Famke Janssen reflects on her Jean Grey role during Salt Lake Comic Con.

“Jean Grey” actress Famke Janssen appeared at Utah’s Salt Lake City Comic Con in front of a crowd of 1,600 on Saturday to discuss her impressive film career, including her work with the long-running X-MEN film franchise.

On initially preparing for her role as the telekinetic mutant, Janssen did her homework, saying she “wanted to do justice to what had been written and all the fans who had been supporting the comic books for so long.”

At the time of X-Men’s release in 2000, comic book films had gone through a corny period, where audiences didn’t take them seriously. Janssen attests the current wave of respected comic book films to Bryan Singer’s mature take on the project, showing “a reality we hadn’t seen before.”

“All the comic book adaptations have been much flashier, and then all of a sudden we were real people with real problems; we just happened to be mutants,” Janssen said. “And I think that’s the reason why so many people could relate to the characters.”

Janssen “still can’t believe” she was picked for the coveted role, saying “Still today, it’s just something that I’m so incredibly grateful for. It’s just such a powerful and strong character.”

Over the course of 16 years and nine films, Janssen said the X-Men crew have become family. “People had children, divorces, you name it — everything over the years.”

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