He got terrific reviews for both
Hairspray and
Enchanted, appeared on the successful soundtracks for both, and had much better roles in both movies. He wasn't getting that kind of attention when just played Cyclops like he is now.
And those roles really stood out. In
Enchanted he played a cartoon prince and practically stole the movie. The TV host role he played in
Hairspray was important to the plot because he was the one who let Tracy appear on the show and who didn't let Velma sabatoge the contest at the end.
I haven't seen
27 Dresses yet, but just going by the commericals, he not only played the romantic lead...I think he
finally ended up with the girl.
I forgot about Enchanted. I mean he's not really taking on huge big time roles and could really use a film that could propel him to a leading man status. I remember when he was cast to play Jesse Custer in the Preacher, which would've been perfect for him and a different role than what we're used to seeing him in.
But as you can see I would really like to see him return as Cyclops. He's still young and keeps himself in pretty good shape.
I just found a recent Zakk Penn interview on the Hulk forums and he speaks about the possiblity of an Avengers movie, X3, X-Men fans, and The Incredible Hulk obviously. Here's a little sample of what he had to say about X-Men fans and internet fans in general.
CMix: Well, you mentioned that you come at it from a fan's perspective. Does thinking that way make you wonder, "What's going to happen on the Internet if I do this?"
ZP: Sure. Absolutely. Particularly after the last X-Men movie, Simon Kimberg and I did this whole interview online, and it was like a running thing where we tried to answer questions from fans about what we were going to do. I was really blunt. People asked, "Is Cyclops going to have a bigger role in this movie? Is it going to be more his story than Wolverine's?" And I said, "No, It is not."
I said, "If you want me to go into it, I will, but I'm not going to ******** you. ... If what you want is to see a literal translation of the comics that you love, you're not going to get it. And maybe that's fair and maybe it isn't."
CMix: Well, the first three movies were essentially Wolverine's story...
ZP: Absolutely. That was done for a lot of reasons. One, because with the first movie, Wolverine's the most popular character even before Hugh Jackman played him. Second, Hugh Jackman became a big star playing him, so now they really wanted it to be about him. Third, it works better on screen.
With Cyclops, you can't see his eyes. It's a harder character to relate to for the audience. ... On top of all that, some of the reason might be people who don't give a **** about what the fans want and are going to do whatever they want, add whatever they want to read into it, even if it's not true to the comics.
What frustrated me was, I thought that fans would appreciate that I could be straight with them -- unlike the way people normally just tell them what they want to hear.
CMix: And they didn't appreciate it, in your opinion?
ZP: Not really. I could say to them, "Look this isn't going to be treated the way you want. Is Phoenix going to be a cosmic force that's a giant bird of fire? No, because it doesn't fit into the world. If you're going to get angry, go ahead and be angry at me about that, because I'm just telling you that straight up."
And I thought they would at least appreciate someone being honest with them and saying, "Look this is what you can expect and what you can't expect."
The irony is, I found that it didn't work that way. [I found that] whoever the messenger was, because I was telling them things they didn't want to hear, they couldn't separate between me telling them "I'm not saying I want it this way, I'm saying that's the way it's going to be" and blaming me for all of it.
It's very irrational, and they create these fake canonical things... You know, if the Hulk isn't this height, it's wrong -- and it's just ridiculous. There's no way to deal with it.
But what's bad is that there are times when they're right about that type of stuff. When I say, "'No, exactly what you're complaining about is what's making the movie worse, you're totally right." Like if the Phoenix is going to be set up as being part of the story, you can't drop her from the story to favor something else. You've got to finish it off.
CMix: Does it ever make you want to just say, "Enough of this ****. I don't want to do it anymore?"
ZP: Well, here's the thing: If that was enough to make me say that I don't want to do it anymore...
CMix: ... You would have given up a long time ago, right?
ZP: Right. And also, that's letting a few bad apples win. I mean, one of the things people have to remember is that it's always harder with the Internet. You hear the negative voices much more than you hear the positive ones.
So I can't let a group of people who just have a bug up their asses determine what I do with my life. But I will tell you that the experience made me realize that this is a losing proposition. Fundamentally, trying to engage the fans this way online isn't helping them and it isn't helping me.
