Back in July of last year, 20th Century Fox gave us our first look at Oscar Isaac’s titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse, although the reaction probably wasn’t quite what the studio would have hoped for. Fans were critical of the design (comparing him to Power Rangers’ Ivan Ooze), the colour scheme, and the character’s size, while his voice also came under fire when the first trailer hit for not being powerful enough for the god-like mutant.
Well, speaking to IGN, director Bryan Singer has now addressed the criticism, stating that: “[The first X-Men: Apocalypse trailer] was simply Oscar using his normal voice — which is wonderful; his performance is fantastic — but that was never the intention. We just needed those words to govern the first teaser. So people thought, ‘Oh, wait, is that going to be his voice during the whole movie?’ It’s like, no, but to tell the story of the first teaser, we needed the voice, and I hadn’t recreated the voice yet.”
“There was an image released on Entertainment Weekly, where the effect hadn’t been put in yet, so everyone was — the effect has a pink light on it, and everyone got lit up pink, so people thought Apocalypse was going to be pink,” he continues. “I was like, ‘No, no, they’re all pink. Take a look. Everyone in the picture is pink. It’s a pink picture.’ They maybe just should have taken the pink out of the picture — I should have taken the pink out of the picture. I’m going to take some blame for that. My fault, not Entertainment Weekly’s. That’s the picture I gave them.”
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“So then people were like, ‘He’s small.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, I got the same shit when I cast a six-foot-three actor to play five-foot-four Wolverine. I got the same shit when Quicksilver’s very sweet, 1970s costume was released on an Empire Magazine cover. You know, every time. I could have made him a giant through the whole movie, or some muscle-bound guy who can’t act — I could always do that. But the reality is, among his many powers — and you will see him change size — but among his many powers is his power of persuasion, and it was very important that he’d be able to connect with his horsemen, at their level, and that he’d be played by a guy who can actually act like Oscar, who’s a fantastic actor.”
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Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our X-Men coverage here
X-Men: Apocalypse is set for release on May 18th in the UK and May 27th in the States. The cast includes X-Men veterans James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), Lucas Till (Havok) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) along with new additions Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Apocalypse, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan (Mud) as Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp (House of Anubis) as Storm, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) as Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy (EastEnders) as Angel, Olivia Munn (Magic Mike) as Psylocke and newcomer Lana Condor as Jubilee.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published May 5, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
