One of the most highly anticipated films of 2014 hasn’t even begun shooting, but X-Men: Days of Future Past already has fanboys going nuts. First, it’s director Bryan Singer’s return to the series after helming the first two films. Second, Days of Future Past is based on the incredibly popular 1981 storyline for the comic book series in which past and future X-Men collide. Third, it’s assembling an almost ridiculously star-studded cast including Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Anna Paquin, and Shawn Ashmore.
Ashmore, who’s currently starring on Fox’s hit*The Following, says he can’t wait to return as Bobby Drake, a.k.a. Iceman, even though he hasn’t read a word of the script. “As negotiations were happening, there was definitely some communication over what the broad strokes of the character will be and what the storyline is so I have an idea,” he says. “I do specifically know what my part is in broad strokes. I can’t wait. I’m so excited. The fact that not only do we get to reunite and play around with a lot of the actors from the original three [films] but also these two worlds combining is kind of incredible.”
Even more incredible is that Ashmore says that he was originally cast in the original 2000 X-Men as Pyro, not Iceman. Remembers the actor, “My character’s name was John, which was the Pyro character. Then as we were shooting I got new pages one day and it said, ‘Your name has been changed. You’re a different character now.’ All I could think was, ‘Oh man I must have screwed up. I guess they don’t like me or they’re changing the part.’ And I read Bobby and it was the scene where I make the ice rose for Rogue. So that was an interesting change. Now, all these years later I get to play this character.”
And we’ll get to see what happened to Rogue and Bobby’s relationship.”I know,” says Ashmore. ‘They’re constantly having these relationship issues so we’ll see what happens.”
