X-Men: Apocalypse Filming

[jo]

AICN fan reminisces, in respond to the post on the new Apocalypse trailer --

CARTMANEZ • a day ago


Remember back in 2000 Jean Luc Picard headlining a new movie called XMen directed by the young Usual Suspects guy that Fox had been trying to make for the past couple of decades. Co starring And the trailer with Picard at the end 'we're not what you think..'

Time is the fire in which we burn..

I am missing two IDs --

*Jean Luc Picard -- Patrick Stewart
*directed by the young Usual Suspects guy that Fox had been trying to make for the past couple of decades -- Bryan Singer
*Richard III - Ian Mckellen
*Piano girl - Anna Paquin, with reference to her Oscar-winning role
*Xenia Onnatop - ??
*the Flintstones hottie - Halle Berry
*a swimwear model - Famke Jansen
*Darth Maul, - ??

*and some unknown Aussie dude replacing the MI2 villain --


Jo

[jo]

When I want to read about fanboy reactions, I may go to the AICN site ( AIN'T IT COOL NEWS) -- much more so than on IMDB or other superhero-oriented filmsites. Here's a sample of the reactions to the trailer --

www.aintitcool.com/node/75027?utm_source=full-feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=coolnews&utm_campaign=1310_RSS

*the impact of the "spoiled" cameo with the claws...and Hugh's impact on the franchise
*comments on Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of the role and how the Mystique character has been repositioned to take advantage of the actress's fame ( XMEN fans are not very impressed with her nor do they think they should have messed up with her change from the comicbook canon)
*a stray comment on how Michael Fassbender comes out as a block of ice!
*comments on Apocalypse himself and the young mutants.

Jo

[jo]

I had to laugh at many Twitter reactions --

*Halelluyah!!!
*I knew it!! I knew it!! ( complete with GIF)
*Nearly exploded out of excitement
*Not seeing the movie, until I saw this trailer!!


And the more than 5000 responses to his Facebook post of the last 7 seconds of the trailer!

Jo

[jo]

Interesting that there is now an ongoing debate on several forums as to whether the arm that was used for the trailer is really Hugh's!

Fanboys's eyes are the super-keenest I have ever encountered

Jo

[jo]

Bryan Singer gives a phone interview to EMPIRE after the release of the trailer --


www.empireonline.com/movies/features/x-men-apocalypse-trailer-bryan-singer/

X-Men Apocalypse: Bryan Singer reveals 9 secrets from the trailer

26 Apr 2016 10:00
Last updated: 26 Apr 2016 11:56





Although Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, the conclusion of the prequel trilogy that began with X-Men: First Class, comes out in just a few weeks, yesterday saw the launch of the third and final trailer, containing a few more story hints, a lot more spectacle, and a tantalising last shot which doesn’t so much hint at the presence of the most famous mutant of them all as scream it loudly from the rooftops. Naturally, we just had to get Singer, who is finishing the movie today, on the phone to talk about it.




The previous trailers for the film adroitly set up the story, in which Oscar Isaac’s ancient mutant, Apocalypse, awakens in 1983 and decides that the jig is up for all of mankind. So, in a departure from the usual trailer breakdown, we’re not going frame-by-frame.



It’s all part of the plan


Releasing a trailer with a few weeks to go is actually fairly unusual for a modern blockbuster, but Singer says this has been in the works for ages. “We always planned three trailers,” he says. “This trailer had to be ready weeks ago visually, so it could be reproduced all over the world. There’s still tons of stuff I wish I could have put in it, but you have to wait for the movie!”



Where’s the cueball going?


Every shot we’ve seen of Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse has seen the actor caked in blue make-up, prosthetics, and a heavy headpiece. The line from Singer from the off has been that we won’t see Isaac as Isaac at any point, and yet here he is, lying on a table, with his noggin shaved. “That was shot fairly early on,” admits Singer, “It’s not a big moment, but you get a taste of who he was. That’s when he’s not Apocalypse. This is when he’s a willing contributor.” So this would appear to be a scene set thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, and might support the theory that Apocalypse transfers his consciousness into different vessels to prolong his life. Might.



You’re the voice, try and understand it


As Apocalypse rages about building a new world, his voice takes on a distinctly weird, almost alien tone. “He’s bearing the souls, as we say, of many lives and many characters,” explains Singer. “He has contained within him many voices, but he chooses one primarily. Sometimes he’ll lapse into other kinds of voices, all taken from various ranges and tones.” To achieve this, Singer and his sound department turned Isaac into a half-man, half-microphone. “We had a bass mic to his right cheek, a bass drum mic to his left cheek, and a normal Sennheiser that records the primary dialogue. I was able to take all those voices and augment them. But this isn’t the final mix. It’s getting closer to how he’s going to sound.”



X-rated action


We’ve seen glimpses of the Battle Royale between James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Apocalypse before. Here we see a little more. What with Charles running around and Apocalypse growing in size, the smart money is on this battle taking place on the astral plane, which would allow these two tremendously powerful mutants latitude to escape the confines of their physical bodies. The smart money is only half-right, it seems. “It’s something like the astral plane,” says Singer. “Apocalypse is a very powerful mutant and it results in an all-out attack on many levels. This is just one part of the attack. Every character is involved in one way or another.”



Wish you were here


Singer has often said that the action in Apocalypse is on a truly global scale. Previously, we saw Apocalypse’s powers (he can manipulate inanimate matter) begin to lay waste to New York. Here, Sydney and its iconic opera house gets the full treatment. Strewth.



Nightcrawler and Raven


Having rescued Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler from an underground mutant fight club, Jennifer Lawrence’s Raven looks somewhat discomfited when the blue-skinned teleporter says, “you’re her”. In the decade or so (movie time) since the events of Days Of Future Past, where she effectively saved the world in full view of dozens of cameras, Raven/Mystique has become a folk hero among mutants.

“ We never like to digress into fights for the sake of fights. I always like to give conflicts purpose.
”

“She’s famous, but nobody’s really seen her since,” says Singer. “Meeting her is a big deal to him. She’s the great hero from 1973 and he’s starstruck in that moment. She’s not comfortable with it. She’s not interested in being the face of a world that she doesn’t believe exists. She’s not a hero. It’s the same reason I’m setting 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea right after the Civil War. Everything wasn’t suddenly hunky-dory between the North and the South - there was still hostility and tension. The same thing exists here.”

There is, of course, an extra frisson to this scene. If the movies follow X-canon, Mystique is Nightcrawler’s mum. But since that would mean she bumped X-uglies with Jason Flemyng’s (now-deceased) Azazel at some point after First Class, we suspect that isn’t going to be the case here.



“I am your father”


In this brief scene, set in a holding cell in Alkali Lake (to read more about that, pick up the current issue of Empire, with our nine X-Men: Apocalypse covers, on sale until Thursday of this week), Evan Peters’ Quicksilver confirms to Raven what we all knew: Michael Fassbender’s Magneto is his dad. Some might raise eyebrows at a plot point like this being confirmed in a trailer, but “it wasn’t meant to be a big deal,” laughs Singer. “It’s not like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. We know the deal. The question is, who else knows it and what does it mean and how does it inform how Quicksilver has evolved as a character? It’s part of his journey right to the end of this film.”



Cyclops v Storm: Dawn of X-Justice


Towards the end of the trailer, we get glimpses of a battle between Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops, future leader of the X-Men, against Alexandra Shipp’s Storm… who is another future leader of the X-Men. Here, though, she’s one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen, which gives Singer scope to pit contrasting abilities against each other. “We never like to digress into fights for the sake of fights,” he explains. “I always like to give conflicts purpose. And visually, who would be a nice match? Whose powers complement each other in battle? To have Cyclops trying to pin Storm, who can fly, it makes for some really wild imagery that I haven’t seen before.”



Whoverine?



What’s this? The trailer ends with a slew of dead bodies, in a corridor that might seem familiar to fans of X-Men 2, and a hand wielding some very familiar metal claws. From the off, we’ve been told that Hugh Jackman’s Logan will be Sir Not Appearing In This Film for Apocalypse, but this (and the fact that Jackman himself teased the footage on his Instagram account) would seem to suggest otherwise. What gives, Singer? “Make of that what you want,” he pokerfaces. “I will say, it’s not simple. There’s something more pivotal that occurs with that. It hints to a sequence that again fits within the canon of all six movies, and the birth of a new direction. It’s not insignificant, nor is it simply just a throw-in.” So, will we find out to whom the claws belong? “It’s not the only shot you’re gonna see, let’s put it that way.” Well, that’s just put the Wolverine among the pigeons.


X-Men: Apocalypse is out on May 18.

Enigmatic comment about the appearance of the clawed hand!


Jo

[jo]

Apr 20, 2016 11:36:06 GMT -5 njr said:

Apr 20, 2016 9:32:05 GMT -5 jo said:

What do you make of this ( taken from a set interview with Bryan Singer) --

collider.com/bryan-singer-x-men-apocalypse-interview/


Please scroll down to that portion where Bryan is asked about the incident with Hugh at the ComicCon. Sorry, the site won't allow reproduction of the interview.


Jo

I just copied the part:

Speaking of the Comic-Con panel you had some interaction with Hugh Jackman at that panel that was very entertaining and in the end was a little difficult to decipher.

SINGER: I know, we also ran into each other in the elevator, which was even more bizarre. In my hotel I went down to the basement suddenly the door opens up and Hugh walks in and it’s like ‘Oh, I’ll see you later? Maybe? I don’t know?” So we played it all out on the elevator before we even went on stage. No, we just, I pointed out that there’s not been an X-Men film that has not featured Hugh Jackman, and he pointed out that he appreciated the opportunity I had given him years ago and it was very emotional. We actually were side by side watching that video. We were next to each other next to the stage, sort of arm in arm kind of looking at each other and listening to it and remembering those days. It was very emotional and we pointed this out to each other. There are a lot of characters, it’s a complicated movie, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. Was that as a vague as that bullshit we did at the panel? (laughter) It wasn’t bullshit, it was very heartfelt. It was fun, it was spontaneous.

Nancy

Remember the meeting between Bryan and Hugh at the ComicCon?


From that conversation must have evolved Bryan's thinking ( maybe with some inputs from Hugh) on where Wolverine would fit in (in the APOCALYPSE setting and period).

Jo

[jo]

When I first saw the sequence from the trailer which Hugh posted --

http://instagram.com/p/BEn1cU0ihCa

there were two things that stood out to me --

*the green corridor reminded me of the XMEN2 corridor from which a naked Wolverine emerged after the adamantium bonding ( I have been looking for that clip from the movie since early today -- but tough luck!).

*the claws/hand and forearms showed traces of blood and I remembered that also in particular from XMEN2 ( when he emerged from the tank).

Both scenes were actually flashbacks for Wolverine when he first saw the laboratory/tanks while looking for Stryker and company.


Hmm... will there be flashback scenes to that time, for the APOCALYPSE movie?

Or will they proceed in a slightly different direction ...such as changing what happened to Jean at the end?

Just me overly thinking this out


Jo

[mamaleh]

I don't know why I hadn't thought to look at IMDB lately, but I looked this morning, and sure enough, XM:A is listed among Hugh's oeuvre. Was it listed before?

Ellen

[jo]

I have been trying to see if the cast shown on the trailer includes his name - I don't know how to freeze it


EDIT: I have been able to freeze the frame -- Hugh's name ( as in First Class) is uncredited. We'll see if in the movie itself if his name will turn up?


Jo

[jo]

Re IMDB -- the cast main list is not always reliable because it can be filled by anyone ( although subject to eventual verification). Hugh is listed as Logan/Wolverine. But that doesn't tell much.

This entry for other cast/crew is more intriguing --

Alain Moussi ... stunt double: Hugh Jackman

Aha -- that means it is more than just a few seconds cameo moments! Maybe he will engage in a fight scene ( maybe an extended one) with someone or a whole group ??

A super cameo


Jo

[jo]

Ok - when did he film it? And where ??

Before he went to Oz and after the meeting with Bryan Singer at ComicCon?

Early this year -- not sure, as he might have been busy with the Showman workshops?


Jo

[jo]

Some are sowing more intrigue -- by interpreting what Bryan Singer was supposed to have said about the appearance of WOLVERINE ( or maybe not even -- ha, if they tease fans that he will be in it...and decide not to include Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, they will be courting a fan uprising )... If they are going to recast him - is this really the best time, when Hugh has another major XMen movie coming ( WOLVERINE 3) -- it would be awkward if there are 2 movies from the same studio and producers, less than a year apart in release dates, and the same character is portrayed by 2 different actors??


www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/x-men-apocalypse-director-bryan-singer-hints-hugh-jackman-s-wolverine-may-not-appear-in-film-despite-a7001501.html

I think the clue of the stunt double is good enough. Although, they could use Hugh's name to fool people. Now, I am getting paranoid


Jo

[jo]

Now I will have to find out first if Hugh actually appears in the movie...and not just his film alter ego, Wolverine ( but someone else in his place), in whatever capacity.


No Hugh -- I am not bothering to go!



Jo

[jo]

A lot of controversy surrounding the owner of this left hand with a set of claws ( partly reinforced by Bryan Singer's enigmatic comments) -- Is it Hugh's or a new actor playing Wolverine?







In real life, notice the same bone protrusion on Hugh's left hand similar to the image from the trailer.







Some have commented that the forearm is too thin ( and not veiny enough...and not muscly enough).

When Hugh is not in Wolverine mode, here is a sample of his long forearms ( they look a bit thin only because his forearm is quite long) --









In this photo, I think you can see a little of the bone protrusion in the left hand, and the long forearm.

[jo]

Once at the stagedoor of The Boy from Oz before he went in through the door, I was standing next to Maev ( TBFO's most devoted fan ) -- while Hugh chatted ( not talked, but chatted) with her and signed a few things for her. I was ready to take my turn next but he was taking his time with Maev, understandably. I did not know what to do -- we were so close to him ( just the barricade at the Imperial separating us ) that it seemed awkward to stare into his face, while I awaited my turn. So, I did the next best thing -- it was late summer and he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt -- I stared at his arms while he was signing stuff for Maev! My reaction : "Oh, they are almost thin because they are so long! They are not as muscly as I thought they would be because of his film image as Wolverine! The skin is pinkish! But the body hair is just right!". Lol -- my turn came next...my contemplation of the Jackman forearms ended... and my focus shifted to his face




I swear it is a true story!

Jo

[jo]

Early reviews of APOCALYPSE not good!



collider.com/x-men-apocalypse-review/


www.thewrap.com/x-men-apocalypse-review/


www.ew.com/article/2016/05/09/x-men-apocalypse-ew-review


variety.com/2016/film/reviews/x-men-apocalypse-review-jennifer-lawrence-michael-fassbender-oscar-isaac-1201768577/


www.empireonline.com/movies/x-men-apocalypse/review/


www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/x-men-apocalypse-film-review-891719




But some are a bit more friendly to Singer's latest effort --


www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/review-x-men-apocalypse-should-please-fans-but-its-awfully-familiar-fare

[jo]

From the COLLIDER review --

Hugh Jackman’s material, however, is surprisingly forgettable. Wolverine’s appearance does serve a purpose, but in the context of this story, the material feels like an afterthought, like it deserved more attention and should have been in another film altogether. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if causal moviegoers who don’t remember all the details of previous X-Men films miss the point of what we see him do here.

Maybe because his inclusion was an afterthought?



And from the EW.com review --

The other part of the problem is that Singer keeps cutting from subplot to subplot and setting to setting with such frequency that he seems hellbent on preventing the audience from getting involved with any one storyline or character. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine does a drive-by for one scene and then splits—apparently so we wouldn’t forget about him before his next spin-off.

Jo

[jo]

From the review by Variety --

The wildcard in audience acceptance (and the box office ceiling) for this latest outing is the lack of fan favorite character Wolverine (at least as far as viewers know). The genetically-modified man of war’s absence from Matthew Vaughn’s well-reviewed prequel “X-Men: First Class” was blamed for that film’s relatively underwhelming performance.

[jo]

It is currently sitting at 45% average rating at ROTTEN TOMATOES --

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/x_men_apocalypse/

[jo]

In case you're interested, here's a brief sketch of the Wolverine cameo --

www.examiner.com/review/review-x-men-apocalypse-can-t-meet-the-franchise-s-high-standards

SPOILER: Click to show

The same goes for a diversionary sequence about halfway through involving Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) that captures his Weapon X imprisonment, bloody escape, and future infatuation with Jean in perfect detail.

[jo]

Vulture offers an analysis on why the excitement level for APOCALYPSE is lacking --

www.vulture.com/2016/04/why-x-men-apocalypse-has-so-little-buzz.html


And this is one of the main reasons --

The movie suffers from dangerously low Jackman levels.

Quick, who’s the star of the X-Men series? Did you say Cyclops? Archangel? Nightcrawler? Of course you didn’t. You almost certainly said Wolverine, as played by the eternally sexy Hugh Jackman. The actor has been a through-line for 16 years, appearing in every X-Men movie, including two solo outings (and an upcoming third). You could always count on him for charismatic grunting and much-needed, charmingly grizzled comic relief.

But you’ll notice that he’s entirely absent from most of Apocalypse’s promotional materials. Not only is he not one of the stars, he’s apparently barely in it, only popping up for a brief cameo. In fact, now that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen aren’t part of the whole X-endeavor anymore, this film doesn’t have any of the franchise’s most famous original leads. Without a wise-cracking Wolvie, it feels like the movie’s missing a limb.

[jo]

The post-credits scene in APOCALYPSE may provide the second reason why I may have to watch APOCALYPSE in the cinema

collider.com/x-men-apocalypse-post-credits-scene/

When Collider’s own Steve Weintraub caught up with writer/producer, Kinberg offered a tease of what the X-Men: Apocalypse post-credits scene means for the future of the interconnected X-Men franchise:


“It’s a nod toward potentially a lot of different movies. I mean certainly the Wolverine movie is related to what happens at the end of it, but there’s also another character that’s introduced, at least in name, in the tag and he could show up in any host of different X-Men films. Maybe a Gambit movie, maybe another X-Men movie.”

Hmm, that’s certainly a curious tease. Another possibility is the New Mutants movie that appears to be heating up. Hugh Jackman’s final go-around with the Wolverine character is currently filming with The Wolverine director James Mangold at the helm, so it’ll be interesting to try to parse out exactly what this post-credits scene is teasing once we get a look at it...

[jo]

Methinks Bryan and Kinberg ( who was the one who really didn't want Wolverine in his script - check the part where he talks about it) are now trying to use the WOLVERINE factor to bring in more audiences because APOCALYPSE is not being liked by critics and some fans

www.joblo.com/movie-news/bryan-singer-on-wolverines-cameo-in-x-men-apocalypse-253


Of course they gave in eventually smiley-rolleyes010

While speaking with HeyUGuys, Bryan Singer teased that we'll be seeing a side of Wolverine which we've never seen before.

"What's really nice about his cameo is that he's the Wolverine you've never seen before. He's truly Weapon X. Not just the guy coming out of the tank, but the weapon."



X-MEN: APOCALYPSE screenwriter and X-MEN franchise producer Simon Kinberg also revealed that Wolverine's role was initially much different than what they ended up with in the finished film.

"There were a lot of different versions. I didn't feel pressured to put Wolverine in this movie because I feel like there's so many great characters in the X-Men Universe that we probably could have made a movie without Wolverine and it still would have been an engaging film. We talked about a lot of different versions. There was a version where he got introduced in the middle of the movie and became this sort of drill sergeant for the kids, but that felt like it stepped on Raven's role of becoming the leader to the kids. There were two or three different incarnations that we tried, but none of them felt quite right. As we were constructing the movie, we always imagined that they were abducted and taken [to Alkali Lake] and that Weapon X would be there and you'd see something that you've never really seen in these movies before which is the full on, out of control, animalistic, stripped down Wolverine."

[jo]

One of the new mutants (playing the young Jean) talks about working with Hugh in the Apocalypse cameo role...and does not deny if she might have a role in Wolverine 3. But she did confirm how excited everyone was to work with iconic Hugh as Wolverine

www.list.co.uk/article/80691-sophie-turner-to-star-in-wolverine-3/

[mamaleh]

These highly improbable statements are from a review of XM:A in the Epoch Times by Mark Jackson:

“Weapon-X (Wolverine) is loose!” “Really? Aw yeah! Here we go!” Nope, yawn, it looks like they caught Hugh Jackman in a non-jacked, atrophied-muscle phase. When we see him skedaddling into the forest, he’s comically middle-aged: a bit skinny—no lats, traps, or delts, and with a tiny pudge of love-handles.

Next time, please schedule Jackman properly, so he can get a decent steroid-cycle going, and peak on time; I don’t like my Wolverine under done and normal-looking. He must be a beast."

--Whaaa? OK, so he didn't like the movie, but... Love handles? I'll believe that when I see the movie. Granted, by the time he did his cameo he had not been in consistent Wolvie training, but geez...

Ellen