Rebecca Romijn Says Returning As Mystique In AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Gave Her A New Sense Of Ownership

Rebecca Romijn is stepping back into the blue skin of Mystique for Avengers: Doomsday, and according to a new interview with Inverse, the experience has been far different from when she first brought the iconic X-Men character to life over 25 years ago.

Romijn revealed that she was completely surprised when Marvel Studios called her about returning for Doomsday. Her first concern, however, wasn’t the role itself, it was the extensive makeup process required to become Mystique once again.

“First of all, it was a call that I was not expecting at all. And it was my very first question: ‘Let’s talk about the makeup process.’ It is a slightly different take [in Doomsday]. And of course I jumped at it; I couldn’t wait to do it again. It was also interesting because when I played her the first time, I didn’t have ownership. At the very beginning, I had impostor syndrome. I was young. Like, I was really young, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I was just the girl who happened to be available.” I had to audition, but I really was like, ‘This is a fluke. They’re about to find out that I have no business being here.’ But that was just me in my youth. We’ve all gone through that. I didn’t have that at all this time going back. I went back in with so much ownership of her this time, and that was delightful.”

Romijn also reflected on how much the film industry has evolved since she made the transition from modeling to acting during the original X-Men era. She said film sets today feel much safer and more supportive than they did in the early 2000s, while also recalling a negative experience she had during the production of X-Men: The Last Stand.

“Sets do feel like a safer place than they did 25 years ago. It is a little more of a warmer and cozier, fuzzier place than it used to be. It used to be pretty common to be yelled at, which is what bosses used to do to their employees, which I thought was just par for the course. I mean, it happened to all of us. I think some of us thought that maybe it was character-building to get yelled at by a boss. I had a not-so-nice thing happen actually in the third X-Men movie with our director [Brett Ratner] that I don’t really want to get into, but it’s done now … and I think so is he. And I kind of knew that would happen to him.”

She continued:

“So anyway, that was that. But yeah, I wasn’t treated very well by our director on that one. And it was mortifying and humiliating in front of everybody, in front of the entire cast and crew. So I do think things have changed for the better. I think everybody feels safer at work these days than they did. It was sometimes a crapshoot before everybody started paying attention to the treatment of people at work.”

Romijn’s comments not only highlight her excitement about reprising Mystique in Avengers: Doomsday, but also offer a candid look at how both her confidence and the filmmaking environment have changed since the original X-Men trilogy.

Source: Inverse