Chris Claremont, writer of the original X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST comic book arc, recently spoke with Newsarama about his hopes for Bryan Singer’s film and the importance of adapting the themes of the story.
“The challenge, I would think, for Bryan is that the heart of the original story is not the fight with the Brotherhood back in the present day,” said Claremont. “The challenge, the story, is actually what happens in the future. Getting them to the point where you can send Kitty back, and seeing the consequences of what will happen if they fail, and not knowing at the end how it’s going to turn out. You think it’s going to be a happy ending, but you’re not sure, because pretty much everybody dies — in the comic, anyway. You can’t not be invested. That’s pretty much most of my working life, dancing around or through the X-Men as a concept.
“You could look at it as time travel, or you could look at it as pan-dimension. It’s all a matter of how you want to define it, and I’m sure they’ve got some brainiacs out on the left coast earning a small research stipend figuring out a plausible way of making it fly. That’s the fun and games of Hollywood. How the hell they’re going to fit it into 120 minutes, I have no sodding idea. I’d be looking on this as your basic 1974 film with an intermission.
“In movies it’s a one-shot item too often. If we’re doing Days of Future Past, we need Ororo, we need Logan. OK, we’ve got Hugh Jackman, but that means we’ve got to get Halle Berry. I’m sure some accountant at Fox is going, ‘Huh? ‘We’re talking how much?’ On the other hand, you never know when a major talent is willing to do a Scarlett Johansson, and come in perhaps at scale, just for the fun of it. The really nice thing with Future Past is that you actually have a superhero film — much to everyone’s surprise, I will hope — that is about something. It’s about racism, I hope. It’s about resisting oppression. It’s about fighting for freedom and the cost of fighting for freedom. I will be fascinated to see how they weave the two together.”
Read more from Claremont by clicking here.
Damn right! I love how he said you can’t have a Days of future cast movie story without STORM and Wolverine, This is very true. I would be more than okay with this movie being 130 minutes. Just sayin.
130 only? 180 at least! I mean look at the character lineup.
– Xavier (1973 and present)
– Magneto (1973 and present)
– Wolverine
– Storm
– Beast
– Mystique
– Iceman
– Rogue
– Kitty
– and who knows how many more…
Each of those characters would be able to handle a film of his/her own.
Oh my God, heck I would love 200 minutes but will they give it to us?
does 120 minutes enough? i’m sure atleast 2 hours and a half would be nice.. this just excites me that everyone is looking forward to this film..
and also.. if they can’t make it any longer… more actions is much better that too much conversation..
They need to make it at least two hours. Any shorter than that and it’s going to turn out like X3. I like X3 as a movie because it gave us Kelsey Grammer as Beast.. but I think it was a bit rushed and some things could have been spaced out a bit.
that’s my point too.. Now that it focus on both x3 and xfc sequel.. Bryan should make each both team a great scene and a balance one..
I agree. At minimum, the runtime should be like X2, 2hrs 13mins.
Nah, I think will be a longer running time 2hrs and 40 minutes.
40 minutes just like an extra cameo for every characters.. make it 3 hrs. I’m sure fans will explode to happiness.. But in reality.. if they can’t make it that way in theatres.. I hope they do it in DVD or 4 disc in VCD..
I hope so. There’s enough material to cover two films imo.
“It has NOT yet felt the force of the elements!!!*
Bahaha! Yes! I’m really hoping for two & half hours.
Maybe Chris has seen the movie script.
Hopefully Bryan Singer consulted with him on this film or plans to. It’d be a shame if he wasn’t involved somehow.