"I met with Lauren Shuler Donner. And I would love it. Gambit is really the only X-Man I’ve ever loved. I mean I’ve loved them all, they’re all great, but I guess from being down south – my dad’s from Louisiana, I’m from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida – I don’t know. I just related to him. He’s just kind of suave…
He’s the most un X-Men X-Man that’s ever been in X-Men. Other than maybe Wolverine, who’s like the anti-hero. He’s a thief. He’s not even a hero. He’s kind of walking the line of grey. He loves women and drinking and smoking and stuff, so he’s just a cool guy who happens to have a moral center. I hope it [comes together]. You never know it’s a weird industry. If the stars align, I would die to play it. I’m already working on the accent. It’s crappy at the moment."
I would love it. I would love it. I personally have close ties to Marvel because of (Marvel president) Kevin Feige, because Kevin worked for me. But to take our characters and mingle them in the way that they were written, yeah, absolutely.I'm on the fence about this. If Marvel Studios handle it, I'm in. But Fox... We'll see after X-Men: First Class 2 comes out.
“For now we're talking internally about the possibility of having another 'First Class', following our characters,” the producer reveals. “We're talking about doing them, but we're just in discussions now.”
On Wolverine & DeadpoolShe admits no decision have been as to whether any sequel would continue to be set specifically in the 1960s or possibly fast-forward to another era (the 70s are rumored), and was pleased that the unconventional choice to look at Professor X and Magneto’s Cold War origins, as stylishly executed by director Matthew Vaughn, went over well with critics and audiences.
“We're figuring out where we're going to shoot it and working on the budget and the script and all that sort of stuff – we're in good prep,” she explains. “Hugh and I wanted to do this originally. I showed him ‘The Wolverine Saga' [a comic book series collecting the integral moments of Wolverine’s once-mysterious life] and we're both very passionate about it, for years now, and so, yes, we're very excited to get this to the screen finally. It's a great story.”
And X-Men 4Meanwhile, despite Ryan Reynolds’ defection to Marvel competitor DC Comics to play Green Lantern, Shuler-Donner fully expects to realize a “Deadpool” film with Reynolds, who originated the role in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”“Absolutely – I wouldn't make 'Deadpool' without Ryan,” she says. “I wouldn't be involved. He's been extremely involved in the process. He was involved with the script. He worked with the writers, throwing out a lot of ideas.
“In the future – way in the future – would I like to do an 'X-Men 4'? I would, but again there's no reason to saturate the market. So I would say no – I'm happy with what I'm doing right now.”Well I hope Marvel takes the X-Men back. I would love to see what they would do with the series.
"I'm campaigning to produce Wonder Woman for DC and Warners," Donner said on June 24 in Burbank, Calif. at the Saturn Awards. "They don't want it, but I just think she's the greatest character. She's right up there, as you know, with Superman and Batman, the three of them. I want to produce Wonder Woman."
The rights are back with DC and Warner Brothers, Donner says. So Donner is making phone calls, taking meetings and telling the press she wants it. "I've campaigned for it. I'm going to campaign some more. I want to produce Wonder Woman."
Donner has done well with the X-Men franchise. Maybe it would take a woman to really understand Wonder Woman. "Look, she's a goddess and a superhero. How great is that? I think you need to stay close to the myth, but the studio I know wants to make it accessible, i.e., somewhat contemporary. I think there is a way to do it."
A new Wonder Woman would be a juicy role for some young actress. Donner would hope to cast a young up-and-comer so she could make a franchise out of it. "I think so, because I'd like it to grow. I think there's a lot of Wonder Woman stories that would be great to tell. I see a couple of them."Donner's version would even be open to women of all types. Princess Diana is usually portrayed as a Caucasian woman, but in 2010 Donner sees a multi-ethnic Wonder Woman. "Oh, definitely. I would hope all movies are. Really, I think all movies should reflect the world."
I want Diana to be as Greek looking as possible. I'm not a fan of changing her to be Black or Asian. Diana is one of the Big Three, she should be respected in the same way as Kal-El and Bruce. If they are going to follow any version, follow George Perez's Wonder Woman.
She has to be done right.
"Harry Potter is a bit of a role model for us, absolutely. But we want it to be like the recent, darker Potters. It should not be a kiddie movie - we're in the X-Men world so you can't suddenly change the tone. The First Class comics are really fun - they're funnier than any other comics I've read. Basically in each one the kids are fighting strange villains, sometimes it's aliens, sometimes it's monsters. I want to get a flavour of that world. Occasionally the kids will be in class, but more often they'll be off on adventures. Which Professor X isn't too happy about! There's nothing more interesting than a bad kid, and this is full of naughty children. Cyclops, for example - he's a tough kid that bobbed from foster home to foster home, until he ends up at the school and becomes the leader.Whatever
"I want to ignore the version of Deadpool that we saw in Wolverine and just start over again. Reboot it. Because this guy talks, obviously, and to muzzle him would be insane.
Okay, I agree with that.
Magneto
"David Goyer has written a brilliant script. It starts in the concentration camps and has Magneto coming out of there. But you know, I'm not sure that film is going to be made. The studio has a wealth of potential stories, and they have to stand back and decide which ones to make. And Magneto, I think, is at the back of the queue. Maybe it'll get made in five years - who knows? I can tell you that Ian McKellen won't be playing the character the whole way through.Honestly, I don't care about Magneto. I always thought he was overrated.
According to Shuler Donner, there’s no truth to the initial claim (X-Men: First Class) at all. She announced that the film has no scheduled start date and will definitely not be kicking off in February. What’s more, she confirmed that no actors have signed contracts to appear in the film.
I asked if they had signed the young mutants up for an option on future films, and she admitted that yes, everybody was under option. No surprises there.
As well as the eventual New Class, then - whenever that might be - Shuler Donner revealed that she has been cooking up plans for several other mutant films. The two she named? An X4, reuniting the X-Men and a big screen outing for The New Mutants. X4, she said, had yet to be pitched to the studio.
How about NO! Nada from her, Fox or anyone until Marvel gets everything back.
