X-Men (2000) fun facts and other details 1 1

[Bosco685]

I recently picked up the new re-release Blu-Ray version of the very first X-Men film that helped launch the Fox-Marvel franchise. It is loaded with fun facts, potential castings, and details I had never heard before. But much of the details are spread throughout the internet if you search for them.

 

WHY A LIVE MOVIE?

 

After the success of the 1992 X-Men Animated Series (which lasted five seasons), Fox and Marvel worked out a deal to create a live movie series. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner purchased the film rights for the X-Men in 1994 as part of the film plan.

 

WHO WERE SOME OF THE DIRECTORS CONSIDERED?

 

After years of attempts to create an X-Men film starting in 1984 with Orion Pictures which would be directed by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow (his wife at the time), the 1994 contract led to other creative hands. Fox considered Brett Ratner as director, and offered the position to Robert Rodriguez, but he turned it down. Following the release of The Usual Suspects, Bryan Singer was looking to do a science fiction film. Producer Tom DeSanto encouraged Singer to take on X-Men.

 

Bryan Singer turned down the film three times, believing that comic books were unintelligent literature. However, after reading the "X-Men" comics and watching X-Men (1992), he found the story's themes of prejudice and discrimination compelling and finally agreed to do a live-action movie.

 

WHO ELSE COULD HAVE BEEN XAVIER AND MAGNETO?

 

Terence Stamp, David Hemblen (X-Men Animated Magneto voice actor) and Sir Christopher Lee were considered for the role of Magneto. Ultimately Bryan Singer chose Sir Ian McKellen for the role, who had acted in Singer's previous film Apt Pupil (1998) and as an activist for gay rights understood the role well: "Ian responded to the allegory of mutants as outsiders, disenfranchised and alone and coming to all that at puberty when their differences manifest."

 

As Singer is a huge fan of the various "Star Trek" films and television shows, Patrick Stewart was Bryan Singer's only choice for the role of Professor X. Though other, more "bankable" actors lobbied for the role, Singer always felt only Stewart (who had long been a fan favorite) could play the part.

 

In a case of life imitating art, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, who play frenemies Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr, became best friends. In 2013, when Stewart married singer/songwriter Sunny Ozell, he recruited McKellen to officiate the ceremony.

 

WHO WAS ORIGINALLY SET TO BE WOLVERINE?

 

Bryan Singer's first choice to play Wolverine was Russell Crowe, but he turned it down. Other actors considered for the role were Aaron Eckhart, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Viggo Mortensen and Edward Norton. Keanu Reeves and Gary Sinise were the studio's preferred choices. Dougray Scott was cast, but he had to drop out due to schedule conflicts with Mission: Impossible II (2000). Finally, Russell Crowe suggested his friend, Hugh Jackman, to the director, who was cast as Wolverine, shortly before filming began (3 weeks prior to filming).

 

WERE OTHER MARVEL SUPERHEROES CONSIDERED?

 

Bryan Singer had one of his stunt men, Scott Leva, dress in a Spider-Man suit and confront actors James Marsden (Cyclops), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), and Halle Berry (Storm) on set one day as a joke. Leva had actually dressed up in an identical Spider-Man costume once before for Marvel Comics in 1985 for the cover of "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic book, issue #262. In the outtake, Spider-Man realizes that he's in the wrong movie, backs off and runs away, with Cyclops chasing after him shortly after. This can be seen as an "Easter Egg" on the first DVD edition of the movie, but not the "X-Men 1.5" DVD.

 

 

The popular mutant Gambit was originally going to make a cameo appearance in the film, as a student playing with a basketball and then blowing it up (Gambit's power was to charge an object with kinetic energy, forcing it to explode). Bryan Singer rejected the cameo, thinking the audience wouldn't understand it: "People would be like, what's wrong with those basketballs?" Gambit eventually appeared in the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

 

Beast, Nightcrawler, and Pyro all had to be eliminated from the -script for budget purposes. Nightcrawler and Pyro made it into X-Men 2 (2003) while Beast ended up in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

 

WHAT ABOUT THAT AMAZING MYSTIQUE PORTRAYAL?

 

Jeri Ryan was in the running for Mystique.

 

 

Rebecca Romijn's make-up process involved putting on more than 60 self-adhesive prosthetics developed specifically for the movie, followed by air-brushing the blue paint. The make-up team was reluctant in using food coloring for her make-up because of its difficulty to remove, but used it after discovering a new chemical that could very quickly and easily remove food coloring. It would take up to nine (9) hours of application before shooting any scenes, meaning Romijn had to show up 2 AM to start the process ahead of the other cast members.

 

Rebecca Romijn could only wear her Mystique lenses for one hour at a time, and had only 10% vision. This led to the helicopter scene where she kicks Bruce Davison (Senator Kelly) in the face, injuring him.

 

To celebrate her last day on set, Rebecca Romijn brought in a bottle of tequila, which she gave to her fellow cast/crew during a break in filming. Unfortunately, that day she happened to be filming the Wolverine/Mystique fight scene, and she threw up blue-colored vomit (from the chemicals in her make-up) all over Hugh Jackman.

 

AND WHAT ABOUT THAT MASSIVE SABRETOOTH?

 

WWE wrestler Kevin Nash was offered the role of Sabretooth, but he turned it down due to schedule conflicts. He would later take on another Marvel villain role as The Russian in The Punisher (2004).

 

Tyler Mane wasn't familiar with X-Men before he appeared in the movie; he prepped for the role with his son, who was a big fan of the comics. At 6'8" tall and 295 pounds, once he was in costume he stood 7' tall to tower over all the other actors (like that was needed).

 

 

Tyler Mane kept his Sabretooth lenses in for too long, and ended up getting blinded for a day.

 

If you listen carefully during the newscast at the end of the film, you hear the announcer saying that Henry Gyrich's body (Senator Kelly's missing aide) was found and the coroners assumed he was mauled by a bear. This suggests he was killed by Sabretooth.

 

James Marsden, despite being nearly six feet tall, had to wear platform shoes to appear taller than Hugh Jackman, who was six feet two inches; these platform shoes can be clearly seen as Cyclops scales the wall at Liberty Island. He also had to stand on an apple box to appear taller next to one of the boys at the train station; as a prank, Tyler Mane set up an apple box in Marsden's trailer bathroom with a note: "This is so you can reach your sink."

 

WHAT ABOUT THAT POOR ACTOR STAN LEE?

 

This is the first film based on a Marvel comic that Stan Lee provides a cameo for.

 

[media_junkie]

Neat! I recently watched the first two X-Men movies about two weeks ago.

[Bosco685]

At least Rebecca Romijn went on to bigger and better things.

 

 

[Bosco685]

Quote

Rachael Leigh Cook revealed recently that she could have been a member of the X-Men — and turning down that opportunity is a regret she carries.

 

It turns out that the actress was offered the role of Rogue in the 2000’s X-Men, the groundbreaking film that jumpstarted the big-screen superhero craze, Cook said in a recent profile in The New York Times.

 

Noting that turning down the role because she did not want to work with a greenscreen was a “huge misstep,” the actress told the Times, “As soon as I saw the posters for it, I knew that I’d made a mistake.”

 

[Bosco685]

After watching the documentary Chris Claremont's X-Men leading to me then watching X-Men (2000) in 4K on Apple TV it shouldn't be taken lightly how influential the latter movie is in setting the stage for the MCU. Including allowing for a young Kevin Feige to serve in his first producer role.

And so much of the Chris Claremont influences are inserted throughout the film as breadcrumbs for later stories. Including the Magneto concentration camp scene, Rogue's troubled life and the differing Mutant rights views between Charles Xavier and Eric.

The whole "Bryan Singer wouldn't let the cast read comic books" outcry is because he wanted them to deliver the interpretations in the --script. Which include so much of what we see in the early new X-Men comic books. Even the distant love affair between Jean and Logan that extended throughout the rocky franchise. Which carried forward to The Wolverine.

When Tyler Mane's 6'9" Sabretooth grabs Storm by the throat and tells her "Scream for me"... that character was playing for keeps.

So. Dang. Good!

Edited July 15, 2022 by Bosco685

[Cat]

I consider X-Men 1 and 2 to be basically 1 long film, with the first film basically being a long trailer for the second. It's an appropriate way of looking at it, IMO, as it works. They're one story. 

[Bosco685]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:21 PM, Cat said:

I consider X-Men 1 and 2 to be basically 1 long film, with the first film basically being a long trailer for the second. It's an appropriate way of looking at it, IMO, as it works. They're one story. 

Never considered them one long film. More like a very well connected story for sure.

[WolverineX]

On 7/15/2022 at 5:46 AM, Bosco685 said:

After watching the documentary Chris Claremont's X-Men leading to me then watching X-Men (2000) in 4K on Apple TV it shouldn't be taken lightly how influential the latter movie is in setting the stage for the MCU. Including allowing for a young Kevin Feige to serve in his first producer role.

And so much of the Chris Claremont influences are inserted throughout the film as breadcrumbs for later stories. Including the Magneto concentration camp scene, Rogue's troubled life and the differing Mutant rights views between Charles Xavier and Eric.

The whole "Bryan Singer wouldn't let the cast read comic books" outcry is because he wanted them to deliver the interpretations in the ---script. Which include so much of what we see in the early new X-Men comic books. Even the distant love affair between Jean and Logan that extended throughout the rocky franchise. Which carried forward to The Wolverine.

When Tyler Mane's 6'9" Sabretooth grabs Storm by the throat and tells her "Scream for me"... that character was playing for keeps.

So. Dang. Good!

Where can i watch the documentary?

[Bosco685]

On 7/16/2022 at 11:58 PM, WolverineX said:

Where can i watch the documentary?

Amazon Prime has it.

Fantastic documentary. Interviews with Jim Shooter, Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Len Wein, Rob Liefeld, Ann Nocenti, Marc Silvestri and other creators.

I got a lot out of it. Especially during the later period when Marvel execs saturated the market with anything X-Men, and how Claremont was trying to engage on it all.

[Bosco685]

I was watching X2 4K last night. Also another solid film to this day.

To include a wise and dangerous Magneto. Loved when he takes out Stryker's security force by pulling all of their grenade pins from a very safe distance.

And that Mystique/Raven portrayal by Rebecca Romijn... 

[Bosco685]

Quote

Romijn is aware that Singer has “had his fair share of stuff” in the years since – “stuff” admittedly doing quite a bit of heavy lifting – and that she’s grappled with how to approach her positive memories of him. “He’s a fantastic filmmaker, you know? It was amazing watching him work. And you have to decide if you want to try and separate those two things. I know that the other cast confronted him about things. But I was not a part of that. I wasn’t there for it, so I can’t really speak to it.

 

“There was drama on set, and I witnessed it and I heard a lot about it. And he sometimes didn’t come in prepared. But he would show up and, without any preparation whatsoever, direct the most awesome scene that he was able to put together because he’s such a good filmmaker.” She adds that she doesn’t “want to throw anyone under the bus...” She pauses. “Except for Brett Ratner.”

Quote

Ratner, the director of films including Rush Hour and Red Dragon, replaced Singer for 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, which marked Romijn’s final substantial turn as Mystique. In 2017, six women – including actors Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge – accused Ratner of sexual assault and harassment, claims Ratner at the time “categorically” disputed through his attorney. Elliot Page, who played Shadowcat in X-Men: The Last Stand, also accused Ratner of sexual harassment on the set of the film.

 

“I was not happy working with him,” Romijn continues. “But he’s been cancelled. I haven’t spoken up about anything with regard to #MeToo, because I had two major issues with two directors I’ve worked with – and both of them already got theirs, one of them being Brett Ratner.” I tell her that I always imagine it’s a heavy burden to decide whether to go public with a bad experience on a film set. “Yeah, I kind of just...” She shakes her head. “I didn’t feel like I needed to say anything. I know the two people that I worked with had it coming, and they got theirs.” She doesn’t want to reveal more details. “I’m not gonna... I don’t need to say anything else,” she insists.

Interesting in that she saw when Bryan Singer wasn't drugged up he actually was his 'The Usual Suspects' great.

But with Brett Ratner, yet another female actor noting what a creep he was/is.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Bosco685

[Bosco685]

Hugh Jackman on Kevin Feige sharing his comic books with Hugh Jackman hanging in his office.

 

[Dr Zen]

On 7/16/2022 at 10:58 PM, WolverineX said:

Where can i watch the documentary?

And if you don't have Amazon you can watch it free on Roku, Tubi, Pluto and Freevee.

 

Now I have to watch it again.