X-Men: Days of Future Past

This article is about the 2014 film. For the comics storyline, see Days of Future Past.

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Directed by	Bryan Singer
Screenplay by	Simon Kinberg Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman
Story by	Bryan Singer
Produced by	Lauren Shuler Donner Bryan Singer Simon Kinberg Matthew Vaughn
Starring	Shawn Ashmore Halle Berry Adan Canto Daniel Cudmore Peter Dinklage Fan Bingbing Michael Fassbender Nicholas Hoult Hugh Jackman Jennifer Lawrence James McAvoy Ian McKellen Ellen Page Anna Paquin Evan Peters Booboo Stewart Patrick Stewart Omar Sy
Cinematography	Newton Thomas Sigel
Edited by	John Ottman
Music by	John Ottman
Production companies	Marvel Entertainment Bad Hat Harry Productions Donners' Company Dune Entertainment Seed Productions Big Screen Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 18, 2014 (2014-07-18)
Country	United States
Language	English

X-Men: Days of Future Past is an upcoming American superhero film co-written, produced and directed by Bryan Singer and featuring the X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics. It is intended to be the seventh installment in the X-Men film series. The screenplay is written by Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, and Jane Goldman, with Singer writing the story. The film is based on the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. It is the third X-Men film directed by Singer after 2000's X-Men and 2003's X2.

Acting as a sequel to both 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2011's X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past includes cast members from both: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and Daniel Cudmore return from X-Men: The Last Stand, while James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult return from X-Men: First Class. Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto and Evan Peters round out the film's principal cast. Principal photography began in April 2013 in Montreal, Canada. The film is being shot in 3D.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is scheduled to be released on July 18, 2014.

Cast

The cast features characters from the original trilogy of X-Men films and the prequel X-Men: First Class.

• James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X
• Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
• Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique
• Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast
• Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
• Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue
• Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat
• Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman
• Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm
• Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus
• Fan Bingbing as Blink
• Evan Peters as Quicksilver

Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, BooBoo Stewart and Adan Canto have also been cast in unknown roles. Dinklage will portray the film's primary antagonist.

Production

Development

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner reported in August 2006 that renegotiations would be required to continue the main film series. Newer cast members of X-Men: The Last Stand were signed, while the older cast members were not. Donner stated, "There is forty years worth of stories. I’ve always wanted to do 'Days of Future Past' and there are just really a lot of stories yet to be told." She later pitched Bryan Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established X-Men franchise, following the completion of X-Men: First Class. In March 2011, Shuler Donner revealed that the film was in "active development at Fox," saying, "We took the treatment to Fox and they love it... And X4 leads into X5".

20th Century Fox envisioned X-Men: First Class as the first film of a new X-Men trilogy. Donner compared the franchise plans to be similar to the darker, more mature content of the Harry Potter film series. While early reports had Matthew Vaughn and Singer returning to direct and produce the sequel, respectively. While still attached to the project as a director, Vaughn stated, "First Class is similar to Batman Begins, where you have the fun of introducing the characters and getting to know them, but that takes time. But with the second one, you can just get on with it and have a rollicking good time. That's the main difference between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight." Describing how the next movie could open, Vaughn said: “I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto.” Singer has stated that the film could be set around the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War, and that Wolverine could once again be featured.

Pre-production

In November 2011, Simon Kinberg who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class was hired to write the screenplay of the film. In May 2012, 20th Century Fox announced a July 18, 2014 release date for the film. Then in August 2012, the title for the film was confirmed to be X-Men: Days of Future Past. The film is said to be inspired by Chris Claremont and John Byrne's X-Men comic book storyline, "Days of Future Past". The comic book storyline ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142 in 1981 during Claremont and Byrne's run and introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel's mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.

In October 2012, Vaughn left the director duties to focus on Mark Millar's The Secret Service 2014 film adaptation. He will be attached to the film as a writer and producer. Bryan Singer was later announced as the director of the film. This is the third time that Singer is directing a X-Men movie. Screenwriter Jane Goldman, who wrote the final screenplay of X-Men: First Class with Matthew Vaughn, is said to be linked to the film.

John Myhre and Louise Mingenbach were hired as production designer and costume designer, respectively. According to the director, Mingenbach, who worked previously in X-Men, X2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will no longer produce the usual black leather costumes. John Ottman who collaborated with all of Singer's works since X2 has confirmed to work on the music and the editing of the film. Richard Stammers revealed in an interview that he is working on the film as the visual effects supervisor.

Singer stated that the story will partially be set during the 1970s and that former United States president Richard Nixon will be a character in the film. He also stated that the film will be the biggest movie that he's ever made. Singer also stated that he approached film director James Cameron to talk about time travel, string theory and multiverses.

Casting

"I decided that the next time I got myself involved in a movie that had a huge amount of attention already that I would use Twitter. As a way of connecting with fans, principally. And also as a way of clearing up misunderstandings so that people know. You know, they may hear that an actor is cast or hear somebody is going to be in it, but until I say it's so, that's the confirmation. "

—Bryan Singer explaining the Twitter presence of the film.

Bryan Singer used the online social networking service Twitter to reveal casting announcements of the film. In November 2012, Singer announced that James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult will be reprising their First Class roles. In the same month, he confirmed that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will reprise their respective roles as the older versions of the characters played by McAvoy and Fassbender. In December, Singer confirmed that Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine. In January 2013, Singer confirmed that Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore and Ellen Page will reprise their roles of Rogue, Iceman and Kitty Pryde. In February, Singer announced that Peter Dinklage will star in the film as the main antagonist. In March, Singer announced that French actor Omar Sy has joined the cast. Halle Berry confirmed in an interview that she's returning to reprise her role as Storm, which was followed by announcement from Singer that Berry will be in the film. Singer tweeted a picture of headshots of the cast, which confirmed that Daniel Cudmore will return as Colossus and that Fan Bingbing and Booboo Stewart had joined the cast. In April, Singer announced that American singer and songwriter Lady Gaga has joined the cast as Dazzler, but it was later revealed that it was just an April Fools' Day prank. Singer retweeted a photo of himself, Adan Canto and confirmed cast members Stewart, McKellen and Ashmore, which was followed by a confirmation from Canto that he had joined the cast. Singer tweeted a Vine video which confirmed that Bishop, Warpath and Blink will be appearing in the film. In May, Singer announced that Evan Peters had joined the cast as Quicksilver.

Filming

Principal photography on X-Men: Days of Future Past began on April 15, 2013 at Mel's Cité du Cinema in Montreal, Canada. Olympic Stadium was also used as a location for filming. It is the first X-Men film to be filmed in 3D. The film is being shot using Arri Alexa-M cameras with Leica Primes and Fujinon Zooms.

Visual effects

Moving Picture Company will be working on the visual effects of the film.

Music

Director Bryan Singer's regular collaborator John Ottman will work on the score of the film, in addition of being its editor. Ottman will be the first composer to score more than one film in the X-Men film series.

Marketing

X-Men: Days of Future Past will be presenting at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2013.

External links

• X-Men: Days of Future Past at IMDb
• X-Men: Days of Future Past at Rotten Tomatoes
• X-Men: Days of Future Past at Box Office Mojo