Director Bryan Singer and the cast of 'X2' sit down to discuss the high-anticipated sequel By Mike Cotton

DIRECTOR BRYAN SINGER

COTTON: So, "X2: X-Men United".
SINGER: The title of the f***ing movie is not "X2: X-Men United." It's called "X2." Somebody better tell Fox. I actually heard that title when I was on the phone with Variety, I thought it was some type of cruel joke.

COTTON: Got it. What makes this film different from the first film?
SINGER: I think we'd gotten a lot of exposition out of the way. We'd defined these characters. We were more comfortable in this universe. The actors were more comfortable with their characters. We had a little more time, a little more money. I made an effort to not let it stress me out this time as much as the first. But I think we did something very different and very special.

COTTON: After "X-Men" the comic book movie genre exploded. What was it about X-Men that lead to such a revolution in films?
SINGER: I think someone finally got wise to the fact that these are stories about characters. Our favorite moments in the Star Wars trilogy are those moments when Princess Leia tells Han Solo, "I love you." And he says, "I know." Those are character moments. Or, "I'm your father!" That's the moment. I mean, you have to dazzle with effects but the characters are at the core.

COTTON: "X2" was also much funnier than the first one. There was a lot more humor. How do you straddle the line and make it funny but not a joke?
SINGER: I think you can have fun with these movies, as long as you're not making fun of them. When you stop taking the world seriously, that's when you run into trouble.

HUGH JACKMAN (WOLVERINE)

COTTON: You definitely see Wolverine cut loose in this film. Do you know how many people you kill?
JACKMAN: I never hit vital organs. It was often in shoulders and backs. Before making 'X-Men 2,' people would say, "We never saw your berserker rage in the first one." And this one, be beefed it up a little bit. We let loose. We put more of it into the script.

COTTON: This film picks looks to be just a few weeks after the first film. Do you think it will be confusing at all to new fans?
JACKMAN: I don't think you need to see the first one to enjoy this film. I think it's a very well self-contained film. The special effects are better, the action's better. The characters are sharper. It's far more intricate than the first one. And I love the first one. We can't forget how hard it was to reinvent the genre. Comic book movies were not hot three years ago.

COTTON: So, how do you channel Wolverine? I mean, you nail him as a character. JACKMAN: I have a few superstitions, so if I do something before a stage show I'm going to be doing a while, I like to keep doing it. You may have heard about the cold showers in the first one, which I did again. I, of course, worked out a lot. I was more physically ready for this movie than the first. And I listened to a lot of Godsmack - they're pretty angry, heavy metal. When I was working out, I'd have that on as loud as possible to get ready for a scene.

COTTON: Any strange run-ins with fans?
JACKMAN: I met a guy in a restaurant in New York and he came over and introduced himself. And I said, "Oh, you're a fan of the X-Men, then?" And he says, "A fan?" And he rips off his shirt and shows me this huge Wolverine tattoo down his entire back-full color!

ALAN CUMMING (NIGHTCRAWLER) & REBECCA ROMIJN-STAMOS (MYSTIQUE)

 

MYSTIQUE #1 - SIGNED VERSION

COTTON: A few people from the cast say they put Nightcrawler in the film because he's the oddest looking mutant. CUMMING: The should look in the mirror. [laughs] COTTON: How close did you two become, after having to be in make-up for hours together? CUMMING: We kind of realized how important we were to each other. STAMOS: We had a little support group going. We were the freaks among the freaks. CUMMING: It was nice to have someone else who understood what it was like - what I was going through. I had people in my face first thing in the morning for four hours. Rebecca was five and a half hours. STAMOS: The maintenance was the worst. If you take a nap, you need another 45 minutes of touch-ups.

COTTON: Alan, how'd you firs get involved with "X2"?
CUMMING: He showed me some drawings they'd started to do of Nightcrawler. Then hey sent me some of the old comics. And I went to Vancouver to start doing tests. They'd actually made up another guy to tests the make-up and I thought it looked brilliant. I loved it. I thought the tattoos were so cool.

COTTON: Final question, what would you do with the tail?
CUMMING: I'd probably masturbate with it.

KELLY HU (LADY DEATHSTRIKE)

COTTON: I hear your big fight with Wolverine was cut down to make sure the film got a PG-13 rating.
HU: Apparently, my fight with [Hugh Jackman's Wolverine] was too viscous and they had to cut out some of the stuff that we had done. I'm glad it'll come out somewhere. It was a shame to miss even one little part of it.

COTTON: How grueling was it to do that fight?
HU: It took months and months to choreograph and train for our fight. I like to think that I'm a physically fit person but when you're hanging from a harness, you find out how in shape you really are. The wirework was key for me, because there was so much of it. I'd done a little bit of wirework but this was spinning through the air and flying across the room.

COTTON: What about those claws, were they all computer generated?
HU: Not all of the claws were CG. They took a mold of my hand and then made the claws for each finger. They basically crazy clued them to my nails. Once the claws were on, there wasn't much I can do.

PRODUCERS LAUREN SHULER DONNER & RALPH WINTERS

COTTON: How much fun was it to return to the X-Men universe?
DONNER: This one's bigger, better. There's more action. The characters are more developed. We added more humor. But we also had the order to make sure this film stood on its own. We wanted you to be able to come in and meet these characters for the first time and have a good time.
WINTERS: We knew from the beginning, we wanted to make a franchise with the first movie. And I think being aggressive and laying the pipe and being aggressive with the budget let us be here today.
DONNER: With this movie, we were able to jump in and say, "You know these characters. You know Logan. So, here's the cast and here's their problems."

 

ULTIMATE X-MEN HARDCOVER – SIGNED BY “ULTIMATE” MARVEL ARTIST ADAM KUBERT!

COTTON: Will the cast be back for 'X3'? WINTERS: We don't have everyone under contract. So, it'll be a time where we convince them how much fun and interesting it is to do these movies to bring them back. COTTON: How much was X2's budget? WINTERS: We won't say what the budget was, but it was north of $100 million. It wasn't double the first budget. DONNER: If we had doubled the budget of the first film, there'd be no way to make an X3 or X4. But by keeping the budget at a certain limit, it allows us to keep making them.

Mike Cotton is a staff writer for Wizard: The Comics Magazine. For all the comic book news fit to print, check out Wizard on sale every month at comic book specialty shops and newsstands everywhere.

The Cotton Club Archive

August 7 , 2003 - HOLLYWOOD RUN DOWN July 31, 2003 - SPIDER-MAN 2 July 24, 2003 - BAG MAN July 17, 2003 - Moore or Less July 10, 2003 - Ink Test July 2, 2003 - HURRICANE WARNING June 25, 2003 - BANNER BANTER June 10, 2003 - PETER DAVID June 3 , 2003 - PAUL JENKINS May 28 , 2003 - GEOFF JOHNS May 21 , 2003 - BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS May 14 , 2003 - PHIL JIMENEZ May 9 , 2003 - Don't F[l]inch April 29 , 2003 - The X-Factors April 17 , 2003 - X2 Reviewed January 13, 2003 - Game Boy - WizKid’s HeroClix January 3, 2003- 2003 Bigger than 2002? December 20 , 2002 - Ring Bearer - A two-bit tour for ‘Two Towers’ novices December 13 , 2002 - ‘Sine of the Times December 6 , 2002 - Killer Read November 30, 2002 - Lex's World November 23, 2002 - Truth and Consequences November 15, 2002 - Triple X November 8 , 2002 - Giving the Devil his Due October 31, 2002 - Superhero DVD Preview October 25, 2002 - Mad Cow October 18 , 2002 - 80's a Go-GO October 11 , 2002 - Best Bets on Bats October 4, 2002 - Hunters & Pray September 27 , 2002 - The War Within September 19 , 2002 - Lee-Der of the pack. September 13 , 2002 - The Next Generation. September 6 , 2002 - Marvel Melee. August 30, 2002 - Breaking In. Joe Quesada reveals the ins and outs of getting work at Marvel. August 23, 2002 - Painted Into a Corner. An Interview with Greg Hildebrandt. August 16, 2002 - X-citing News on X-Men 2!