Ahead Of Marvel's X-Men Reboot, A Franchise Vet Has One Piece Of Advice [Exclusive]
Prior to Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox and the studio's entire library of intellectual property, the long-running "X-Men" franchise stood out as one of Fox's most consistent (at the box office, at least) and long-running franchises. Unlike Kevin Feige's stewardship of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who is gearing up for a reboot of the property to fold into preexisting continuity, Fox opted for more of a revolving door approach. Filmmakers like Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, Matthew Vaughn, and even James Mangold were able to take turns behind the director's chair and put their own stamps on each movie. But one major creative remained deeply involved throughout almost every installment of the main series, from 2006's "The Last Stand" to 2019's "Dark Phoenix": writer-producer Simon Kinberg.
With the future of "X-Men" now under the creative direction of whoever Feige picks to spearhead this pressure-packed project, Kinberg has since moved on to other productions, most recently throwing his producing might behind Kenneth Branagh's Hercules Poirot murder-mysteries along with serving as co-creator and executive producer on the Apple TV+ series "Invasion." But in a soon-to-be-published interview with /Film's Ryan Scott, the conversation turned towards Kinberg's X-Men thoughts now that Marvel will adapt the characters he spent over a decade working on. His advice for whoever takes up the reins? Think in terms of character.
"If I had one piece of advice, honestly, it is a very cliché thing, but it just is true: The strength of the 'X-Men' is the characters. As much as there's great storytelling and great plot and incredible action sequences and all of those things are going to be required of the movies, as they are in the comics, what sets, for me, the 'X-Men' apart is that they are the richest collection of characters in any comic book ever."
'The characters ... will get you the best actors'
As much as the MCU has successfully courted some of the biggest name-brand talent on the planet, the folks in charge will be hard-pressed to top the collection of stars assembled by Fox on the various "X-Men" movies. While "Deadpool 3" somehow managed to wrangle Hugh Jackman out of retirement (although we're in for a bit of a wait on that movie) and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" scored a Patrick Stewart cameo, reprising his legendary role as Charles Xavier, it's all but certain Marvel Studios will end up recasting those roles. While this poses a unique challenge, it's not an insurmountable one.
Simon Kinberg explained to /Film how the MCU can channel a similar atmosphere of prestige talent and a genuine love for the source material:
"So it's really about the characters that will get you the best actors. Those actors will bring those characters to life in a whole new way that honestly I cannot wait to see. I really am such a fan of what Marvel does and I'm obviously a massive, massive fan of the 'X-Men.' Like the 'Star Wars' movies. I read two comics when I was growing up religiously. I read others, but the religious ones were for me, 'Batman' and 'X-Men.'"
Ironically enough, Kinberg actually remembers once taking a call from Feige. "X-Men: The Last Stand" needed a writer to step in after Singer's defection to "Superman Returns." Kinberg picked up the phone to talk to the future Marvel leader and the rest, as they say, is history. As Kinberg put it, "So it all comes, in a very strange way, full circle." Be sure to keep a close eye on /Film for the full interview in the coming days.