will you consider a petition from many people asking to give cyclops more scenes and if you guys chose to kill him can we change that by a petition since you guys still have reshoots in march, cause i think cyclops was the most misused character in the previous X movies, and seeing him dying will just loose hope in any future X movie.
*I think I answered this already. I dont agree that Cyclops was the most misused character in the previous movies I think Storm was. Jimmy had a lot more to play than Halle in X1 and X2. At least he had an emotional throughline in those films.
You thought Storm was the most misused character in the previous X-Men films yet in X3 you made her *****y, unsympathetic, and swapped Cyclop's leadership role with hers?
I also have another question I asked Zak too after he said that X3 wouldn't be longer than X2 : Everything about this movie sounds great, but I don't like the idea of making this a shorter movie than X2. If this is supposed to be bigger in every sense (cast, action, drama, etc) I don't see why it should be shorter. Can you tell us if the storytelling won't be affected after they edit it? Becuase some movies, like Fantastic 4, have some pretty bad editing just to make the movie shorter and make more money.
*Were trying to cut the best version of the film, without considering the final running time. Trust me, theres no agenda from the filmmakers or studio about cutting it down to make more money. Fantastic 4 was ultimately a kids movie, so length was relevant. Thats not true for X3. Regardless, Im not sure I agree that being bigger and more dramatic necessarily means longer. I think a few recent blockbusters could have used a little less indulgence, and a little more dramatic discipline.
Tell me another one Simon. Are you telling me you didn't know that X1, Daredevil, and Fantastic 4 had special editions that made those movies significantly longer and coherent?
Hi, Mr. Kinberg! I was just wondering, as there is definitely a large fanbase for the Remy/Rogue relationship, would you consider writing the pairing into the movies in the future?
*Absolutely. I love that relationship in the comics. If Remy ends up in sequels, then he should definitely get involved with Rogue.
Mr. Kinberg could you please explain to me how Rogue could contribute anything revelant to the X-Men franchise after being cured? Should she still be referred to as Rogue since she's not an X-Men anymore?
Simon, we know you won't tell us yet who Ken Leung is playing, though it's rumoured he will be Sunfire, which many fear will be seen by mainstream viewers as a copy of Torch in F4 and also being too similar to the fire power of Pyro (though he controls it, not generates it or goes on fire himself) and to any possible fire effects used for Dark Phoenix. I would imagine Ken might be Sunfire so as to provide an aerial opponent to Angel (sort of mirroring the myth of winged Icarus getting too close to the sun!)
*I cant answer this. But I will say that almost every rumor about this movie has been inaccurate
Which rumours were inaccurate? The ones that you Avi Arad, Tom Rothman, Ratner, and Zak Penn started or the ones about the leaked script, the gravestone pictures, the short running time, the deaths of three X-men, and Rogue/magneto's fates?
My questions - phrased so as not to be a spoiler - are: Did you have to carefully consider what mutant powers you would be showcasing in X3 to prevent any overlap with other characters in the X-Men universe and outside the X-Men universe? Was it difficult? Presumably each character was chosen to serve the story, in ways such as providing interesting opponents to the good guys? Does each character have a definite purpose?
*Youre right. We chose new characters to best service the story, and provide strong conflicts or connections for our core characters. And we tried to pick mutants with unique powers (especially when it came to cameos).
Simon could you please explain to me how Colosus(one line), Quills(2 lines), Arclight(no lines), Leech(3 lines), Juggernaut(A few annoying one-liner lines), Multiple Man(2 lines) and Pyslock(one line) had strong connections to the core characters?
I've read in a previous interview where you site Akiva Goldsman as having a profound impact upon shaping your career. How important is it, especially for those endeavoring to be screenwriters, to have a mentor? Also what kind of specific advice about the craft of storytelling was Mr. Goldsman able to relay that proved to be invaluable?
*I think having a mentor is essential. Akiva really took me under his wing while I was still in film school. He taught me a lot about the craft of screenwriting, but even more about the business of being a writer in Hollywod. Hes a master at navigating the studio system, and he continues to teach me lessons on how to stay involved with your movie, so you dont get replaced or marginalized in the process.
That's interesting. Most of the comic book movies that Akiva was involved with are crap(Batman and Robin, Batman Forever, Constantine). Are you sure you learned all those things from Akiva? You said a number of times that you had limited freedom with how certain characters in X3 would be treated.
How big of a role does Moira McTaggart have? What story does she factor into?
*Sorry, spoiler. As you know from the comics, she has some history with Xavier.
Translation: She doesn't have much of a role with basically no character development. In retrospect I'm not sure why we hired so many actors and actresses to play characters with virtually no lines.
And of course, this is as an outsider looking in, not as a scriptwriter, it seems to me that some of these smaller roles won't really add much to the storyline in terms of character development, so why not just use Gambit so we could get a fix, until he could be maybe expanded on in a later film?
*Trust me, we considered giving Gambit a cameo. But ultimately, it felt like a waste. We want him to have a prominent role when he hits screens for the first time. Unfortunately, we couldnt find a way to make him an integral part of our plot. If we gave him a little cameo, I have a feeling you and other Gambit fans (myself included) would have complained that his part wasnt big enough. Just like Beast and Angel, he needs a big entrance and a big role. Otherwise, it feels like were blowing our shot. I found myself a little frustrated with Kitty in the first two films because she was always background action, and I didnt want fans to be sitting there thinking, is that all we get from Gambit??
That's how you felt about gambit yet you are satisfied with the roles of Cyclops, Colosus, Pyslock, Arclight, Quills, Angel, Juggernaut, Multiple Man, Leech?
This question is regarding potential sequels. As a huge X-Men fan, you might think that I'd be looking forward to sequels past X-Men 3, but actually, it's quite the contrary. I am very concerned about this franchise continuing past the 3rd film, mainly because of the attitude that you guys seem to be bringing everything to an end with this film. So I'm wondering, are you guys really tying everything up with this one, to conclude this trilogy? Or are you guys leaving some things open to be developed and expanded upon in a 4th movie, and continue this overall conflict and plot arc that we've seen building up in the previous 2 movies, and this 3rd one? Or would a 4th movie be an entirely new conflict from what we've seen in this trilogy?
*Ive answered this one before. Check the previous posts. This is the end of the trilogy, not the end of the franchise. There are plenty more stories and characters left to explore.
Are you kidding me? What stories are left to explore with Xavier trapped in a brain dead body, the deaths of Scott and Jean, the probable deaths of Pyro, Pyslocke, and Juggernautand, and the curing of rogue and Magneto?
My screenwriter instructor told me that some screenwriters out there make a living from writing scripts and getting them optioned by the studio alone. In other words, their scripts get bought out but they never used or greenlighted. EVER. But that's how they make their living. Is that true?
*Absolutely true. The vast majority of Hollywood screenwriters never have a produced script. I know this sounds crazy, but you have to understand that studios buy about twenty times as many scripts as they make, so that means there are nineteen times as many writers getting paid to write scripts for development than scripts for production.
This is interesting. Considering how bad X3's script was I'm curious about knowing how bad the previous script's were that you and Penn developed before Fox made their final decision.
What do you think about Harry Knowles Simon? He's been bashing this project before you put your pen to the paper. Now he's bashing the early pics before post production of Colossus, and bashing the promo posters from wondercon.
*This is a tough one to answer, because Im actually a big Harry fan. I check AICN every day (usually ten times a day). We tend to have very similar sensibilities, we grew up loving the same movies, and we respond to the same material. Like I said, hes been very kind about some of my work his review of the Mr and Mrs Smith DVD is among my favorites. Its frustrating to feel like hes rooting against this movie, but I think hes going to be pleasantly surprised. I hope he leaves all prejudices and preconceptions at the door, and just enters the universe of the film. I really do hope he digs it, because we made this movie for people like him and us fanboys who worship the X-Men.
BULLCRAP!!!!
Quite a lot of people believe that her Oscar win for MB was political.
