicking around some ideas. I think we just need to come up with a really good story and see where that leads us. If we could, great, if not, I think the story itself is what is most important.
Back in May Vaughn revealed his idea for the opening of the next film, saying “I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto. That would explain the physics of it, and we see that he’s pissed off because Kennedy took all the credit for saving the world and mutants weren’t even mentioned.” Magneto killing John F. Kennedy would have some major ramifications, so here’s hoping it gets made and we get to witness them.
Reports surfaced over the past few weeks saying filming on The Wolverine had been pushed back to 2012, and 20th Century Fox hired Mark Bomback to “retool” the script in the meantime. When speaking to HitFix Donner confirmed the delays, and said it was all down to Hugh’s availability.
“I’m not sure when we’ll start,” she said. “Maybe summer 2012 we’ll start shooting. It’s based on Hugh’s schedule, frankly. When he’s available, we’ll film. …He’s doing ‘Les Miserables’, and then he has to come and train for us. So it’s all dependent on him.”
And finally, onto Deadpool. The last update we got was back in April when visual effects artist Tim Miller signed on to direct. Donner told TotalFilm:
“We have a few more things to do. And then it’s up to the studio to decide whether we’re going to go forward or not, but I’m pretty excited. We have a good script and a good director.”
Donner then admitted “yes he was treated totally wrong in the Wolverine film”, but “we will redeem him”. The script by Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett is “an R script, it’s really irreverent and violent” so the studio is obviously taking a big risk here by making an R-rated movie with an unknown director. Plus Reynolds hasn’t had the best summer at the box office with Green Lantern and The Change-Up flopping.
Which, out of the three, are you most interested in seeing? A Vaughn-directed First Class sequel, Wolverine’s second solo outing (in Japan), or an R-rated Deadpool film?
You can pre-order X-Men: First Class from Amazon via the links below:
