In 2000, the first "X-Men" became popular all over the world as soon as it was released. This series has now reached its 20th year. Compared with Disney's "Reunion", Fox's "X-Men" are really old-timers. In 20 years, a total of 12 films including sequels, prequels, and spin-offs were born.
In 2016, "X-Men: Apocalypse" failed in word of mouth at the box office, which was a full $200 million less than the previous "Falling the Future" at the global box office. Director Brian Singer withdrew, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender When the contract of the core actors is about to expire, whether they renew the contract is related to the direction of the "X-Men" movie, and the X-Men series is in trouble. Faced with this situation, Fox is rumored to have to rely on Simon Kinberg, the screenwriter and producer of nine X-Men films, to turn the tide and keep the "X-Men" series going.
Three years later, the new "X-Men" work "Dark Phoenix" is here. The director is Simon Kinberg. From screenwriter and producer to directing himself, he used three years to not only complete the contract renewal with the core actors. He will also bring his most resonant character "Dark Phoenix" to the big screen.
But this movie was not smooth. It happened that Fox was acquired by Disney during the shooting. The merger of the two major IPs of Fulian and X-Men was long-awaited for capital and fans. But it also means that this super IP needs to be adjusted in terms of style and positioning. And because its story direction is very similar to a blockbuster of Marvel's this year, "Dark Phoenix" had to make a decision to start the game twice, and they changed the ending of the story.
This time, what will the directorial debut of a Hollywood gold producer bring to the "X-Men" movie?
I chatted with Simon Kinberg, and he said: "In the X-Men comics lineage, 'Dark Phoenix' is one of the most beloved stories because it doesn't have an absolute hero. And the villain, there is no absolute black and white."
As a long-time comics fan, Kinberg feels that the way this story is presented on the big screen is very important, and that this legendary story must be told in a way that is faithful to the original book and gives full play to its characteristics. At the heart of the film is a story about a woman battling her inner demon, and only love from her family can save her soul and save the world.
Kimberg revealed: "This film is different from the previous X-Men movies. The raw material of the film is not the same as the X-Men comics that we used to draw from those movies. It has more complex psychological activities and more intense. Emotional conflict. On the emotional lines, this story is a bit more blunt than a lot of other X-Men comics. The story is very grounded, and it's about someone you love getting psychologically twisted, which is what this story appeals to People, a reason that many people empathize with. When people lose themselves in real life, people who love them will insist on helping them and saving them. Sometimes, you will be dragged down by them, and then someone will abandon them. The film asks the question: When will you let go of the one you love?"
And Kinberg also believes that it's time to make a female-led superhero movie, and 'Dark Phoenix' happens to be the most powerful female protagonist in the history of X-Men comics. Beyond that, Kinberg is also trying hard to carve out an adventure story with a more nuanced distinction between good and evil to suit these turbulent years. He wanted to emphasize the duality of things, that there can be both a dark side and a light side in a person. "We've come to a certain stage where audiences are ready to see a subversive and silent story, where the good guys go bad and the heroes get out of control and become destructive, even murderous . Comics, and even comic book movies, tend to clearly separate the good from the bad, the hero from the villain. When a hero does something evil, or a good guy does something bad, it's pretty shocking You're not sure if you're going to support them. We live in a world that's a little bit upside-down, both politically and socially. Everything is not as binary as it used to be, and there A lot of consistency. Everyone felt like they were split personalities. A character that was split in itself, split the X-Men family, and a story like that made a lot of sense."
Being the director of the film is also an opportunity for Kinberg to personally tune the visual style of the film, visually match the story with the real world, and help and direct the actors’ performances on the set. Kinberg's original intention has always been to create a bolder, sharper, more tense, more emotional X-Men movie, one that is more character-driven and more deeply human than its predecessor. "The X-Men movies have been filmed in the same style for almost two decades, and now it's time to change. I wanted to bring out a grittier tone that was more in tune with the story because I wanted to More intense, more intimate, more personal. It's our job to make sure everyone understands that we're making a different X-Men movie than it's ever been, a movie that feels more real, It’s more connected to the audience, and it’s more subversive.”
Simon Kinberg said: "In the previous 'X-Men' movies - in fact, in a lot of Hollywood commercials and comics - people are used to using very smooth and smooth shooting methods, There's a lot of jib shots and dolly shots, and all the shots are smooth. And in this film, it's not a steady shot, it's a lot of follow-up shots. This also creates what we mentioned when we were shooting on set The bluntness of it gives a sense of imperfection. The audience will experience it most deeply when watching the action scenes, but even in ordinary dialogue scenes, they can experience the sense of breathing.”
A Liang: The "X-Men" series of movies and actors are deeply bound. What do you think about the renewal of the actor's contract? At that time, the actor's contract had expired, what did you do?
Simon: Kinberg: I have a great relationship with the actors, we've been together for almost 10 years, it's like a family, and they're still supporting me as a director and continuing to make X-Men movies with me, especially Jennifer Lawrence, she She said that if it wasn't for me to direct, she would quit, so it is necessary to maintain a good cooperative relationship with the actors and play emotional cards when necessary. After "X-Men: Apocalypse", I completed the contract renewal with 4 core actors of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Jennifer Lawrence, and signed a Hollywood franchise. Actors usually sign 3 movies at a time, or 7 movies like Marvel, and actors and I usually sign 3 movies.
A Liang: Will actors be involved in the script writing stage?
Simon: Kinberg: Yeah, especially involving James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who have played "Professor X" and "Magneto" for so many years, to the "X-Men" story , the characters are very familiar, I like to listen to their suggestions, I like to ask them to participate in the script writing stage and the director stage, and brainstorm ideas.
A Liang: Why did you personally direct X-Men: Dark Phoenix this time?
Simon: Kinberg: I really wanted to be a director, and when I was a film major in college my goal was to be a director and a screenwriter too, and then I was lucky enough to be successful in screenwriting and to go into a career in that capacity.
In fact, when I was the producer of "X-Men", I often went to the set to deal with various things and did a lot of directing work. These experiences made me feel that it is time to direct a film, whether it is I'm ready for a low-budget movie or a big production like Dark Phoenix. The reason why I personally directed this time is because I have a huge passion for the story of "Dark Phoenix", which is my favorite "X-Men" story. I read this comic since I was a child, and I am the only one who is suitable to tell it. The person in this story, I can't imagine myself writing the script for "Dark Phoenix" and then handing it over to someone else to shoot.
A Liang: Which is more challenging to be a director or a producer?
Simon: Kinberg: Being a director is the hard and challenging job I've experienced so far. It's not the same as being a producer or screenwriter. Being a producer is a time to rest, make a phone call, and call back. Texting, deserting, daze, etc., do whatever you want. As a screenwriter, the biggest challenge is to endure loneliness. To concentrate on writing requires a strong heart. And when the director is nervous and busy, after filming a scene, and I call "ka", the entire crew is waiting for you to give orders to shoot the next scene, or throw all kinds of questions to you, every day is like this A state of non-stop.
A Liang: "X-Men" has been very serious for so many years. How did you determine this tone?
Simon: Kinberg: Obviously, the tone was established by director Brian Singer. In the first X-Men in 2000, the movie opens with the Auschwitz massacre, and that's very serious, and that's how Singer treats the original X-Men comics, and it's the same as I do literary adaptations, There was a consistent approach to creating characters - aiming for seriousness, and that's what we've done in several of our later films.
A Liang: What is the tone of X-Men: Dark Phoenix?
Simon: Kinberg: The story of Dark Phoenix was so special that I decided to make some changes. I wanted the film to have a different vibe, to look more down-to-earth, more gritty, and aesthetically Dark Phoenix is definitely different from Brian Singer's style. For 20 years, the tone of the series has actually been the continuation of the first installment, including Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: Lesson One, and this time it's time for something new.
A Liang: How to show it in the video?
Simon: Kinberg: The previous X-Men felt slick, refined, and seemed to be far from my own life, and in this film, I needed to be real, noisy, chaotic, tense, The feeling of being there is a bit dirty, and there are two shots taken with a handheld camera, a lot of shaking, very tense and exciting.
A Liang: Have you considered adding humor to X-Men like the Marvel movies?
Simon: Kinberg: No, we are very different from Marvel. Whether it's the X-Men comics, animations, or movies, it's loved because it takes issues seriously and seriously, and because the characters in X-Men are misfits, struggling aliens, oppressed and banished. Humor comes from the characters themselves, not humor for humor's sake, not gag. I think the X-Men franchise is dark, much like Batman: The Dark Knight, because that's what it was.
A Liang: You are the producer of "Wolverine 3: The Last Stand" and "Deadpool". These two films should be regarded as relatively independent films with very different styles. In the future, you will create other films in this form. role?
Simon: Kinberg: As for making different styles of films, it's to make the audience feel differently, to let them know that we're not set in stone. For example, "Wolverine 3" is like a western, "Deadpool" is like a burlesque comedy, "X-Men: Lesson 1" is like a spy film, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" is like a time travel movie, "X-Men: Apocalypse" Disaster movies like Roland Emmerich (2012, The Day After Tomorrow). As for the future creation, I have not thought about this issue. When I was a screenwriter and producer before, I had to consider and build the future and direction of the "X-Men Universe", and this time I am the director, so I will do my best to focus on it. "Dark Phoenix".
A Liang: What about "Dark Phoenix"?
Simon: Kinberg: Psychological thriller, a combination of superpower, fantasy, sci-fi, and psychological thriller, a very intense psychological thriller!
A Liang: There are so many fascinating stories in the "X-Men" comics, why did you bring "Dark Phoenix" Jean Grey to the big screen?
Simon: Kinberg: Dark Phoenix is the most iconic story in the X-Men comics, I read this comic when I was in 5th grade, and it changed my view of the world and made me feel good about it. One vibrate. Because in the past comics, good people are good people, bad people are bad people, very simple, and "Dark Phoenix" is different, it is about a good person doing bad things, heroes do bad things.
The original "X-Men" comic book does have many attractive stories, but I still insist on putting "Dark Phoenix" on the big screen. Now I have the opportunity to tell this story, tell it well, and give it to the audience. I must not miss it. This is also my tribute to the original author, Chris Claremont.
A Liang: Have you considered making a standalone movie for Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique?
Simon: Kinberg: Haha, first off, I'm not really sure if Jennifer Lawrence can hold on to being painted blue for an entire movie, and seriously, she doesn't. And starting from "X-Men: Lesson 1", we want to create the concept of the X-Men family, you can think of "X-Men" as a superhero family movie, the core of the story is "family", Everyone in the family is indispensable, it's a whole, so we're not thinking about taking a hero and creating an independent film right now.
A Liang: Why did you choose Sophie Turner to join the X-Men series as Dark Phoenix?
Simon: Kinberg: Sophie auditioned for the role, and I wrote a monologue about a person struggling because of her abilities, a monologue that has nothing to do with the movie, I just tested her acting skills.
The character of "Dark Phoenix" Qin is powerful, but she has a vulnerable side. She is both good and evil. She wants to try to control her ability and has been struggling. I saw this feeling in Sophie's audition performance, so I cast her right away.
A Liang: The "mysterious character" played by Jessica Chastain this time is the villain? Does this character actually exist in the manga, or did you create it?
Simon: Kinberg: Chastain's character is not pure evil, she just wants to use the power of the dark phoenix for her own purposes, so I also added a little kindness to the character to make her look more complicated.
She is not a specific person in the comics, because since the movie is only two hours long, it is impossible for me to involve all the story lines and characters in the original comics, so this character is a combination of several villains in the comics, inspiration from multiple villains.
A Liang: You and DP Mauro Fiore (Director of Photography) Mauro Fiore (Mauro Fiore) cooperation, what new breakthroughs in shooting?
Simon: Kinberg: Moro Fiora was the director of photography on Avatar, and he knew everything about photography. In fact, the previous "X-Men" movies mostly relied on special effects, and there were no special means for photography, but this time, we did an unprecedented thing. Under his guidance, we set up a large number of giants on the shooting site LED light panels, these panels are as high as a building, placed in circles, the panels create interactive light around the actors, when shooting superpower battle scenes, you can create some light on the scene, flashing on the actors' faces, so that In the post-production special effects, there are some ready-made effects, which will be more real, not all fake special effects, of course, this is very expensive, haha.
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