Earlier this week we heard from Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Evan Peters (American Horror Story) about their roles as Bolivar Trask and Quicksilver in next year’s superhero sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past [see here], and now it’s the turn of the returning X-Men: First Class star James McAvoy, who has spoken about reprising the role of Professor Charles Xavier for Bryan Singer’s mutant epic.
“Potentially it’s going to be the biggest, most epic X-Men they’ve ever had,” McAvoy tells IGN during a promotional interview for his latest film, the Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth. “I think it’s the second biggest production Fox have ever embarked upon, behind Avatar. So they’re definitely going for it. Bryan’s very protective of the series. He did create it. He did help form that environment that allowed subsequent superhero movies to exist and thrive like they have done for the last however many years.”
McAvoy then went on to comment on his fellow Professor X Patrick Stewart, along with X-Men ever-present Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and returning First Class stars Michael Fassbender (Magento) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast):
“His last day was my first day and that was it. Then we were done. But we did crossover and we do get a scene together. Getting to work with Hugh Jackman – who I christened Hugo Boss – was great. What he’s like on camera when he’s getting interviewed and you think he’s the nicest man in show business – he is. He’s amazing. The guy’s got grace coming out of every single pore. If we could all be a bit more like Hugh it would be a very happy planet. Getting to work with Michael [Fassbender] again was great. I spent a hell of a lot of time with Nick [Nicholas Hoult]. Weirdly the people that I spent the most time with acting-wise was not Michael this time, it was Hugh and Nick. And whilst I bemoaned the loss of my buddy Michael, it was more than made up for by the fact that Hugh and Nick are such amazing people.”
X-Men: Days of Future Past is set for release on May 23rd 2014, with a cast that also includes returning X-Men stars Ian McKellen (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Lucas Till (Havok), Halle Berry (Storm), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) and Daniel Cudmore (Colossus) alongside series newcomers Booboo Stewart (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) as Warpath, Omar Sy (The Intouchables) as Bishop, Fan Binbing (Iron Man 3) as Blink, and Adam Canto (The Following) as Sunspot.
