Bryan Singer returns to direct his first X-Men film since 2003’s hugely successful X2. He’s been involved as a producer and writer since then, but X-Men: Days Of Future Past gives him a chance to combine both the original cast and their younger, First Class equivalents, while also introducing some new mutant faces. In this interview, he talks about old faces, new tricks and the fun – and headaches – of time travel. Excerpts from the interview.
What drew you to Days Of Future Past?
It happened over dinner, where Simon (Kinberg, writer/producer)said there was a desire on the part of him and Matthew Vaughn, who was going to direct, to explore a way to incorporate the two casts. And I said, “The only thing I can think of is time travel, and there’s a precedent for it in the comic book.” I started to talk about different ways we could do that with Simon. He took those ideas back to Matthew and they began the early development of the script. When Matthew left the project, I then began trying to figure out how to crack the time travel and what would be our conceit for it. It was once I figured that out that I felt, ‘Okay, I’m ready to tell this story.’Time travel stories are their own genre; they’re very specific. You have to create a set of rules, like how the past affects the future,and then you have to stick to them. Once I figured out the mechanism by which to do it, I warmed up to the notion very quickly. Plus, I very much wanted a chance to work with this new cast as a director because they only knew me as a producer and writer before. It also gave me a chance to work with my friends who were in the earlier pictures. It was a wonderful experience and everybody had a really great time, which was nice.
Were there big challenges with the time travel element?
It was a little challenging in the script development stage, but again, once I cracked the conceit and felt it made sense and Simon could write it, we could craft a story on a physical level, as well as an emotional one. I think what separates us from a lot of other comic book films is there’s a huge thematic element in the X-Men universe about outcasts and trying to belong and what side you’re on, and also an emotional aspect to it with the relationships of the characters. So once I started getting involved in that, it was great. I’ve always been fond of these characters and their relationships with one another, so a lot of things came easy.
Your X-Men movies have always have these deeper levels and layers, so is there something of that in Days Of Future Past?
It’s the universal thing that people always think about – if I knew then what I know now, what choices would I have made? What kind of person would I be? Would I be the same person now? Do I have regrets? And what sacrifices would I be willing to make of myself to go back and change history?
How did you decide which of the new mutants would be in the film?
It was a diversity of powers. I didn’t have a Nightcrawler this time, so I decided Blink would be this movie’s version of that. I like Warpath as a character, there’s a lot of heart in him, and Sunspot is really cool and stunningvisually. And Bishop is a strong character, plus he has a weapon plugged into his body, which is something we haven’t seen before.
How do you go about differentiating the tone of the different eras?
It would mostly be color. Obviously the ’70s is brighter and more colorful, while the future is more monochromatic.
Were you conscious of trying to present a ’70s that were realistic?
My notion with the X-Men universe is always to make it as realistic and believable as possible, so I tried to create a very real 1970s. If you look at any of the footage from that era, particularly from some of the events we recreated like the Paris peace conference after the Vietnam War, it’s very realistic. I didn’t want to go Austin Powers on the ’70s.
Is there going to be any connection to Apocalypse at the end of DOFP?
There might be. I’m not sure. There’s an image that I’m toying with now that I may or may not at the end of the credits of Days.
