October 16, 2024

XMF / the SUPER

Celebrating X-Men Films And Beyond

Bryan Singer on ‘X-Men’ movie time travel and continuity.

X-Men DOFP logo by Warren

Thanks to Warren for the above logo fan art!

Empire Magazine had a chat with X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST director Bryan Singer, who opened up about the film, based off themes presented in the critically-acclaimed 1981 comic book arc.

“It has a lot of aspects of the comic.” says Singer. “The actual comic of ‘Days Of Future Past’ had a whole ton of stuff going on, so it’s like any of these things; you have to distill it. But I think the fans will be pleased that some of the most exciting parts of Days Of Future Past are going to be connected to this movie.”

A major element of the comic story involves time travel and alternate universes. Singer explained how he’s using a more ambitious idea for an X-Men film.

“It’s epic. We get to bring both casts together. We’ve cracked it in a way that it makes sense. I had a two-hour conversation with James Cameron about time travel, string theory, multiverses and all that. You have to create your rules and stick wtih them. That’s why Terminator and Back To The Future work so well. And there are certain mechanisms in X-Men, certain powers, perceptions and characters, that make this possible.”

Ellen Page’s casting as Kitty Pryde showed that Singer was definitely keeping some continuity with X-MEN 3. He confirmed this, saying the entire universe is important, and that he’s keeping all X-Men films in mind.

“I’m taking into account every movie – I’m not just grabbing my first two movies and First Class and smashing them together. I’m taking into account the entire universe as it’s been laid out so far on the screen, and really respecting it and trying to work with that. People took things in various directions, so there’s some clean-up,” he confessed. “But ultimately I’m not just ignoring them either.”