Singer Approached to Direct X-Men 4
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
If you want my opinion (and trust me, I'm far from being a true comic book geek), I think Bryan Singer should seriously take the next couple years and do everything in his power to produce not only a satisfying Superman Returns sequel, but one that blows his first attempt out of the water. It certainly appears that's the direction he's heading in, and God only knows how much pressure is on this dude right now.
Singer, who is currently in Hawaii with producer Jon Peters celebrating the birthday of another fellow producer, Chris Lee, has apparently traveled to paradise for two reasons: to get loaded and begin work on the much-anticipated Superman sequel. (Okay, the first one is just speculation on my part, but you're in Hawaii celebrating someone's birthday -- what else would you do?) While there, Singer acknowledged that he had been approached to direct X-Men 4, but apparently turned down the offer because he simply does not have the energy or chutzpah to work on two gigantic blockbusters at the same time. However, he did say that he wanted to look at the Wolverine spinoff script. Hmm, since that puppy seems ready to go, could Singer potentially pump it out before Supes? Having his name attached would definitely restore faith (somewhat) in those fans afraid the flick will literally spin off into Crap Land.
So, you mega fans out there: Would you rather see Singer focus his energy on Superman and stay away from the X-Men universe for now, or take a chance on Wolverine and hope the guy doesn't keel over due to sleep deprivation?
[via Coming Soon]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-09-2006 @ 9:25PM
Emperor Nerd said...
I'd rather see him stay on Superman. His work on Wolverine would always be, right or wrong, seen a secondary to Superman. Let Singer put all of his effort into Superman for an '09 release and give Wolverine to another director.
Reply
11-09-2006 @ 11:50PM
bluesdog said...
I agree with Nerd. Superman was really his baby. X Men was a warmup. Like a lot of people, I was blown away by how much reverence he paid to the original while putting his own signature stamp on it. If he could do that, he can do something special with the sequel -- although it will be even more of a challenge to top Superman Returns.
Reply
11-10-2006 @ 12:24AM
Max Payne said...
Sure he was approached for X-Men 4. Yeah,right!
While X-Men 1 and 2 were good (not great), his Superman Returns was a real snoozer. X-3 did fine without him.
Reply
11-10-2006 @ 10:45AM
Emily said...
I seriously missed Singer in X3 and while I loved Returns, Xmen will always have my heart. In my ideal world Singer would postpone Superman for X4. Since that's probably not going to happen, hopefully they find someone to give X4 a more realistic plot than X3 (Can you say realistic about the Xmen franchise?) X3 was great to look at, but just wasn't true to the feeling of the previous two movies (let alone the commic books).
Reply
11-10-2006 @ 6:50PM
Tony C said...
I agree with Emily about X3 -- Singer was definitely missed for the third go-around with the X-Men. The oppressingly dark, dismal tone of the movie with death and destruction assaulting your senses again and again and again might play well for the special effects, but it does nothing to extend the franchise or retain any sort of reverence to the comic books it's based on.
But Returns? Awful. Depressing. Flat. Humorless. He should have left well enough alone and rebooted the franchise and started anew instead of pandering so much to the previous half-baked movies.
Yes, Supes I & II have their place in cinematic history as Hollywood interpretations of the man in blue and red, but there was too much tongue-in-cheek silliness for my tastes. And the forgettable 3 & 4 can stay where they are, at the bottom of the well, branded forever in infamy as the franchise killers they are.
Reply
11-11-2006 @ 1:15PM
Dmnkly said...
C) None of the above?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVES me some comic book movies, but they seem to be the quicksand keeping some of our most talented young directors from other work. Bryan Singer, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro... the Wachowskis started off with a bang with Bound, and while the Matrix films aren't strictly comic book films, it's basically the same effect. These guys all started out doing really wonderful, edgy, creative work, but an entire generation of talented filmmakers has now spent its prime years tied up making summer blockbusters. Thankfully, some of them seem to now be breaking free to some extent, and I hope that trend continues. Hence, C.
Reply
11-19-2006 @ 9:51PM
John Inc. said...
As a kid, I was an fan of the comic book. I enjoyed all the movies. The great thing about the X-men is the wide variety of characters. Patrick Stewart WAS Professor X, so if they could get him again, that would be perfect. But after that, they could have a whole nice line up of characters. How about bringing back Prof X and Beast (who I thought was well played in X3), and then develop an older grownup Rogue and Kitty and Colossus, and then introduce Gambit, Bishop, Sage, Evangeline, and maybe Apocalypse as the featured nemesis?
Reply