Bryan Singer's X-Men Futures, First Class And Beyond

While Warner Bros. might well have Bryan Singer under contract to direct Jack the Giant Killer, it seems Fox are keen to lure him back to their X-Men franchise, and not just for First Class. Though he's already attached to that one, producer Lauren Shuler Donner is also keen to tap his skills for a fourth installment in the main 'grown up' franchise and, reading between the lines a little, it would seem the Wolverine sequel might be a potential for the director too. Emphasis on the might.

Thus far, Singer is only talking about his ideas for First Class even though, if it is true he's going to be involved, he'd probably end up shooting the already-scheduled Wolverine first.

His main concern for the First Class project would be to go beyond just being about "younger mutants" and Singer has shown that he's intent on focussing on the "leaders":

I love the relationship between Magneto and Xavier, these two men who have diametrically opposite points of view but still manage to be friends — to a point. They are the ultimate frenemies.

Frenemies? Who wants to bet he's going to drop 'bromance' into his next interview?

This info comes from a Singer interview with Hero Complex on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the first X-Men movie but as well as celebrating the part that film played in advancing the superhero genre, at least as far as cinema goes, the interview does spend a good amount of time scrycing into the future of the franchise.

Here's the exchange between Singer and Shuler Donner regarding a fourth film in the main X-stream:

Singer turned to Shuler Donner and said of X-Men 4: "Hold that one off for just a little, I'm fixated on the other one right now." She nodded and answered, "I will, I will ... I'm holding it open with high hopes. It's totally different [from First Class] and it will be so interesting for you."

Regarding Wolverine, there are two particularly interesting bits in the piece. We learn that Singer and Hugh Jackman have been having meetings about "a project", though it is of course not revealed which project. Furthermore, we also hear that while Singer will confirm most of the mutants in First Class will necessarily be recast with younger actors "he only shrugged when asked if Hugh Jackman might appear as Wolverine, the one character who doesn't age at the same rate as humans".

My feelings are quite simple: I would love to see Singer direct each and every X-film, if he wants to. If he doesn't, I'll just shift my attention to what he does instead. I'm not so much interested in the characters and the mythos as I am the filmmaker.