August 30th, 2007 -- Written by John Campea
I’ve been pretty excited ever since hearing there was going to be an X-Men spin-off Magneto movie. The Magneto character is so deep, so rich, so deserving of a film of his own. Not a black and white villain like so many others in the comic book world, or a flat boring shallow character like others that try not to be black and white (Sandman in Spider-Man 3 for instance). Magneto is a complex character, torn, troubled… one who ends up doing evil out of a powerful sense that he’s actually doing what is good. And really, although he was NEVER my choice to play the role, Ian McKellen brought all that depth and power and complexity to the screen. Clearly McKellen won’t be reprising his role as the Master of Magnetism, so another younger actor would have to fill his considerable shoes.
David Goyer has been hard at work developing the new movie, and he recently had an interview about the status of the project and what the story may be about. The folks over at Comingsoon give us this:
“We’re scouting and budgeting now. It’s the origins of the X-Men with Magneto and Charles Xavier. We’ve done some scouts and it mostly takes place in Europe and Argentina. We’re doing budgets and we’re sort of halfway crewed up, and so that’ll be the big question: whether we can bring it in for a price. But that’s all I can say.”
The fact that he’s going to include Charles Xavier in the movie is very good news. I had been wondering how you’d do a Magneto movie without Charles Xavier (if you know much about the X-Men, Charles and Magneto’s past are very interconnected).
The one troubling thing about that little report is that (and maybe I’m just reading into it here) it doesn’t sound like the movie has really been given the green light yet. Is the Magneto movie not a sure thing? I’ve been under the impression that everything was full steam ahead for the project… but that last little bit Goyer mentioned leaves some room for doubt.
The only HUGE reservation I have about Magneto is that Goyer himself (who is a great writer) is directing the project if it indeed goes into production. Goyer did a not bad job on “The Invisible” earlier this year…. but he also gave us the worst comic book movie (aside from Catwoman) I’ve ever seen with Blade 3. I have major doubts.
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I thought that the opening sequence of X-Men with a young Magneto in a Nazi concentration camp was excellent. I hope that they show us more during this time period. I will give us more depth in his character and explain more on why he hates ‘humans’ so much.
Since we know in X-Men, that Charles and Magneto’s characters are interconected, how can this be primarliy a MAGNETO movie?
Shouldn’t the title have both names? (knowing that kinda sounds dumb but..) Or, give it another name if both characters have equal weight.
Agreed. Goyer has turned out some quality writing but directing wise he needs many more lessons.
this is terrible news to hear since i dont like goyers writing at all. i dont like his directing either but for me his ideas are mega-dumb.
While I disagree that ‘Blade Trinity’ is the worst comics based films ever made aside from ‘Catwoman’ (come on, Gio, ‘Batman & Robin’!!) I won’t say it has a number of faults. Overall, I didn’t think Goyer did a bad job as a director. Following after Norrington and DelToro however, that’s another matter. By that measuring stick it is the weaker of the three Blade films. It also seems what folks hate about Blade Trinity the most IS the bringing in of other characters {or renamed characters) from the Tomb Of Dracula comics run. Is “Trinity” perfect”? No. Some of that blame has to fall on Snipes, some of that blame has to be shared with not getting Ryan Renyolds to close his cakehole, and some of the blame falls on Goyer the writer. But …follow my logic here Gio.
You said that Goyer stunk on Trinity. Then you said he didn’t do a bad job on Invisible. Could it be said, then, he is getting better as a director?
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On a related, but different matter:
I recently got the ‘unrated’ cut of ‘Ghost Rider’. Nothing’s changed except a few more scenes of background characterization, an alternate and far better scene between Wes Bentley and Peter Fonda, a few minor but different edits. It made me like the film a lot more…then I got thinking…
While I despise Coolio, I know many people love the “Daredevil” director’s cut. (and the playground fight is extended, the worst scene storywise in the film)
I have not seen the DC of ‘Elektra’ (only theatrical), but I heard it was a mild improvement.
The re-edit and ‘Unrated’ director’s cut of ‘Blade Trinity’ is an improvement over the theatrical version. Not by a lot, but …
I’m starting to wonder. Is it really the “studio execs” who don’t ‘get it’, tie the hands of the producers/directors (I hear this on commentaries a lot) and that’s why we get less than stellar films, yet here’s the ‘better’ cut or double dip that is supported by the same studio (more or less) that ripped you a new one during production? Why am I not buying this story as much as I once did?
I also refuse to think that studios intentionally put out inferior cuts of a given film, just to save the polished cut for DVD. (‘Here’s the appitizer, you have to wait for the main meal’) although I can understand why there are a handful of folks are are starting to think that way. Can’t say I blame them.
But what if…
a director simply cannot make up/his her mind? Why not just direct the film, do the best job with what they have, and let it go? I’m not talking about directors who literally had thier films snatched away from them unfairly and stuff like that, I mean a director who was there start to finish, and they still can’t seem to…get…it…right. They will then proceed to pass the buck (“The big bad studio execs”) and excuse thier own mess.
What about it? Is there something to it?
I don’t know how to say this nicely so I’ll just say it: they need to get a move on before Sir Ian is no longer available to do this. And by no longer available, I mean dead.
And yeah, I know they’re getting a younger guy, but I still want Sir Ian there in some capacity.