By Gabriel “Big Gabe” Alcantara
Class is about to go back in session for the X-Men. Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has officially signed Matthew Vaughn to direct the sequel to X-Men: First Class. Vaughn of course being the director of last year’s hit prequel/reboot of the X-Men franchise as well as the films Kick-Ass, Layer Cake and Stardust will be backed up by returning producer Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg who will pen the script.
No officially title or synopsis has been revealed yet but Vaughn once spoke of an idea that he’d be interested if it could revolve around the Kennedy assassination. Mainly having Magneto in control of the bullet that killed John F. Kennedy.
Shooting has not been scheduled and there is no direct release date in mind but it appears most of the main actors are ready to return. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy have already signed on to reprise their roles of Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and Charles Xavier/Professor X. Fassbender has even offered insight on Magneto to IFC. That he need not become a full fledged villain. It’s been said that Jennifer Lawrence is also ready to reprise her role of Raven/Mystique. Likewise for Nicholas Hoult who played Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast. Chances are production will be moved along swiftly, perhaps even before the end of 2012.
Big Gabe’s Opinion: I have nothing but enthusiasm for this project being the fact than X-Men: First Class was in my Top 10 of 2011. Matthew Vaughn is obviously more than capable of delivering a fine product with his stylish and creative directing and since he was the one to put the X-Men series back on track, I’m sure he’ll continue this series with grand fashion. Bryan Singer usually knows what he’s doing whether it’s directing or producing so I have plenty of faith that he’ll make sure nothing goes wrong. All the key players will be back so that’s all good. My only concern and question, which I’m sure others share my thoughts is…. why the hell did they sign Simon Kinberg to write the script? He co-wrote the fan hated X-Men: The Last Stand. Now I’m not a hater of The Last Stand but if there was one major complaint (trust me, there’s more) I had with that movie, it was the flimsy writing. Aside from that movie, looking at the man’s credits, I can’t say I’m very impressed nor can I call him the right man for the job, what with other films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, xXx: State of the Union and Jumper. Ugh, Jumper. Hopefully he’s learned a thing or two and can provide us with a good continuation of the story. Plus I’d hope Singer and Vaughn would bitch slap him if he got any funny ideas.
