Days of Future Past EMPIRE Podcast w/ Simon Kinberg

[JP]

I didn't want this to get lost in another thread.

Here is a fantastic 1 hour and 42 minute podcast discussion with Empire and Simon Kinberg. It delves very deep into the film, so SPOILERS abound. A great listen all around, though.


http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=41130

 

[BlackFox]

Highly recommended.

 

[Storm22]

I agree JP. A great insightful listen into the screenplay/ideas of DOFP. Kinberg did a fantastic job with this movie.

 

[X Knight]

is there a transcript available?

 

[Jumpman]

I'm starting to think, after this podcast and other interviews, that Donner, Kinberg, and Singer know exactly where they want to take things with this universe now.

That would be nice for a change.

 

[Serpico Jones]

It seems like Matthew Vaughn came up with most of the interesting concepts.

 

[danoyse]

Listened to this at work. There's some great stuff in there.

 

[Blackout]

This was great. I listened to the entire thing while usually not having a long attention span for long podcasts like this.

 

[hoy-small-fry]

Hour 42?! That's almost a shot for shot DVD commentary!

Need to find some time for this, bet it's a goldmine for info

 

[JP]

The Kinberg stuff is only about half of it, though.

But it's pretty great stuff.

 

[hoy-small-fry]

Oh that's much better haha

Definitely needs a listen today!

 

[psylockolussus]

is there a transcript available?

This please! Anyone wants to share the most interesting stuff that was said in the podcast?

 

[Silvermoth]

Thanks for the top tip. I'll check it out asap

 

[By your Command]

Great interview, thanks JP. I just wanna say that I truly underestimated Kinberg's writing abilities, and after seeing this movie I take most of the bad things I said back. Still he still has far far more to learn about writing, and a clear example of that is when he talks about his treatment of Cyclops, yes he was forced to write him out, yes James Marsden was available for a few days, yes he was cornered yada yada yada, and yes he killed Jean too, but after all these years he still doesn't get it, it's not the fact that he had the characters killed, it's the fact that he didn't make all the other characters react to the death of Cyclops, it's like they knew him for 5 minutes, no one cared that Jean was evil all of the sudden, THAT was what was unnerving the complete lack of emotional payoff for all the things that were happening around the X-Men, that Mr Kinberg was the main problem, not just that you killed them, but the fact that there was no emotion at all when those things happened. Rant over. Congrats DOFP is amazing, and just like you were put to blame for TLS, you should be congratulated for DOFP.

 

[speno94]

Empire has provided a transcript and breakdown of the main things Simon Kinberg talked about in the podcast. It's worth a read if you want a condensed version of the podcast. Some interesting things he talks about are what JFK's mutant powers could have been, how/when young Xavier will lose his hair which was in the original script and he wrote a scene which wasn't shot with Havok and Angel (female) running away from a Sentinal in the woods.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/days-of-future-past-secrets-explained

 

[JP]

Great interview, thanks JP. I just wanna say that I truly underestimated Kinberg's writing abilities, and after seeing this movie I take most of the bad things I said back. Still he still has far far more to learn about writing, and a clear example of that is when he talks about his treatment of Cyclops, yes he was forced to write him out, yes James Marsden was available for a few days, yes he was cornered yada yada yada, and yes he killed Jean too, but after all these years he still doesn't get it, it's not the fact that he had the characters killed, it's the fact that he didn't make all the other characters react to the death of Cyclops, it's like they knew him for 5 minutes, no one cared that Jean was evil all of the sudden, THAT was what was unnerving the complete lack of emotional payoff for all the things that were happening around the X-Men, that Mr Kinberg was the main problem, not just that you killed them, but the fact that there was no emotion at all when those things happened. Rant over. Congrats DOFP is amazing, and just like you were put to blame for TLS, you should be congratulated for DOFP.

Not sure if that is Kinberg's fault. One thing X3 tells me, well ALL Ratner films tell me, is that the man is constantly focused on getting to the next scene. He doesn't let anything sit. He doesn't let you digest anything. It's always SCENE DONE - NEXT. That's why none of the deaths in X3 hold any weight. That's why most of the big "events" in that film seem meaningless.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Not sure if that is Kinberg's fault. One thing X3 tells me, well ALL Ratner films tell me, is that the man is constantly focused on getting to the next scene. He doesn't let anything sit. He doesn't let you digest anything. It's always SCENE DONE - NEXT. That's why none of the deaths in X3 sit. That's why most of the big "events" in that film seem meaningless.

That is on both Ratner and Rothman. Rothman for his fetish with movies with short runtimes, so you can't sit on 1 event too long, and Ratner because that is his directing style.

 

[JP]

Definitely Rothman, as well.

 

[Great Mind(s)]

So he says he doesn't want to do time travel but says there might be some elements of more alternate futures and we know they want Cable down the road. What is going on where is that guy who was supposedly overseeing the franchise?

 

[JP]

Kinberg, Singer, and Millar are all overseeing the franchise. Why? Are you surprised that he isn't giving specific details about what is next?

 

[marvelrobbins]

It's funny how Vaughn was supposly so involved with devolping ideas for film
and bailed film at least officially because secret service intrested him more.

I really got sense from Kinberg's interview that most OT actors brought back for
Apocalypse would be cameos.

As for talk about more alternate futures If they ever do X-FOrce then obviously
Cable comes from a possable far future.

 

[Avalanche]

So he says he doesn't want to do time travel but says there might be some elements of more alternate futures and we know they want Cable down the road. What is going on where is that guy who was supposedly overseeing the franchise?

Well they originally talked about having Xavier and Magneto just book-ending DoFP (whatever that means) before it became what it did. Perhaps in Apocalypse they will truly just book-end it. He seemed pretty adamant he didn't want to do another movie like DoFP.

In X-Men Evolution Xavier glimpses the future in the mind of Apocalypse for example (sees Jean become Phoenix, Nimrod, Magneto as a teacher).

 

[By your Command]

Not sure if that is Kinberg's fault. One thing X3 tells me, well ALL Ratner films tell me, is that the man is constantly focused on getting to the next scene. He doesn't let anything sit. He doesn't let you digest anything. It's always SCENE DONE - NEXT. That's why none of the deaths in X3 hold any weight. That's why most of the big "events" in that film seem meaningless.

That is on both Ratner and Rothman. Rothman for his fetish with movies with short runtimes, so you can't sit on 1 event too long, and Ratner because that is his directing style.

I completely agree with both of you, Rothman and Ratner are the ones to blame indeed, but many of the problems come from script (not to mention the horrible dialogue) and the fact that he goes around saying I'm proud of some things and the things that I'm not proud of are that I killed this guy and that girl, that alone says a lot, if done correctly he could have killed everyone, the problem was that the people left didn't care and that's on him, that's entirely on him, you could argue that all those scenes were cut, but nearly every deleted scene was as emotionless as the last one. (On a side note everyone's favorite scene was Quicksilver's, and everyone's favorite new character is also Quicksilver because of his mannerisms and quirks, it's kinda sad that all of that came from Bryan Singer and not him).

 

[A Dollar Short]

That was a great listen. I'm really really excited to see young Jean, Scott, and Storm, but at the same time I want to see them continue with both casts. I hope they find a way to make it work.

 

[kevork89]

I didn't listen to it yet but I read the breakdown empire provided. One thing that bugs me a little about Simon is when he says as a writer he doesn't think he can do something. Or that he comes up with bad ideas that need to be scrapped. I get these things happen but I really think DoFP is amazing because of people like Bryan and Matthew editing him down and helping him out.

The whole Rogue thing still bugs me. Not to start anything but the whole notion that her story in this wasn't important just doesn't sit. I can handle the rescue sequence not flowing like they've said but he mentioned how Rogue coming in would take away the ticking clock aspect with Kitty. Yes Kitty was injured but whether it was her or Rogue it still would be a ticking clock situation because they had sentinels attacking. This is why I feel the whole excuse they gave was just that and it really was a time constraint. There was great emotions with the Kitty scenes and I do love them in the movie but I find Kitty sacrificing herself for the mission so much more emotional. And even more so for Rogue having to be the one to do it. But it would have also given the Rogue character a way to redeem herself from Last Stand and finally had her accept her power and save the day. Still to me a wasted opportunity. But nothing can be done and there's a great future ahead for the franchise. I just hope they keep this up.