X-Men: Days Of Future Past Casting - Page, Paquin And Ashmore In, Jones And Byrne Maybe Not

[Brendon Connelly]

Three more mutants are in for X-Men: Days of Future Past whiletwo stars of First Class seem likely to be crossed off the list.

January Jones played Emma Frost in First Class while Rose Byrne played Moira McTaggert. They didn't have much screen time together but there was that one scene where both were stripped down to not-an-awful-lot. The sixties, eh? Tsk.

Now they have another thing in common - neither actress has heard anything about returning for the next X-Movie,Days of Future Past.

Jones told Collider:

I don?t know that I?m in it, I don?t think Emma?s in this one. Well they haven?t told me if I am. I wouldn?t put it past them though, I got the script for the first one on the airplane on the way there...

I think it?s more about James [McAvoy] and Michael [Fassbender] and then Patrick [Stewart] and Ian [McKellen], and I think it?s gonna go back and forth with those so I don?t think Emma?s in those bits. I don?t know, I really don?t know.

I won't be holding my breath. We heard a long, long time ago that Frost was likely not to make the cut, but when Bryan Singer took over we thought things might change. Apparently not.

Similar but not quite the same story with Rose Byrne. She was stopped on the red carpet by occasional Hey U Guys guy Ben Mortimer, and she said:

I haven?t heard yet what?s happening. I?m waiting to hear.

We have no idea what plans there may or may not be for a Byrne return, and her answer does kind of duck the question. You could always read it as:

I'm in, but nobody has told me what exactly it is that I'm doing, just let me tell you this in the vaguest and least committal way I can manage.

Question marks, then, one struck bolder than the other.

Better news for three mutants from the "original trilogy." Bryan Singer took to Twitter today to confirm some casting.

Very excited to welcome #annapaquin, @ellenpage & @shawnrashmore to #XMen #DaysofFuturePast - thank you @brettratner for letting them live!

? Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) January 26, 2013

Paquin's turn as Rogue dates back to part one, Ashmore's Iceman to part two,* and Ellen Page was the third Kitty Pryde, called up for Brett Ratner's Last Stand.



I imagine Singer's pretty happy with that casting, though. Certainly a higher profile player than either of his Kitties.

Kittys?

Kittopodes?

If Singer and co. are sticking close to Days of Future Past as it appeared in the comics, Kitty has a very key role but I can't quite see how it would be able to work the same way.

In the story line's "future," Kitty Pryde would have to be Ellen Page age. So then, if she's going to "possess" a version of herself in the film's "past"... well, I don't think such a character would exist.

I expect they've changed it up somehow. Maybe it's Wolverine's mind who gets pushed back. Maybe Kitty gets pushed back into another character. Or maybe they find a different way of "future" and "past" communicating.

It'll be fun finding out.

I continue to wait for the one Singer tweet that would really set fire to this thing: confirmation of The Sentinels, those X-Men hunting giant robots.

The fans want it, Bryan. Give it up.

And if you want to make me, in particular, happy then announce that you're shooting in 3D at a high frame rate. You know you want to.

*I'd forgotten, but many of you have told me. He was in part one. I suppose I should watch that again but every time I consider putting it on, I just go for X2 instead.

[Pete Wisdom]

I'm pretty sure Ashmore was in first one, too.

[jcb10]

Paquin's turn as Rogue dates back to part one, Ashmore's Iceman to part two...

Actually Ashmore was also in the first X-Men film as well, he just was random freezing guy mutant. They brought him back for the second and beefed up his role significantly.

I really hope Byrne makes the cut. I thought she was great in First Class. Not so much January Jones.

[Pete Wisdom]

Actually Ashmore was also in the first X-Men film as well, he just was random freezing guy mutant.

IIRC, he introduced himself as Bobby, so not really random.

This "thank you @brettratner for letting them live" - does this mean that this one is sequel to both First Class and Last Stand? I admit I wasn't paying much attention to it, but was under impression that future sequences are just using previous actors, not occuring in a specific timeline.

[Karl Cook]

To be honest, I'm really not bothered if January Jones doesn't appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The worst thing about X-Men: First Class - in my opinion - was her portrayal of Emma Frost. She was terrible.

[Krysmopompas]

echo the request for 3d, high frame rate!

[Qward-O]

They need to recast the "Emma Frost" role. January Jones couldn't act her way out of a paper-bag.

There are WAY TOO MANY CHARACTERS IN THIS MOVIE ALREADY. The cast size is such that they were making a GAME-OF-THRONES-esque HBO Series.

There should be 5 main-team X-MEN plus Kitty Pryde. Rogue doesn't need to be in this movie. Magneto I guess has to be in it.

[doomedhuh]

What about Halle Berry wasnt she campaigning to come back before

[MrNitekatt]

If Singer and co. are sticking close to Days of Future Past as it appeared in the comics, Kitty has a very key role but I can't quite see how it would be able to work the same way.

In the story line's "future," Kitty Pryde would have to be Ellen Page age. So then, if she's going to "possess" a version of herself in the film's "past"... well, I don't think such a character would exist.

I expect they've changed it up somehow. Maybe it's Wolverine's mind who gets pushed back. Maybe Kitty gets pushed back into another character. Or maybe they find a different way of "future" and "past" communicating.

It'll be fun finding out.

Who says Ellen can't play both the older and a younger Kitty?

[mercifulbudah]

[URL="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/10/30/bryan-singer-signs-on-to-direct-next-x-men-movie-reunite-with-old-x-cast/days-of-future-past-2/"]

In the story line's "future," Kitty Pryde would have to be Ellen Page age. So then, if she's going to "possess" a version of herself in the film's "past"... well, I don't think such a character would exist.

I expect they've changed it up somehow. Maybe it's Wolverine's mind who gets pushed back. Maybe Kitty gets pushed back into another character. Or maybe they find a different way of "future" and "past" communicating.

It'll be fun finding out.

I continue to wait for the one Singer tweet that would really set fire to this thing: confirmation of The Sentinels, those X-Men hunting giant robots.

The fans want it, Bryan. Give it up.

And if you want to make me, in particular, happy then announce that you're shooting in 3D at a high frame rate. You know you want to.

One of the best things about Days of Future Past was the logic behind which mutants had survived: Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and Magneto (also Rachel grey and Franklin Richards but I digress). Colossus and Storm had such inherent inner strength it stood to reason they would make it. MAgneto and Wolverine, well of course they're survivors. Kitty Pryde turning out to be such a badass in the future was a pretty big deal though. Prior to this she was the X-Men's cutesy lil' sidekick, and the reveal that she was a survivor was huge.

It's a shame that the films are so far removed from the comics continuity because none of the kids from First Class could fulfill this role in the same way. If their plot vehicle is to adapt the whole mind-transfer-from-the-future-idea I'd say the smart money is on Xavier. My reasoning is as follows.

1) Wolverine, Mystique, Magneto and Xavier are the only characters with past and future selves thus far revealed. That is, they are the only four who are characters in the times frames of the original films and First Class.

2) in the comics, future Kitty Pryde (who shall hereafter be called Kate Pryde) was catatonic for the whole time her psyche was in the past. The other X-Men had to carry her around and keep her safe. I truly doubt they'd have Wolverine fulfill this role and lose the opportunity to fling him at some Sentinels in a Post-Apocalyptic Warzone. Not to mention the iconic shot they'd lose of Wolverine being killed by the sentinel near the story's conclusion. And I'm not even going to waste brainpower on how much that would fuck with the continuity of the films.

3) Xavier could maybe presumably send himself back (and let's face it the others are pretty used to carrying him around). He'd already be in a leadership role with the X-Men, so this would stave off the initial "what the hell are you smoking" conversation when he sends them on a mission with no good explanation.

4) The same thing could be said about Magneto, he's already leading a team and probably doesn't have to really explain shit to them. Structurally however this begs the question: If Magneto's brotherhood aren't the mutants trying to kill Senator Kelly, who is?" Splitting him from the Brotherhood seems weak and contrived (he was on the X-Men's side last movie, I think people would very much like to see him as a bad guy in this one).

5) In the comics it was actually Mystique who leads the terrorists going after Kelly. IF for some reason it does wind up being Magneto who sees the future and splits with the brotherhood, maybe this will lead to her taking a leadership role.

Another thought I had was wouldn't it be neat if Magneto or Xavier sent their mind(s) back into Mystique's body. Visually this would be cool as hell. Sure it's a long shot, but if I see previews with Patrick Stewart walking around or Fassbender staring at Ian McCellan well...

It's too early to be certain of anything but my money is (for the moment) on Xavier reaching out to his past self.