I don't know what's happening to me
when is control whose blood is that this
movie is very different from the
previous x-men it is darker it is
grittier it is more psychologically
complex you messed with the mind of an 8
year old girl you push it down all that
pain and anger where do you think it's
gonna go our main goal was to just try
and make it not feel like a superhero
movie we really wanted to put the story
and jeans journey at the forefront of
the movie you told me my father was dead
and you used me for my powers it's a
drama it's about real people who just
happen to have superpowers Jean Grey is
arguably the most powerful mutant that's
ever lived
you know she beat apocalypse man and
Dark Phoenix taking control over that's
a terrifying prospect it felt pretty
clear to us we had to be willing to go
further than we had before Simon wanted
to really hit home with the drama and
bring her back to very human real
emotions and need you to help me find
Jean if I find her I'll kill her
got our sort of reality to it I think
that the others didn't have really look
forward to that if you'd asked me five
years ago alone ten or fifteen if I
wanted to direct movies my answer was
actually no I actually wasn't that
interested in directing I'll do one more
like that somewhere along the way of the
last five years or so I was seeing
things I wrote feeling as if I wish I
had more authorship over them I've
worked a lot of first-time directors and
it always starts with their connection
to the story and it was very clear this
is something Simon has been
contemplating just as a screenplay for a
long time a shift to your left a little
bit peace perfect at the end of making
Apocalypse I had this conversation with
a couple the actors but specifically
with Jennifer Lawrence that I have to
credit where Jennifer said you really
should be directing and I said no I
don't know I'm not sure and she's like
you know you really just should do it
like just do it I've wanted Simon to
direct for years if I'm honest
he was really hands-on you know as a
producer and as a writer he knows these
movies inside and out and I said to her
what I also said to some other people I
said look I'm gonna go write this Dark
Phoenix script I know that and if I love
it and I can't bear to hand it over to
somebody else then all lobbie did direct
it it started to become more clear to
him that this might be the one and I
think his ambition to do it was there
really from the beginning but I don't
think he really fully committed himself
until he had the script really firmly in
hand it's great for him to be getting
into this with a piece of material that
he wrote because he completely
understands the scenes understands their
intent is able to really describe them
articulately to the cast we're gonna say
second solar flares coming at the x-jet
brace for impact
Liberty braces and then right before it
hits the exits
going to divert toward where Jean the
first solar flare hit team and a
tentative it's gonna get even brighter
and then it explodes and that's Jean
exploding the solar flares outward from
her away from the x-jet away from
everything and what you're going to be
watching his jeans dead body
not only is he like one of the best
writers in the business but I really
truly think he's one of the best
directors - it's incredible I was very
excited when I heard that he was going
to come on and direct this one I feel
like he's definitely earned it and
seeing her on set he's just sort of
taken to like a duck to water it's been
amazing yes for me this script was just
one where I felt like I understand it
intrinsically like in my bones and the
scale of it didn't intimidate me because
I've been around so many big movies that
scale becomes second nature it's not
something he took on lightly it was
something that he came to in a very
sober very thoughtful way sometimes
fantastic obviously writing the stories
he knows all these characters so well he
knows the film so well to be able to
write so convincingly from genes
perspective and have this whole movie
about mid-twenties girl and for him to
really hone in to her so specifically
and so well it's kind of amazing I
thought I lost you saying you know I
came back - you always come back to
those passion lies with working with
actors and seeing the material like come
to life and guiding that I was like well
you need to be a director for the rest
of your life then dude because that's
where his passion is that's where he
really comes alive you have one hand up
on the chopper right yeah and one of
these guys close their guns in second
to the water he's a director who's
always liked acting and he's fascinated
by and he understands it on a level that
not every director does and he sees it
as a vital tool for helping to tell your
story and then you can sell it a little
bit with this you have your left hand on
this and then you're selling it with
just my body strength right now with
Simon he's like this is a collaboration
we're all artists we all have a
viewpoint and maybe you have something
to give to this character that I hadn't
really thought of which is nice
Simon loves the characters and he loves
the movies so much and it's great to
work with the writer somebody who has
the whole movie in his head and knows
how he wants it to go and is also
willing to experiment with different
versions of what he has in his head they
begin their fight at all I think
angiogram let's see what it looks like
nice to meet you first of all who are
you and what are we doing here I have no
bloody idea I'm Chris Claremont I'm God
help me the writer of the source
material for this film Chris is a
remarkable guy and there's something
unique about getting to have somebody
who has had a hand in creating such an
amazing body of work there as you're
attempting to interpret and capture it
narrative Lee Dave Cockrum and Len Wein
created the series and then Dave Cockrum
and I took over with the second issue
and we just decided to have a whole lot
of fun and one of the elements that we
created along the way it was the
transformation of Jean Grey from Marvel
Girl into Phoenix Dark Phoenix story for
me as a kid when I first read it was
probably my most seminal experience of
reading a comic book just because of the
shock of oh my god G and granted that I
thought was an ally and someone I loved
this entire time could go dark it was
just really shocking to me Phoenix is
one small step below God to suddenly
have Jean Grey embraced that level of
power of ability was more than she could
handle
I don't know what's happening to me it
is more complex and sophisticated and
challenging material than pretty much
anything else in comics so this is a
movie that hopefully will be more
complicated more complex what gave the
story its power was that when push came
to shove knowing as she said discuss
summoners and their last scene together
I could hold on but it would mean I
would have to be totally aware of myself
totally resistant to the temptation for
every millisecond of every day for the
rest of my immortal
life and she decided if I slipped even
for a fraction the consequences could be
breathtaking she made a choice and the
choice broke Scott's heart it broke the
readers heart but it turned out to be
the right choice for the story for the
character and for the series gee I have
faith in Simon I trust Simon I trust the
team he is built up especially the
acting team he has built up if there's
any chance of making this brilliant
these are the people who can pull it off
Simon being the first time director and
me being the first time lead in a big
movie it was a journey together and
really an education together I mean you
come here to kill me that's right
and you couldn't even do that let me
show you how did you know what the kids
are calling yeah the dark phoenix story
which is the most lauded and beloved
astoria line in the history of x-men
comics is about Dark Phoenix is about
Jean it's a female that story there's a
female protagonist and it's really about
the strength of this female character I
think we came to it because we believe
this was a great story not because we're
trying to tap into some cultural shift
when we step back to ask ourselves
what's the most ambitious the richest
the greatest opportunity as storytellers
it happened to be that it features a
woman I met with Sophie while I was
still writing the screenplay nine months
before we started photography on the
film and we just had lunch in LA and I
said look this is the movie that I'm
writing it's called the Dark Phoenix
saga it's about you and you're the
center of the movie and it's about Jean
getting smaller and smaller and weaker
and weaker and Phoenix becoming stronger
and stronger
so you're gonna have to ostensibly play
the trauma of losing your mind
he basically pitched me the idea and
said like this is your movie this is my
movie you're gonna kind of take over
you're gonna have to play every possible
color on the spectrum emotionally and if
it doesn't work
performance-wise the movie will not work
it's just that simple and so she said
let's do it
there was a lot of pressure and we
having just done one movie where I
wasn't a very big part in the last x-men
it was really something she understood
immediately it was gonna be a very
different task for her both because of
the scale of the role you know the sheer
importance of her character to the
narrative but more importantly because
the ambition for it was to be more real
and more grounded and more emotionally
authentic these photos none of me there
is not a scene in this movie that is not
about Sophie
you never lose me Sophie and I have been
having a conversation about this movie I
would say longer than anybody else on
this film certainly than any other actor
she has been my partner in making this
movie okay working together through it
was just amazing because we were
discovering things together as well and
something I probably talked for hours
and hours and hours about every single
scene backgrounds that the characters
what had happened in the last ten years
and and he was very open to my input it
feels like a real creation between the
two of us stopstopstop
yeah Sophie's the driving force in this
movie I think where she starts in the
film is so endearing and innocent mature
and put together and then by the end of
the film her arc is basically she's lost
complete control rarely if I've ever
seen somebody come to a movie more
prepared than Sophie was Sophie did all
kinds of research especially on
schizophrenia she would walk around in
preparation for the movie with
headphones in her ears
with just random voices playing so that
she would know what it felt like to have
to walk through the world Garen voices
that you couldn't control that weren't
actually embodied voices of the people
who were in the room of the space with
you count disorienting would it be how
disturbing would it be all by way of
trying to understand what this character
might be going through
trust myself
the thing about Jean Grace that she's
not a villain but she's not like a
superhero gonna save the world
everything is fine
she's very tormented and broken and has
a real kind of realism to how you hurt
people
yes how did you stop I made a conscious
decision before I started to lose all my
inhibitions and like go for it
and not be self-conscious or vain
because often that happens a lot with
actors and certainly happen with me and
I just wanted to have this be my give it
all I've really come to bring you home
Jean I don't have a home you made sure
that I think yes the best work I've seen
her do she she's really stepped up and
she's claiming it you know one in Italy
films about her you know so we need her
frankly this movie doesn't work if
Sophie doesn't bring it we cannot do our
best or do or really suck but it won't
really matter unless Sophie brings it
and she's been killing it it's been
really really really intense which I
really wasn't expecting every single
scene is an opportunity for me to
stretch myself in ways that I haven't
the surface just a phenomenal actress
and everything I've seen it's just do
it's complete transformation so it's
been wonderful what you
[Music]
I've been thinking maybe it's time first
Yvonne this was primarily a story of
Jean and then secondarily the story of
the people around her and how her D
evolution and struggle would impact all
of their lives are you okay with this I
forget sometimes you can read minds I
didn't need to read your mind it's
written all over your face
from the beginning of conceiving this
particular version of the dark phoenix
story and knowing that Jennifer was
gonna be a part of it because she had
been the one encouraging me to direct it
and also because she's been a critical
part of this franchise for the last
three films I felt a few things one I
wasn't sure where else to go with her
character when we changed the world so
we could live in it yeah but maybe
that's what we should go to you too I
felt like killing this particular
character in the middle of the film
would let you know just how dangerous
and unhinged Jean was and three I think
for Jennifer she felt like she had
explored everything she could with this
character but also felt she owed it to
the fans to have a final goodbye be in
this role if anything goes wrong I'll
turn us around and Harvey I know you
won't
[Music]
we've got a lot of different places with
Raven
she chose magneto in the first movie and
totally ditched Charles and then in by
the second movie she kind of became this
like mutant hero I think that in this
movie all of that is kind of coming to a
head now especially with Jean I told you
to stay away that's never gonna happen
it was important to me that we do
something which I defer in this film
that felt fresh and different than what
we've done in the past and I felt like
one of the things I really wanted for
Jean Phoenix in this movie was to do
something in the middle of the film that
would shock the audience and tell the
audience that as opposed to normal
superhero movies franchise movie is
where the same character has come back
six seven eight movies in a row that
nobody was safe and that we could kill
arguably the biggest movie star in the
world and that would be in some ways the
sort of emotional bomb that would be
dropped in the middle of the film and it
would start to really break the x-men
apart
I like when movies feel dangerous you
don't feel like you know the outcome it
felt like if we were gonna do something
more real and more emotional and more
grounded that we had to be willing to
have consequences it's kind of crazy
because Raven is one of the most beloved
characters and the franchise and for
Jean really emotional because Raven has
been her mentor her big sister Raven
knows what it's like to be tempted to
the darkness it's a really big moment
and it's a moment for the audience where
the audience starts to ask the questions
that Hank is asking and that other
people are asking about Gene's character
which is if she can kill a beloved
actress slash character do we give up on
her or do we keep trying to save her
soul I've got the shot I'm taking note
I'm sorry Hank I won't resin to have a
chance it became very clear as we
started to map out the story that it
felt like it needed to be mystique that
the mother figure felt like the one you
wanted to see sacrificed and it would be
the most heart-wrenching to see lost
[Music]
ladies and gentlemen that's a wrap on
our day and a movie wrap for Jennifer
Lawrence it was bittersweet to wrap
Jennifer as mystique or Raven because I
think she's done the job of playing both
so well she's played Raven extremely
well and she's played mystique extremely
well when an actor gets to a place where
they feel like I've done everything I
could with this character as an artist
and as a writer and as somebody who's
her friend I felt like I understand that
I think I'll probably figure out what
Raven means to me in a few years when
I'm like looking back we all had a
dinner together
Jennifer's last night and know we've all
become very close and there's always
been a great sort of family vibe on
x-man
it was quite poignant moment when we all
had dinner together and said farewell
the beautiful part about working with
Simon is that he understands that all
the women are higher-level mutants and
all the men so when it comes to us
always saving the guys it's really true
the women are just more powerful it's
not a girl power kind of thing it's the
reality of the situation
we need you I need you I've got your
back
alex is a really powerful really assured
actress and human being and so she
brought that kind of strength to storm
and we sensed that potential in her in
Apocalypse but that story was telling so
many different stories of so many main
characters there wasn't a lot of space
for storm to really come into her power
and I really wanted in this film to give
her finally a big stage in which to
express her powers because I think the
fans have been wanting that for many
movies now she's a superb actress and
incredible character in the x-men world
and in this final fight getting to see
her really rise to the occasion in ways
that I haven't seen her before was
really great for storm it's her trying
to save her sister that's her best
friend trying to be there for your
friend who also is hurting people it's a
weird place to be at and but at the same
time there's a division because she
wants to protect people and storm really
is a very loyal caretaker type of person
she seemed okay to you someone who's
just been here to a solar flares I'd say
she's doing pretty good the way that I
came at this was dealing with someone
who has diction and knowing that like
addiction it's a disease and they can't
control it and kind of coming to terms
with being there for them but knowing
that they're so destructive and
self-destructive as well
sometimes you want to believe people are
something that they are not and then
where the time you realize who they are
it's too late
hello Jean who are you the better
question is who are you Jessica plays a
character who has been tracking and
following this force through the galaxy
book comes into the story first almost
in a mysterious way when we first
started talking about Jessie for the
movie honestly I thought it was a pipe
dream so the idea that we actually got
her into the movie and and got to work
with her was really fantastic to me the
only person here afraid of your power is
you what was really important to me and
it's usually for every movie that I make
it's the team that I'm gonna be working
with and to be on a set with all these
incredible people to be a part of this
spectacle and to watch Simon in his
directorial debut it's a great joy they
can't begin to comprehend what you are
even your x-men because it is such a
character driven franchise we need the
actors to be able to play real drama and
this movie to me more than any other one
necessitated that level of acting and
the only really new major addition to
the cast was this alien character of
Luke and I immediately thought of
Jessica she's an amazing actor Scott
great sense of humor great work ethic
she's studious like she wants to study
you know I mean she's like almost like
an academic as an actor and she's
approaching this role this bad guy role
which should be very easy come enemy
like what Oh
which is how I would do it and she's
approaching it with the same level of
academia and seriousness and in-depth
thought that she always has really look
into my eyes
let me show you who you really are
there's something about just that is
extraordinarily powerful
she's so meticulous there's so much
thought that goes into every moment that
she's in the movie and then once she's
actually acting it it looks and feels
effortless because she's put in the
preparation when Simon and I first
talked about this character I had this
idea of seeing the character more as
someone that was emotionally removed
from the outcome of what happened
she's a thousand times smarter than
anyone on this planet and I had this
idea of playing her like the vet that
tells you that they're gonna put your
dog to sleep they're coming from an
educated point of view and if you fight
that then she can see that as a way of
being selfish this truly is an
unfortunate development well is that
because it's so much easier to
understand your language when you're not
screaming I was so so I can't even tell
you how nervous I was to me just come
work with her I think she's incredible
to work with her has been amazing she's
really giving she's taken me under her
wing a bit which I really appreciate and
she's really inspiring to me I told you
they could never understand you what
they don't understand they fear and what
they fear they seem to destroy
[Music]
neighbor oh my god my neighbor never
sees this it's like a dam right yes
not yet it's a joy when you can just go
to work with people you enjoy to work
with and really good people for people
to know the dark phoenix story they know
that the relationship between Scott and
Jean is very central to that story and
so there's an emotional complexity
that's necessary for that character it's
a kind of complexity that I don't know
that we've really explored for Scott in
these films before I can't stop it okay
I could hurt you again take the chance
what we wanted to try to accomplish was
just infinite love for someone and the
repercussions of that when someone
doesn't love you back or if someone
changes and someone becomes someone who
they're not just come back to me
remember you said you'd always come back
to me
he approached it the way I was asking
all the actors to approach he approached
it from the most emotionally true and
dramatic standpoint and he's just doing
powerful in film
Jean lost control she's still our friend
Tai is one of the best actors
I really have ever worked with he's so
giving and he grew up kind of doing
independent movies and so he has this
way about him that is very real and very
intimate and he makes me feel very
comfortable doing all of those very
intense scenes I've said to everybody
from the beginning be radical when I met
with Michael Fassbender I said don't act
like European McKellen in the original
movies act like you're Michael
Fassbender in a Steve McQueen movie I
said to Jennifer don't act like you have
to be like you were in the previous
three movies act like you're in a day
after Russell movie James McAvoy said
act like you're in a British drama
something's happening to her she's
changing
at what
I don't know we exposed some of his
flowers in this film charles's am always
not to give up on people and that's part
of his own ego as well one of the main
floors we highlight in this film is his
own Eagle Charles and his x-men are
where we turn when facing our worst
fears a guy who is enjoying the acclaim
the magazine covers essentially the
celebrity of being Professor Xavier a
leader and hero of the x-men and James
really performed it that way as well
with this hubris some of you choose to
call us superheroes that is a damn sight
better than what you used to call us
James always brings a lot he's an
incredibly smart and thoughtful
storyteller in addition to being what I
think is one of the best actors working
today
and his eagle won't let him give up on
somebody because he believes he's got
this like Messiah Complex I think what
it feels like you can save everybody
what did you do to her
saved and looking at the nature of the
relationship his character has to Jean
Grae that we found ourselves wanting to
lean more deeply into his
responsibilities and explore the idea
that maybe Charles was wrong maybe he is
more responsible than he thought for
what has happened to his family
you are not broken I love working with
James I love what he has done with
Charles in this film especially because
professor eggs just really feels like he
knows what is best for everyone he
doesn't allow especially the x-men the
dignity of their process and he creates
their process for them and I think that
is the little nook at which everything
has started to fall apart
it's part of what James really grabbed
on to and I think wanted to explore more
fully in this and it's part of what
grounds and enriches emotional
storytelling I think what did you do
from the truth
[Music]
there's another word
[Music]
it's a pretty sort of bleak place where
Charles ends up a lot of his loyal
allies have sort of left his side and
I'm sort of coming over to Eric's I save
the old friendship Charles and stay out
of my way Michael I think actually
brought down his performance which made
it stronger to me not weaker Michael
brought the intensity and the realism
naturalism that he brings to almost all
of his other movies naturally just
that's who he is as an actor that's his
style as an actor I've lived with
vengeance my whole life so I feel
whatever I thought would make the pain
go away it didn't so I stopped Michael
really appreciated the opportunity to
show a different face to Eric and what
his philosophy would lead to in the
overall scheme of the world of the Expo
he's so extraordinary at expressing so
much with so little and he does so much
with his eyes and he doesn't have to
raise his voice to be firm and to be
strong the girl dies
for the first time it's crazy but now
their fourth film together
Nick halt and Michael Fassbender have a
couple scenes just one on one with with
each other but no we've no
differences in the past but the bus
loved ribbon we've done scenes together
but they've always been to the Action
Center or any other ends of corridors
and not directly interacting with each
other or in big groups this was the
first time Derek's in just one on one to
cover scenes with Michael which is
fantastic you've known him a long time
and look up to him so take the chance to
be there and have those moments with him
was brilliant why are you here Hank you
have eyes and ears around the world to
help you find newtons for this place
I want you to help me find Jean
with Hank the goal and ambition was to
give Hank the opportunity to call
Charles out and sort of come into his
own as a leader and as an individual I
loved the idea that you take this really
mild-mannered meek character just what
he's been in the previous films but he
starts to turn and so it gave him this
gravity and sadness and strength sure
Charles it's your fault
she's dead Hank Roy was portrayed by
Charles because Charles can't accept
what he's done and the responsibility
that he's made a huge mistake right now
come on admit it
trustus admit you along please sir I
know it doesn't look like it but this is
actually the exterior of your ex mansion
we've seen it depicted in many movies
but I'm sure most of the time it would
have looked similar to this fan I color
and Quicksilver they are within the
momentum of just doing well within their
job and serving for the world and still
growing within themselves I didn't
believe they truly chose aside
themselves so if we're going to space
yes occurs we are going into space we're
doing space missions now cool the x-men
are called upon saved the astronauts of
the endeavour Quicksilver is getting a
kick out of all the fame of being an
x-man for sure Quicksilver played again
by Evan Peters has really come into his
own in a more evolved mature way but he
is still Quicksilver be right back
Nightcrawler vamps me and him into the
endeavor to help save the astronauts as
quickly as possible how does that go it
doesn't work out I ended up forgetting
one again where's my brother pretty sure
I got everybody I don't know what the
deal is I guess I'm going too fast you
just slow down a little bit take my time
and I call it feels scared and nervous
going into battle just like anyone would
but at the same time he is the first one
ready to bounce get me in that house now
I love seeing my colas actions in the
scenes where they go out and he's in his
suit and he was know just being the soft
kind of funny comedic relief there's a
very serious sense to him the way that
we played Nightcrawler in Apocalypse was
really as comic relief for most of this
movie he is still that sweet innocent
character and toward the end of the
movie he sort of has his first real
interaction with death at the hands of
someone you
we could help you please it is a fulcrum
in the life of Nightcrawler that makes
him violent and you see a different side
of Nightcrawler than you ever seen
before in seeing the guard having lost
his life Kody's enraged and it unleashes
a violence in a rage we haven't seen
from Kody before which he visits upon
his attackers and it's pretty gratifying
to see that character get to pursue that
arc
one of the fun things about making these
excellent movies is there's tons and
tons and tons of characters that we've
never explored in the x-men movies that
are really popular characters in the
x-men comics and so in each of these
movies we've tried to feather some of
those characters and one of those
characters was Dazzler because she's a
huge fan favorite it was someone that I
spent a lot of time trying to figure out
how to cast
[Music]
so here I'm performing a song up on that
Mound you can kind of see where those
blue lights are and I'm able to take the
vibrations from the music and turn it
into this beautiful light show
so it's Dazzler as her name indicates as
well is a brighter presence in the film
brings the sort of vitality and fun and
youthfulness it's just really the energy
the Dazzler house
I have been working with a choreographer
on the scene to try to get the vibe of
Dazzler down we have been talking to
Simon a lot about how we want the light
show to correspond with her movements
and and the rhythm of the music and so
we wanted to make it kind of something
very unique and a little new and modern
and between the hair the makeup and the
wardrobe were pretty true to the
original comics with the one thing we
did kind of change up a little bit it's
just the shape of the mask around my
eyes and we have amazing makeup artists
who actually drew it specifically to my
face
I do think she'll have real impact for
the fans and I think even for people who
have him Radek x-men comic or heard of
the character or though thank oh that's
an interesting looking character I
always love the character of saline and
I'd seen this actress Koda who I just
thought was really special and again
just really interesting there was
something about her I hadn't seen before
and she'd never been on the screen
before tubers you rest tell everyone to
stay calm but ready I come from science
I used to work as a cardiovascular
researcher and it was my path I knew I
was going to be doctor ever heard I knew
I wanted to help people and I wanted to
heal people I never thought that I would
be an actress so to really step into
this is unreal Sonny just said you know
I really want you to exude someone who
has wisdom and who can really bring that
to life you're really secure in your
powers you're someone that stands in and
holds space for that you're not the only
one who can control mine
I have sweet weaponry skills or I like
pull out a dagger it's embellished with
gemstones it's pretty gnarly
similarly Ricky was a character who's
not a big character in the comics but
someone in the comics who was always
interesting to me when I was growing up
and reading them and thinking he was
cool I wanted to include him also as
part of Eric's cadre of sort of badasses
because he's a badass character we're
calling him Medusa at this moment and he
has these braids that are about 10 feet
long that I basically have hand-to-hand
combat with these bad boys here they
grow to about 10 feet red Louis just
uses here to wrap around her wrist and
just capture her and just throw all
around the place sir hopefully it'll
look amazing you know just goes on where
there
and then down into like all these LEDs
Andrews a stunt man and I was watching
him do the stunt
rehearsals coordination choreography for
what would eventually be the actor we
would cast for Red Lotus but there was
something so interesting about his face
and he has a presence and a sort of life
to him when he just in real life that I
thought might be kind of interesting to
just let him play the part also because
primarily what he's doing in the movie
is fighting
that's figured well he'll do a better
job of fighting than some actor we bring
in to do two lines turned out to be
actually a really good actor on top of
being obviously an incredible fighter
it's funny you know it's the first time
I've directed a movie and I don't know
that I'll ever get a cast that's gonna
be this good again as a director on a
movie we have been incredibly lucky to
get these incredible actors
[Applause]
yeah we're in Montreal it's my first
movie in Montreal at home in 12 years so
what we're going to uh we're coming to a
point when jean arrives to Genosha gonna
come here at this vantage point of view
Simon Kinberg really wanted to approach
this in a very very different way and
he's very clear about what he wanted I
said to Claude I want to create this
world physically I don't want to do
green screen and set extensions and fake
it
I want the actors to be able to feel it
in a tactile way and I think the
audience will also feel it in a more
tactile immediate real way Claude was
amazing as was michelle deporte we put
them in a terrible position because we
can cock these wildly ambitious stories
and then there's the practically out of
how we're gonna actually manifest them
and we had a lot of different
environments Simon as a really good eye
so it's very aware of what things should
look like each of the films that I feel
like we've worked on are different from
one another you know they all have a
sort of sub-genre within them Logan was
a Western Deadpool was a zany comedy the
second Deadpool movie was a father-son
dramedy Days of Future past was time
travel movie x-men first class was a spy
movie Apocalypse was a disaster movie
Dark Phoenix was a character driven
psychological thriller we do this now
yeah they'll see us as monsters violent
freaks fighting on the streets of New
York the girl dies we wanted to have a
palette that was not so colorful or a
firework as the previous one word so I
started picking some colors and I had
some big cards painted of each color in
my office and I brought Danielle or Andy
the costume designer there are no
superhero costumes per se people are
wearing normal clothes that they would
have bought and even if we made them and
design them they should just look like
they bought them we wanted it all to be
more organic and feel more real
why are you here we are in Kenosha
which is a country unto its own
basically that's been given to mutants
who who don't have anywhere else to go
if this sort of refuge for lost mutants
this land was provided by your
government for the shelter of mutants
who couldn't find it anywhere else we
have the same rights as you and your
families it was exciting to get to
create Kenosha it's one of the great
settings of the x-men comics and that
deserved cinematic treatment Simon and I
really decided that we would do
something that's different from the rest
of the palette of the movie making it a
happier place to live so we went with
bright pastel colors in the comic it's a
very sort of science fiction futuristic
place and I didn't want it to feel that
way because I'm making a more grounded
real movie and I also didn't want it to
feel like a refugee camp so we had to
find this place in the middle that made
sense that Eric would have picked up
metal containers because it's an island
from wherever we have these painted
cargo boxes stacked onto each other that
all of these mutants inhabit and have
this family and this camaraderie and
inclusiveness where we have a safe haven
in a place where we feel at home as you
can see all of it is metal made because
Eric can control all the metal so
there's many elements that we're facing
as we're going and there's also a pond
there with a beach where kids will play
and so on they're farming it they're
living there by choice and they're
living with less and they're rejecting
what society basically is and they're
trying to make their own little commune
we brought these containers from
scrapyard and we literally cut into them
making windows doorways and so on and
then we started painting them various
colors and we had one of our artists and
the scenic department to actually paint
some nice drawings that would have been
made either by the children or by the
adults to augment the happiness of the
look of it and then we talked also about
the flowers and the plants and we had
not just a greens department there but
we had greenhouses here they were
building cultivating real plants real
flowers real vegetables do then
transport those gardens on the days of
photography out there they're living off
the grid they're farming their fish
they're raising their kids if their
clothes are very simple t-shirts and
pants or skirt and aprons because
they're they're working for an Eric our
inspiration was Marlon Brando and
Apocalypse Now in a simple t-shirt and a
pair of pants so he's very dark but
really simple and also there's the
Eric's house which given it's an island
they just recoup some ship parts you
know so the exterior is the whole bow of
a ship that he's put up right and that's
planted there so we took a ship part and
I'm the bow a big ship and we planted it
here and it's mental but it's all wood
and all the joints and the welds and the
steel plating of the walls it was made
on wood and I've made these white marks
there that you see which are vertical
right now but if you put the ship down
those would be like phosphate or
whatever trash remains that the water
would have brought in their ship it was
very much alive and it was very much
driven by Simon's vision of it you need
to leave we are in genes neighborhood
this is the street where she was raised
its Annandale New York and we built this
on the back path of males and it's
roughly taken four months to there at
all one of my favorite sets in this
movie is Gene's neighborhood nobody will
believe that it was not a real
neighborhood because of the level of
detail right now in genes neighborhood
and basically this is the scene where
all of the x-men kind of comes Frankie
and after she's run away for the mansion
you shouldn't come here why is that
we've only come to bring you home we
started with a field of gravel we
created a neighborhood that is very low
middle class and I wanted to have a
bridge in there to show people drive by
they don't stop there like it's a
message that we don't want to go there
each of the different houses had a
different identity for the different
people that lived in it so you had the
guy who was the fisherman you got the
guy was the truck driver he had really
really detailed ideas about who these
characters were and what their front
lawns would look like and what kind of
toys or trial
or whatever would be in the front the
back on the side of their houses all the
houses were pre-built in the shop and we
assembled them on-site we poured the
asphalt road and everything also the
greens department did an amazing job in
that's three building all that front
lawns and and Ageing it genes
neighborhood it's remarkable that we
could build the entire neighborhood and
have that as a space to use and to
destroy as potentially needed in this
kind of movie the aftermath is as
extensive as building the set itself so
you have to really understand that when
you build something you have to build
the aftermath at the same time so that
everything will match and this is what
we've done today we've done the
explosion and now we've completed the
aftermath which will be shot tomorrow
there's lots of planning and sometimes
you have to make the aftermath and then
reconstruct your shoot like it was
originally built for can I talk about
spots okay
the x-men go to space and it's the most
exciting thing
I think there's not as much fun as I
thought it would be
anchors built a new jet pretty much in
most of the movies at some point the jet
and cerebro get get destroyed so I guess
in between movies he's just he's just
building them up again it's a lot of
tiling it's a lot of work to build you
know supersonic jets that then can go to
space when Charles needs I know what
you're thinking that's my trade and the
answer is no the jet can't get that high
even with the new booster rockets no
your modifications we had like three
months to build it Android so it was a
little bit of a fast-track project but
it's really stimulating we were allowed
to go a little bit more into the realm
of modernity and design that as progress
over time the jet was a fun creation to
do Trobe came up with a couple of
references of textures he liked and
images he liked of existing jets and
just plain metallic finishes all the
chairs in the x-jet are moving so when
we actually go into the x-jet they're
all facing each other but then the
except actually get some movement all
the chairs move to face the windshield
and there's even one chair that slides
sideways and goes down into the gunnery
babe
they're basically a bicycle seats on
sliders which were technically really
difficult to use sometimes than when
you're shooting really emotional stuff
inside the x-jet it was challenging but
it was also really fun xavius wheelchair
was a challenge on itself because it has
a long history and we also decided that
because the x-jet was such an important
element in this film that it would be
interesting that Hank who created all
the X stuff had created the jet had
created the chair and it would blend
together the chair I wanted to give it a
very modern tone like Hanks lab we were
looking for something a little lighter
we had managed on Apokolips to bring it
down quite a bit but it had a very
precise look in Apokolips and it wasn't
really what Simon or cloud we're looking
for so we went back to what a wheelchair
is I wanted to have this little X that
would be subtly lit so that when it
moves it lights on or it's lit all the
time depending on the purpose that we
had it's fun now because you can
actually come in the jet and when you
look from the back of the jet all the
backs of the chairs are the same and the
wheelchair is part of that
we are on the set for fifth avenue new
york just period this is one of the
coolest if not the coolest sets I've
seen built as a first time director it
gives me goosebumps to walk in here and
feel like this is a set that you know I
get to shoe fifth Devon you said it was
a giant undertaking obviously we could
never shut down Fifth Avenue for ten
nights or ever long it would have taken
us but we could have done green-screen
and used plates so Fifth Avenue and
instead Claude actually created a couple
city blocks a Fifth Avenue in New York
City said this is Fifth Avenue and yield
amazing right and we're in Montreal
that's you know unbelievable the detail
is so incredible down to the cracks in
the pavement down to all of the littlest
smallest things it was really driven by
the action and what it needed to be like
from A to B and like Italy leapfrog kind
of thing like going across the cars and
to the targets of the embassy when Eric
goes in see Jean and the continent house
he actually flies in the house this
gigantic building has to be with fake
ceilings so that we could actually have
all the trusses when the traveler tracks
and the cables organized with an
assistant that can be manipulated by
stunts it requires lots of thinking and
that's when the models come and II you
know it's not only for gripping or
lighting it's for stunting as well we
ended up with something that's really
decent and that everybody likes and it's
very shooting friendly
[Music]
literally we shouldn't have to wait
through the torso your baby she's coming
out and then you get him back in when
you're making these movies you have the
primary unit the principal photography
that's directing the actors in all of
the dramatic scenes and the majority of
the action scenes too and you have a
second unit that in this case was guy
Norris with a little help from Brian
summers when we did the pickups on this
movie you have that second unit and
they're shooting a lot of the details
and sort of biggest aspects of the
action sequences yeah you're not yes you
get a head up there they don't do that
for us our real pitch line ourselves
during this is its back to ground and
reality as much as possible in camera
stunts in action which is what I love
doing there's so many set pieces big set
pieces and so much destruction and every
kind of big set piece we build we end up
destroying we would just see him putting
against the fog when we start the movie
we're in the first big action sequence
that Charles when she was a little girl
told Jean that both her parents were
killed in the car crash that starts our
film essentially
[Music]
she was that did you you wanted it to
look like she killed her mother you
wanted to look like her father could
have survived or not and that she went
through something where she should have
been extremely injured but walked away
from it so when you put those three
things together and you the way you have
to shoot that to show the story of it we
had to bring those two vehicles together
and the car runs down a track and we
brought it down so we pulled the two
vehicles together with another vehicle
so we rigged it on a two to one and then
the two cables are connected so you can
bring them right to the Renmark and then
you can tell exactly where the accidents
gonna happen and then back them up and
when the truck pulls those two vehicles
they run right into the exact mark we
had inside the pickup truck with a pipe
ramp inside there and then we had some
structure built into the car so that
when two structures the vehicles came
together it would launch the car up in
the air rolls if it was crashing one of
the most impactful shots in the movie I
think is when the car in slow motion
rolls and you're on the faces of jeans
mother and father with little Jean in
the back as the car slowly rotates we've
rolled the car over and flipped it up
and when you see from the inside of the
car of the hood and everything collapses
the steering wheel comes down and
there's a lot of internal damage to the
vehicle then we're gonna put that on a
rotisserie rig where we can spin it
around so you can show that Jean is in
the back and nothing's hitting her and
she's in a little protective bubble and
then you can cut this all together and
tell the different stories under this
pretty interesting we're trying to tell
a more intimate story for the basis of
those scenes here we go this is where
we're spinning around Jean Grey's car
this is kind of a mid part of the
accident so now we can play all the
interior stuff where the car is rolling
and flipping looking
well debris and the actors floating and
flying and Lerner arms are loose and
everything's all tumbling around in the
cars we're covered in rubber glass we
are during the car crash sequence today
so we're strapped in and our laps are
full of silicone glass that will go
flying when we go upside down this will
be two rotations here we go
and three
[Applause]
it's your standard car rolling rig we
got a couple of rolled rings that we
have on on bogies their wheels that are
set up to pivot so it stays all smooth
and now we run this with a hydraulic
system so we're running basically two
Omega drives to run this with a
hydraulic system in an endless rope so
we just keep turning the winch and the
rig keeps turning and we want to stop
the stops so I've got a lot of
horsepower behind it to make a nice and
fast even accelerated and decelerated
quickly and to computer controlled so we
can decide where it stops it stops
upside down or right side up at an angle
we start and stop quickly and you know
as far as we want that's a piece of
equipment he has to specifically roll
huge pieces of machinery that you want
to film so you know that that sequence
is a credit and the ability to make that
as visceral and as sort of shocking as
it is as a credit to camp the very first
time that we understand the power of
what gene has going on between herself
and dark Phoenix there's a party
sequence and it's really all the younger
mutants are having a party it's just
after they've come back from the space
trip to more I was here with a solar
flare up in space and I'm just partying
and I had this crazy energy about me and
and I'm drinking I can't get enough of
everything then I looks on your voices
and and the noise of the music and the
lights and everything that's crazy
and my erupt stops
why have we started using erupt I don't
believe in this rally really I think I'm
saying explode I love you rub I love you
rubbed I think you broke just I erupted
and I have everyone back it's largely a
sort of concussive event this first time
it's not really a lot of fire involved
in it so we we sort of get as much of
that as we can in camera and then we try
to build on top of that and sort of
building a large sort of concussive
explosive event that knocks over trees
and blows people aside and has a certain
amount of a flash of light type
component but this is really the first
time we've seen it and we're not really
taking it that far in this first time we
end up having twenty seven people on
ratchets where they were all the party
goers the beginning blaster back in the
air from her effect to which leaves sort
of her laying in a crater
yeah here we go
and that causes then the flow for the
rest of the movie and the breakup of the
x-men and the hunting of Jean and then
it carries on in a downward spiral from
there the more real you can make it
whether that's practical effects or it
sets the easier it is for all of us to
make believe for ourselves and make the
audience believe this is Jane's
neighborhood Jean is confronted by the
other X team members here and there's a
kind of a Western showdown in this
street you shouldn't come here pretty
much all the x-men attempt to in their
own ways capture her and bring her back
so try to help her Nightcrawler there's
a little bit of a bamf type fight goes
on a vamp down into a house go through
the window there's a big fight in the
house which we've done Jean flee
she then bursts out of the side of her
own house
big silver koujina Quicksilver time but
of course none of it really is a match
for the Phoenix side of Jeanne
physically she can't go as fast as me
but mentally she's most likely faster
[Applause]
this is the part of the sequence where
gene is inside the house she's freaking
out she just knocked out Nightcrawler
and she's gonna blow onto the side of
the house that's what you'll see in the
movie after a Kurt and Philip done their
wonderful work that orange wire is
called B line it's detonating torch
that's between 12 and 15 grains per
agent it's a high explosive running
around between seventeen thousand and
twenty one thousand feet of silence
becomes blasting on the side of house so
we had to build that with balsa wood and
everything to be safe and launched bunch
of cannons it's a detonating cord behind
it to splinter it out so it looked like
impressive but you're her telekinesis is
coming through the law he deflects one
of the lightning bolts from storm so
that goes into the side of my house and
we got to blow that out you didn't want
to have two houses side by side one with
the big hole regime and have a lightning
strike the exactly the same thing so we
wanted to make a different gag with that
so we made a balsa wood wall that
exploded but we held it back with steel
and then we hold it in so it looked like
it's in the end there's a bunch of
debris left behind and in Quicksilver
uses the debris as stepping stones to
try and reach Jeanne she switches him
off and then continues down the rest of
the street about 200 yards tumbling like
a high side off a high-speed motorcycle
crash
so Quicksilver ends up somewhere way
down there and with a few broken bones
in this event what's happening is this
is when gene throws up her hand and
creates a force field the cop cars are
on a rail
there's dummies inside the cop cars cam
is gonna pull them in at about 25 miles
an hour what this keg here we you know
obviously the cars hitting visible wall
so it's a bit of trickery to get
everything to slide and everything to
happen properly so we had a system
inside the car that was tied back to
weight sleds in the back of the track
and when the cars get to the end it
pulls the cables back and pulls the
front bumper into the rest of the car so
it looks like an invisible wall but it
actually was all happening from behind
it and then we had cannons in the car to
flip it out because of course no gates
leave without flipping cars in the air
[Music]
it's a whole bunch of tiny little pieces
that all got to go well and there's a
sequence in the movie where gene goes to
Kenosha which is this land for mutants
and the US military show up with some
helicopters and there's a fight
essentially between gene and Eric Eric's
powers of being able to magnetically
control things versus genes telekinesis
for me it was really cool to read the
script and see what we were doing in
this sequence and using a helicopter as
a weapon I'd never seen that before and
is something pretty cool it was
something that's you know everyone
thinks helicopters are cool when you
have two superheroes fighting over one
and chopping things up with them it's a
pretty interesting thing for sure she's
gonna tip that helicopter so that the
rotor gets like almost to your cam
created a rig there was two cranes and
those cranes he had a line in between
them they could hold up to 8,000 pounds
that he could control to go forward and
back and tilt one way or another as Eric
and gene were fighting over it
stop that it's not me it's me
[Music]
that allowed us to you know really
choreograph some really close camera
moves but still have it flying around in
the air and as practical as possible so
then the only thing that visual effects
have to do for us is put the polite in -
back and forth sort of tug-of-war for
the helicopter the body of the chopper
is swinging toward them and swinging
back and going sideways and the stunt
performers that are trying to pile into
it are all running and jumping and
leaping into what is in fact a chopper
that is bobbing and weaving off the
ground this is our hydraulic be rig we
have two big hydraulic winches that we
run with a diesel-powered
hydraulic pump this is 680 horsepower
that will run our helicopter at about 3
feet a second by itself we want to run
the helicopter through the field at
about 12 feet a second so we have
hydraulic accumulators that we can store
a bunch of hydraulic power and so we use
the pump to fill the accumulators and
then we have stored energy this machine
makes me very excited this is one of my
favorite things in the film I just like
big powerful stuff and that's what this
is and you know if you're gonna pick up
a helicopter with you know 12 people in
it then you need lots of power behind
that so so it's a lot of fun for me to
do this kind of regen this is what I
really like to do in film there are very
complex ambitious set pieces to the film
made maybe a little bit more challenging
and more complex by the fact that the
tone of the movie is trying to be so
real but I see it now I'm afraid people
won't know that we actually did these
things so they'll assume it's a visual
effect as opposed to a practical effect
one of the things that's so lovely about
having made these x-men movies now for
going on I don't know 15 years for me is
that we have become in real life a
little family ourselves it's an amazing
kind of ecosystem part of what I love
about making movies is how incredibly
fragile it is far more fragile than
anybody perceives and how resilient it
is courtesy of the people who have
dedicated their lives to the use crafts
behind the camera the producers of these
films the people who are physically on
sets in pre-production myself hodge
parker josh mclaughlin todd Halliwell
we've become
a family unit I've been able to be part
of a really solid working relationship
with Josh McLaughlin and Simon Kinberg
and Hutch Parker and it's great we've
divvied up the responsibilities and now
everybody's just sort of permitted to do
what they do well we call ourselves the
deltas
I knew Simon Kinberg when he was a
writer Todd Halliwell and I got to know
each other on the first x-men that we
did which was Days of Future past and I
knew hutch Parker when he was running
Fox much has really become my primary
partner in making these movies he's the
producer who is there from the beginning
the inception of the idea through the
marketing and publicity all the way to
its release hutch is also extraordinary
being a conduit between the filmmaking
process the filmmaker and the studio he
knows the workings of the studio he
knows the the psychology of studio
executives and so he's just great
predicting their reactions to things and
also managing their process because they
are also partners in this and he's just
great in terms of facilitating that 3 2
1 boom and Josh McLaughlin whom we call
Zulu is sort of the field general he's
the first ad on the movie and his role
is to marshal the crew so that
everybody's ready to roll when it's time
to roll all right guys here we go josh
is an incredible ad and does far more
than what you would put onto that job
description and for a production that's
as complicated as these are it's an
extraordinary challenge and you know
josh is arguably one of the bests in the
world at that that'd be great Todd who
technically his role is as a line
producer he's worn many many hats he
started as production designer so he's
brilliant at managing the departments
and all the budgets and helping to make
sure that we have the resources we need
todd is extraordinary at figuring out
how to make movies at this scale and he
knows how to take what is a large budget
for these films but stretch it so that
it looks and feels even bigger than it
is it is a special team and it's a team
that extends even beyond those four it's
a team of hundreds all of whom have to
come
with passion and conviction everyday for
what they do in order to make it all
work
[Music]
I can open up a little bit feel like
that that's cool and it's like handheld
kind of dirty I see this movie as a
reboot with the same cast I think it's
completely different aesthetic I think
it's a different tone and I think it's
just a different movie than any other
ones that have preceded it part of it
frankly is I've never directed a movie
before and my sensibility it's different
and I tend to like films that are
grittier more naturalistic a little bit
more raw than these films have been in
the past
that was a conscious decision to have
most of the movie almost all of it
handheld which is really rare superhero
movies and very intimate very close we
filmed in Alexa full format with four by
three chip and also the use of
anamorphic lenses from Panavision three
to one
anamorphic also offers you a different
perspective on things particularly in
close-ups the close-ups I know morphic
have a little bit of like coving it's
almost a sphere as opposed to a flat
plane of what the face could be and so
those aberrations that anamorphic allows
creates that sort of roundness to the
human face what I said Mars intimate
agra fur and Takei or second unit
director was I want to use handheld
almost exclusively and even if we have
crane shots we would create these camera
mounts that are handheld camera mounts
on the crane so basically even when the
crane was moving you would have that
frenetic feeling to it
[Music]
the characters are moving but also the
camera is moving just a little bit so
that you feel a sort of humaneness and
that creates the rawness it's just a
feeling that everything has a little bit
of imperfection to it the way I sort of
project conceptually was that gene was
constantly being powered by the Sun so
it was more of like a lighting aspect
and also every time she imagines her
past there's some sort of sunlight and
that sunlight is quite warm so that warm
sunlight sort of motivated her journey
back to childhood but she travels
directly into her childhood neighborhood
she sees this romantic past that doesn't
exist anymore in a way until you know
she confronts her father and at that
point even the visual approach changes
in the film now all the sudden the world
turns very violent and the camera work
started to get a little bit more active
and subjective and kinetic something
that we talk about when we're on set is
of the dark phoenix spectrum twin one
and ten one being gene and ten being
full phoenix so they're moments in the
movie where you feel like she's out of
control and you'll see that not just in
her performance but it'll also be with
some visual effects a little flicker of
red in her eyes and a little flush in
her cheeks
a crack of where you see red almost like
veins in her skin it helped us really
demarcate what that arc wordy evolution
would look like and feel like for the
audience
basically on action start the move down
toward her mouth pretty pretty slowly
like you can catch the middle of one
when she did go through a phase of this
psychosis we tried to psychologically
with the camera move into that comfort
space we use a lens that came really
uncontrollably close and sort of invaded
her personal space and tried to get in
her head there's a movie from the early
90s called clean shaven by logic
Harrigan that I have to credit it's
about a guy who schizophrenic and one of
the things that lodge did was he created
a way of shooting the schizophrenic
character where he essentially dissected
their face with the camera so that in
his moments really heavy schizophrenia
instead of it being a close-up like this
like you have on me right now it would
be like that of him or like that or
sometimes his point of view would be
like that or like that the camera be
showing you this much and so we did
experiments with different kinds of
macro lenses where you can get super
super close to the person and
be filming there I and that will take up
the entire movie screen so we created
what we call the dark phoenix cam we
just kind of cut two little pieces of my
face it's just a really nice intimate
way of playing it where it feels very
invasive it does evolve over the span of
the film it starts really small on her
and then it gets kind of bigger and
bigger as you feel as though Phoenix is
taking over Jean this is fully Jean at
the beginning of the movie and this is
Phoenix and by the end of the movie this
is Phoenix and there's no more of Jean
and so it was just all these ways that
we could dramatize visualize this
transformation of our main character
we'll be waiting here to receive Sophie
we'll stay behind her as she as these
guys come through and we'll stay here in
Genosha I use a very saturated palette I
tried to bring those colors out as much
as I could and almost like a Kodachrome
you're almost traveling back in your
childhood but this childhood is so
vibrant in color in your eyes with him
which drives its little prize with the
witch helmet do the same shop at
districts trade on look inside Eric's
house the patina was quite extensive it
was a beautiful sort of rust and all
these different textures and we felt
like this home should still be a place
that he could sort of get away from this
sunlit environment he chooses to be
surrounded in this sort of steel ship
and so the elements of darkness were
important there and also for his
character that he doesn't light you in
right away there is an aspect of he
needs to protect himself by that
darkness not you I loved the way that
Moreau shot Jessica Chastain's character
I wanted her to sort of glow so her
whole aura
she kind of radiates light as she steps
in the room it's sort of a thinner light
that she's surrounded with not only her
light hair but her skin sort of glows he
was a much more controlled camera not
active handheld because we sort of hoped
that we'd get across to the point that
she's an alien so there's a very linear
camera moves and a camera on a crane a
camera and a dolly to accentuate the
fact that she had very direct control
over people and also the use of lower
angle how we're constantly twisting
around her oftentimes we've used the
back of her
as you know the symbol of her entering a
scene and playing the scene on the back
of her head and more enough cos tada
okay okay Kia in enough every aspect of
the aliens I wanted to be as real as
possible and I created with a linguist a
language for the aliens there's
obviously a fictitious language Simon
wanted it to sound predatory threatening
and very alien he wanted a language that
sounded as inhyun as possible I met with
Fidel initially and she says what he
want the language to be I was like I
don't know I know I'm not a linguist I
can't come up with words but this is the
way I want to feel about them when they
speak I wanted to feel staccato I want
it to feel hard I wanted to feel
reptilian what are the sounds that
haven't been utilized or are very rarely
utilized in human languages so I came
back with something that was made of
parts that exist in human languages but
that are very uncommon there's one like
an R type of sound that's in the back of
the throat that's like oh we've got some
hisses and also sounds that had a lot of
impact that we call ejectives
in linguistics there are sounds where
the air is like forcefully shoved out of
your mouth that kind of sound a bit like
clicks those things like like those type
of sounds that make the whole thing
sound a rhythmic rs.20 nosh-nosh God
don't forget got here in motion Dells
great because she was able to create
this language and I did my first scene
yesterday and it's phenomenal I love
learning languages and especially
learning a language that there's no
documentation for she's done a beautiful
job creating that serán he could Keisha
adrangi
with these the editor of this film is
Academy Award winner at least myth and
it's hard to describe his contribution
to this movie because it is in every
aspect in every scene and every cut of
this film is Lee's as much as it is mine
I'd almost say Lee was the most
important part of the larger team I
think as a first-time director even with
all the skills that Simon brings to the
table there's no substitute for having
somebody behind you like Lee when Simon
first contacted me about this film we
were talking about making a film about a
goal I'm reveling psychologically as the
film went on which is an interesting
framework to put in the body of a
superhero film and was very appealing to
me as a technician he's phenomenally
fast his instincts are great he's
patient and thoughtful it's quite a
complicated film because it involves a
girl I'm reveling plus basically an
alien invasion on the top of it and
trying to weave that through the film is
a challenging process because you never
want to drop one storyline in favor of
the other hello Jean he's someone that
thinks in terms of theme he feels so
deeply what's happening inside of each
scene or what should be happening inside
of each scene I wanted it to look real
wanted that grounded feeling that it
wasn't all fluff and it was something
that you could get your teeth into said
true Jean killed her he's not simply an
editor who is cutting the footage that
you shot for pace or for storytelling he
is someone who is a partner in
crafting the story the characters of the
movie the whole editorial process has to
be about no matter how hard it was to
shoot you have to be willing to kill it
and it is a sad time where you take out
something that a lot of people put a lot
of effort into hopefully you don't but
occasionally you do he tells me when
something doesn't feel true and honest
and he tells me when something can go
deeper and he leans in and he also
experiments hello as an example the
first time in the movie that we meet
young Charles Xavier and Charles meets
young Jean he comes into her and waiting
remember the hospital and their first
four or five lines are really emotional
like these are lines that I think almost
all editors would play in a close-up
because you really want to see the
character spaces and I shot what's
called a master shot which was a high
shot looking down at the room and Lee
instead of using that just for the
opening shot to pull Charles into the
room and then you cut into the close-ups
the way I'd imagined that the scene
would be cut he stayed in that shot for
the first three or four lines my name is
Charles Xavier
and I watched it at first I was like why
did you do that get into the close-ups
and he was I just watch it again
watch it as an audience member like
being carried by the scene as opposed to
anticipating the scene and I watched it
again and I was like wow I I do feel for
this little girl because she looks so
small in the frame and I do feel for
this relationship because they start out
so far apart and I'm feeling that much
more in this high wide shot then I would
be if we immediately cut into close-ups
of the two of them because they would
feel closer together and there's tons of
those kinds of really fairly radical
bold I would say choices in the end
we're entertainers and we're in the
entertainment industry and always my
hope is entertained never bored you want
people to have had a good time Jennifer
Lawrence this is a picture wrap for
Alexandra Shipp
even the most casual fan of these films
this is the end of the x-men as you've
known them because they're facing a
challenge that is different than
anything they were you as an audience
member I've ever experienced have an
amazing winner cause I knew you loved it
so much known each other for seven years
most of us and even you guys that came
in the last movie but all the family and
part of this one is saying goodbye so
many memories with all these people I
meant some of my best friends here we
never take for granted we are able to
work with such great talent and with the
utmost respect and affection Michael I
can't tell you man
I'm so grateful that you're here and
thank you so much really thank you it's
quite a poignant moment we're filming
this sort of original first class cast
what's left of us and now we've got a
whole new cast coming through it's nice
to in some ways pass the baton unto them
ever since day one I mean we all had
this kind of novelty experience of wow I
can't believe by doing this and being in
the x-mansion together and seeing each
other in the makeup comic book accurate
costumes it's quite surreal actually a
cement as mother in terms of these
movies and also like real life for us
because you know we started making these
movies I think I was 20 or 21
this is Hank McCoy one of our most
talented young researchers and now from
the first class generation have expended
it's kind of only myself Michael and
James still remaining cost-wise
it's very sad but it also suits a
strange marker in real life and in the
movies that is a picture for our star
sophie turner nobody is ever in any
movie I've ever seen given more
emotionally physically psychologically
every single day to the movie so thank
you I'm really really sad and I think
I'm the saddest to say goodbye to Simon
because he's been my partner for like
nine months now workwise
and I feel like saying goodbye to him I
feel like I'm losing a bit of a limb I
didn't I'm gonna go to my next job and
not have Simon with me it's just gonna
be really bizarre I would love that
people leave this movie seeing an
expression of what they have felt before
when they've lost control the
relatability of that I hope audiences
hold on to and I would love people to
leave this movie asking what would I do
if I were simply in this family at what
point would I stop trying to help or
save them Jeanne lost control but she's
still Jean we can still help her we can
find her bring her home these movies and
these characters are important to me and
dear to me and we want to deliver
something meaningful and lasting to the
audience and to honor all the work
that's gone into these today I want them
to get to experience these characters a
slightly different way to feel like
we've taken them on a compelling journey
that they're surprised and moved and
hopefully grateful for us carrying these
characters forward in the ways that we
do I don't know what the future holds
for the x-men but I approached this
movie like it was the culmination of all
of these movies they've been making over
the span of the last almost 20 years now
in terms of x-men movies I felt as
though this had to feel like the climax
of all these movies that have come
before it
you