Fans of X-Men: First Class received some good news last month when it was reported Matthew Vaughn would be returning to direct the sequel. Simon Kinberg, who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class, was hired to begin work on the script last year, and in a new interview the writer said he wants to do “some things unexpected” with Xavier and Magneto in the sequel.

From MTV:

“I’m a huge X-Men fan. I grew up loving the comic books and it was really exciting to be able to do the origin story of Xavier and Magneto, and getting those two actors, [James] McAvoy and [Michael] Fassbender, were really amazing,” he said. “So being able to explore those characters with actors of that quality will be exciting a second time around, and doing some things unexpected with those characters, which is the plan.”

Kinberg went on to say that while they’re still in the early stages of story-planning, the second film will likely involve a lot more Magneto.

“That’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue,” Kinberg said of exploring the supervillain’s tortured beginnings. “Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy.”

At the end of X-Men: First Class Erik became Magneto (“I prefer…Magneto”), and while we can expect him to have a villainous side from now on, Kinberg said he’ll have “a sympathetic human side you’ll be able to relate but you’ll also be afraid of him”, which is one of the great things about Magneto as a villain. You can understand his motives, and he’s not your typical ‘take over the world’ type of bad guy.

With The Wolverine now set for a July 2013 release, we can probably expect the First Class sequel to hit sometime in 2014. In which case, filming should begin next year.

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In an article over at Deadline about 20th Century Fox production president Emma Watts signing a deal to stay with the studio until 2015, the site mentions “Fox has just closed a deal with Matthew Vaughn to come back and direct the sequel to X-Men: First Class“.

Over the past few months it was looking likely that Vaughn would return. In November James McAvoy said Vaughn was already pitching ideas to the studio, and Fox Chairman and CEO of Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman said getting Vaughn back to direct was a priority. In the past Fox has allowed their directors to escape to other projects (X3 lost Bryan Singer to Superman Returns), so it’s good to know Vaughn has a deal in place to return. The site also mentions that Singer, who produced First Class, will also be back as producer.

Simon Kinberg, who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class, was hired to begin work on the script 2 months ago so they should already have a basic layout for the sequel. Vaughn’s co-writer Jane Goldman said she’s on-board if Vaughn wants her earlier this month, so she will likely be hired to re-write the script at some point.

All the cast are signed following their deals on the first film, so it’ll just be a case of waiting until they have a script ready. One advantage this time round is that they have a lot more time and aren’t rushing to make a release date a mere 13 months away (as was the case with First Class). If all goes according to plan we may be seeing the mutants on-screen again in 2014.

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Jason Flemyng, who played teleporting mutant Azazel in X-Men: First Class, dropped a little nugget of information earlier today when he said work had already begun on the script for a sequel. SHH has obviously taken note, and through some detective work they’ve discovered that Simon Kinberg is currently working on the first draft.

Kinberg is very familiar with the X-Men world having co-written X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class. If you’ve watched the First Class Blu-ray features you’ll know that Kinberg was the guy who first contacted Matthew Vaughn about potentially directing the film after seeing Kick-Ass, so he’s partially to blame for how great First Class turned out.

Matthew Vaughn isn’t confirmed to direct the sequel, but during promotion for the first film in June he said he’d be interested, and already has some ideas. More recently during promotion for the DVD/Blu-ray release producer Lauren Shuler Donner said getting Vaughn back was a priority, so if nothing complicates matters he’ll likely be back. Simon Kinberg will probably develop the story, ready for Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman to work their magic on at a later stage.

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, and it’ll give Xavier a conversation start for when they next run into each other (or roll, in Xavier’s case).

All the actors are locked after signing multi-picture deals, so it’ll just be a case of planning ahead and informing them to leave a gap in their schedule. The Wolverine is currently planning to shoot next year for a 2013 release, so Fox may aim for a 2014 opening for the First Class sequel.

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Deadline has some good news and some bad news for X-Men fans. The bad news is that, as was speculated last week, Bryan Singer will not be directing X-Men: First Class and will instead produce alongside Lauren Shulder Donner and X3 writer Simon Kinberg.

Singer is deep into pre-production on Jack the Giant Killer and 20th Century Fox don’t want to wait until 2012 for him to start on First Class. It’s a shame as X-Men 2, in my opinion, is still up there as one of the great comicbook movies of the past decade and I was looking forward to seeing Singer’s take on the formation of the X-Men.

The good news, however, is that he is still on-board as producer. He hasn’t left the franchise like he did in 2005, and 20th Century Fox will still be going ahead with the script he wrote with Jamie Moss. I suppose we could say he will be ‘godfather’ to the X-Men like what Christopher Nolan is to Batman/Superman. The other good news is that now 20th Century Fox can move ahead with the project (they are currently talking to other directors) and we could be seeing the X-Men back on our screens as early next year.

What I don’t want to happen now is for Fox to rush it out for next summer. Thor has been filming for months now, and Captain America is gearing up for shooting in June after being in pre-production since the beginning of the year. Both will be released next summer (Thor in May, Captain America in July) so ideally Fox should be aiming for an August/September/October release. The only major competition in those months currently is The Smurfs in August and Underworld 4 in September. October is empty (although probably for good reason).

Deadline suggests that filming could begin towards the end of the summer, so over the upcoming months and weeks we should be hearing who’ll be replacing Bryan Singer as director (crucial) and there will also be the issue of finding a bunch of fresh faced actors to play the X-Men.

Anyone have any suggestions for director?

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When Josh Schwartz, writer and creator of Gossip Girl, Chuck and The O.C., was announced as writer of X-Men: First Class people were a bit unsure whether they liked the idea or not. When someone is hired in a creative role you tend to look at their past work to see what to expect, and there was a general assumption that it would be X-Men meets The O.C. However, the more we’ve been hearing about it the more it appears we will be getting an actual X-Men movie and not some teenage high school drama. Schwartz said back in February that the Dark Phoenix storyline had already been used (in X3) so he’ll “find more fertile soil somewhere else”. He is obviously thinking big in terms of the storyline, and now he has revealed how he got involved to THRfeed:

You’re a bit of an unconventional pick to write an “X-Men” movie. Did they approach you?

Schwartz: It’s something I’d always fantasized about doing. I knew (producer) Simon Kinberg and he approached me about it. I’ve started it and I’m having a blast, but I’m not allowed to say anything more.

From what we have heard so far the characters involved will be young versions of Cyclops, Beast, Jean and Storm, so Halle Berry, Famke Janssen and co. won’t be returning, however Patrick Stewart will likely return as Charles Xavier as the film takes place during the first year of his ‘School for Gifted Youngsters’.

IMDB says X-Men: First Class will be released in 2010, however 2011 is looking more likely seeing asthough the script isn’t finished (although Fox have a Magneto script they could be making use of *cough*)

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According to THR Nicole Kidman is going to be getting all ‘Indiana Jones’ on us. Kidman will star in and produce The Eighth Wonder, an action-adventure pitch that will be written by Simon Kinberg (X-Men 3, Jumper)

Details of the plot are being kept under wraps, but the story centers on an archeological discovery that sets off a globe-spanning race. The goal is to create a movie that will be to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” what the “Bourne” movies are to James Bond movies: a character-driven, treasure-hunting thriller.

Nicole Kidman was going to star in Kinberg’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith, however she had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts. You could say it was Kidman’s fault for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hooking up and having 6 children.

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