X-Men's Michael Fassbender Wants A Do-Over On One Days Of Future Past Scene
One of the cornier aspects of the "X-Men" feature films — as well as one of their most appealing — is the sight of otherwise dignified actors giving "power face." In Matthew Vaughn's 2011 film "X-Men: First Class," for instance, actor James McAvoy plays a psychic named Charles Xavier, and he spends a lot of time furrowing his brow and rubbing his right temple with two fingers, communicating that psychic powers are indeed occurring at that moment. McAvoy repeats his shtick in alleged sexual predator Bryan Singer's 2014 follow-up "X-Men: Days of Future Past," a complicated time travel movie with alternate versions of multiple characters, and more "power face" than you can shake a stick at.
In the same movies, actor Michael Fassbender plays the powerful mutant Magneto who can manipulate magnetic fields and force almost anything made of metal to rocket through the air. Like McAvoy's "power face," Fassbender employs a series of outsize gestures and facial grimaces to communicate that he is lifting a truck with his mind or changing the courses of bullets mid-air. The "X-Men" movies often ride the line between serious social dramas about prejudice and absurd overstuffed fantasy stories that are better understood after freely snorting several Pixy Stix. That the "X-Men" movies are wildly inconsistent in their quality somehow adds to their charm.
According to an article in Vulture, Fassbender attended a press event at the Toronto International Film Festival wherein a clip from "Days of Future Past" was shown. Magneto was able to grab a plane out of the sky and hurl it toward Charles Xavier. While it played, Fassbender covered his face. It seems he wasn't pleased with his grimacing.
The plot
The plot of "Days of Future Past" is pretty complicated and involved psychic time travel, a dystopian future, and the inventor of 30-foot-tall super robots. The evil Magneto plans to assassinate President Nixon, while other Good Guys try to stop him. Magneto floats an entire stadium through the air. Planes crash. It's all very exciting.
Fassbinder, all the while, gnashes his teeth while wearing a fabulous burgundy cape and silly helmet. The helmet is functional, you see. It prevents Charles Xavier from reading his mind or taking control of his brain. While so outfitted, Fassbender yells and gesticulates in a way he hated. After watching the clip at the above-mentioned TIFF, Fassbender went on record that he was disappointed with his performance. He said:
"I don't actually like that performance there, to be honest. [...] I just think it's me shouting. It's just like — [makes a face] some dude shouting."
When he requests a "do-over" of the scene, the TIFF moderator merely says — in a gently mocking fashion — that it was too late.
The X-Men movies tend to have stronger themes than most superhero fare, often featuring characters who are ideologically at odds and not merely battlefield rivals. Magneto has a tortured past, having survived a Concentration Camp, and now faces human prejudice every day (those with mutant superpowers are often targeted by anti-mutant bigots). Magneto and Charles Xavier are friends and enemies simultaneously, and many fans like to point out that they are stand-ins for Malcolm X and Martin Luther King respectively.
When he becomes "some dude shouting," however, and the characters are hurling planes at each other, it all feels a bit silly. Fassbender seemed to see that silliness as well.