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SPECIAL UPDATE FROM THE COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL IN SAN DIEGO -- 7/22/00

SINGER TALKS X-MEN MOVIE, SEQUEL

Bryan Singer, director of the X-Men movie, appeared before an overflow at the Comic-Con International on Friday, discussing possible involvement in a sequel and answering questions from the crowd.

On directing an X-Men sequel, Singer said: "We're talking about it. In unusual circumstances because of the very compressed post-production schedule and the release date, I genuinely finished this film three weeks ago. There hasn't been a lot of time to deliberate that, but we're just starting to talk about it."

Asked again later about the sequel, Singer said: "I've just started talking about that now. The other actors are all signed on for commitments; I keep myself free. But I'm definitely interested. We just finished the film three weeks ago, so we're going to talk about that.

"You start eating, living and breathing this stuff. I'll tell you something funny. I was in my hotel in New York City and was just so overwhelmed by the movie and I just wanted to get some rest in the morning, so no one would bother me. So I called up the concierge and said, 'Could you give me an 11 a.m. wakeup call and could you please hold all my claws?' I actually said that.

"So I'm trying to step away from it and take a little break. But, yeah, we'll probably have those conversations more when I get back to Los Angeles."

Singer also brought a blooper reel, which included a scene where Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey charge through the State of Liberty, only to be followed by a fully costumed Spider-Man. The crowd roared at the outtake as the actors broke up laughing and Cyclops chased Spidey down a hall.

Following are some of Singer's other comments:

On the $54.5 million opening weekend: "I can honestly say the opening weekend exceeded my expectations by tens of millions. I want to tell you, God bless the fans."

On rumors that Fox had him cut the movie: "Someone said to me the other day, 'I hear the studio made you cut 40 minutes last week.' I'd be like, 'Wow, that would be an unusual thing to have just cut - whok!' We had a very limited amount of time to edit it so in the first five weeks of editing I was editing in Toronto on the Sundays when I wasn't shooting. In five weeks, we had done an assembly which was about two hours or so and began paring things down and certain scenes you lose. It's a editing process that took place from about the five-week point to the eight- to 10-week point. Forty-five minutes or anything like that? There were something like maybe 20 minutes were shaved off or reduced. There were bits missing, but when you're shooting a movie, it's very rare that you actually use all the scenes that you shoot. Some films come in at four hours, and get cut down to an hour and a half or two. This was pretty tight. I ended up losing some stuff, but it wasn't the studio coming in saying cut it. They were on the same page on the kind of movie that we were making."

On the pressure of making X-Men: "Pressure is inevitable. You would know the pressure, if not more, particularly if you are a fan. It's the last thing one thinks about once you are shooting. You take in account your respect for the comic book universe and to the lore of the X-Men. And at the same time you want it to be accessible for people who don't understand or might not be familiar with the comic. You think about those things; you don't think about the pressure. Yeah, the pressure is quite enormous, especially when you read things like 'Fox is relying on tent-pole franchise' and these kinds of words. You just try to ignore them and make a good film."

On directing a special-effects movie: "It was surprisingly easy. I did a lot of research in the world of visual effects. I visited the set of Phantom Menace. I also visited Titanic and spent some time with those filmmakers. Basically, it's applied imagination. You come up with an idea and say, 'Can we do it?' You learn very quickly what can and can't be done, references, what is going to do be divided between miniatures and CGI.

"And even practical effects like making Sabretooth's hair stand on end. We explored all kinds of computer ways of approaching it, which would have been expensive and wouldn't have looked terribly real. We ended up hooking the actor to a 5-million volt Vandergrift generator. You learn these things very quickly. I found it quite fun actually.

"It takes longer time, so sometimes you need to get a reference or you do a pass with the actors and without the actors, and at times it gives you a break to step back and evaluate things."

Did he do introduction scenes for Cylcops, Jean Grey and Storm that might be on a DVD? "The rumors travel fast. We didn't shoot those. In a draft of the script, there was a flashback for Storm and there was a flashback for Cyclops, but they didn't fit in and I ultimately decided to go only go with Magneto and Rogue because they were pivotal characters who were driving the story forward.

"We discussed possibly some additions (for the DVD). This is just a preliminary discussion that we just had and it would be something fun to do, but we're not sure yet. That would be a studio decision. I'd be up for it."

On how Wolverine's claws were made: "First you've got some get some adamantium. (laughs) We've got many different ways. There are claws that are real and are made of metal. There are sometimes claws that are real and are made of plastic that are attached and he holds something in his fists that enables him to control them when he's fighting and movie. The plastic ones are meant to be safe, although we had some incidents where the plastic ones do pierce flesh. Sometimes, they are computer-generated, when they have to retract come in and out. Although there is a shot in the movie where it's an actual physical mechanism that made them come out. We only used it once because it was difficult. It had to be a fake hand with a whole machine behind it. And it was easier to use digital effects. But once they were out and movie, they were practical, either metal or plastic."

On the realistic special effects, as opposed to those of The Matrix: "Mike Fink, my visual effects supervisor, and I basically agreed that because we were mixing visual effects with live actors, they should have an organisism to them, they should be as elegant as possible. My cinematographer, Tom Siegel, brought a texture and sort of rich lighting design, so we needed our visual effects to help celebrate that. So there were a lot of talks about keeping things fluid, seamless and elegant. I really credit them, particularly Mike Fink, for his quality of maintenance in the area of visual effects.

"The Matrix was a world where anything goes, so people could freeze in mid-air and things like that. Here, these things were taking place in the real world and there were many different mutations. We went to eight visual effects houses and each one would be in charge of the claws or what happens to Senator Kelly or Mystique or model work. We could have them focus and dedicate all of their energies to that one effect. As opposed to having a movie where there are many similar effects where you do the effect over and over again, we sort of spread it out so each house could take pride, in Toad's tongue, for instance."

Characters in a sequel he might want to bring in: "I love Gambit a lot. I almost had Gambit as a young boy on the basketball field. But the fear was if he held the basketball and then released it and it exploded - which was the idea - people would be like, 'What's wrong with those basketballs?'

"Gambit and Beast are two characters I miss terribly. Beast was in the script for a while, but then when you've got Mystique with nine hours of makeup and these challenges, you have to choose your battles."

Did he wish he had more time on the film? "I'm very satisfied with the film. Naturally, I would have loved to have more time. I was trying to split myself between many places at one time and finish the film quickly and maintain the level of quality we were going for. It was very challenging and difficult. And I hurt my neck, too, halfway through shooting, so I was always in pain every day. And that pain! I'd like some more time if I were to do this again, but I don't feel this was sacrificed or harmed, thank goodness. In fact, there were some wonderful blessings when you're forced to be inventive."

On the younger X-Men cameos: "If I may, I'd give credit to Tom DeSanto, the producer and my partner, for not only suggesting a lot of those things and also guiding me through the process and this amazing world which he has been a fan of for decades."

Why he used Bobby Drake as a teenager: "There wasn't a lot of characters that were going to interact, and I liked this character and I wanted at least one person on the cusp of being an adult. I felt Sean Ashmore, he's 18, 17, sort of on the cusp and I wanted him to play a character I like, which is Bobby. Like tomorrow, he could be an X-Men."

Is the kid with the blue hair Colossus? "No. Colossus was drawing at the very beginning of a shot with the boy running across the water."

Is the kid teleporting Nightcrawler? "Not necessarily. Nightcrawler is blue and has a tail. He's 'Teleporting Kid.' Those were actually triplets by the way, so we shot it very quickly."

On the film portrayal of Toad: "For some reason, I became obsessed with Toad from looking at the early comics. And then I started the casting process and once I got Ray Park involved, I started thinking that Toad should be much more vicious and less of a jester and more of a killer. I like the idea of Toad against Storm, but Toad needed more weapons, so the tongue evolved and things like that and it grew and grew from there.

"People were like, 'Why are using Toad?' I was like, 'Oh, OK. Toad will be cool.'"

How did he come about using Ray Park as Toad? "It was very strange. I was on the set of Phantom Menace the day they were shooting the fight sequence, the climactic battle. And I even turned to (George) Lucas and I said, 'Who is that guy in the red head with the horns?' And he said, 'That's the villain.' I went, 'OK sure.' I was never introduced to him; I never met him. I watched him fight for a while, and I thought it was neat.

"A while later, after I had seen Phantom Menace and enjoyed the fight stuff he done, I wanted to meet with him. So he came in, we met and talked about martial arts style, foot-fighting, and we saw eye to eye on a lot of stuff. And I thought, 'Let's try to do this.'"

The use of X's and O's in the movie: "I had a bit of an obsession with X's in the film, wherever I could find X's, whether it be in the criss-crossing of the gates in the concentration camp or the X's in the Senate. Or I once grabbed a big piece of debris that was lying outside the train station - it looked like an X - and put it so it would be lit as Magneto marched to the helicopter.

"My production designer started bringing in O's. It started in Wolverine's bedroom, and there was a bedspread with all these little O's. And I was like, 'Ooh, that's ugly.' And he was like, 'I think O's are neat. You've got these X's, let's have some O's.' And I said, 'Where did that come from?' He said, 'Well, I thought it would be reminiscent of the Magneto motif.'

"Magneto is all about the giant circles and metal, and you see that in Cerebro, which Magneto helped build."

On the casting of Storm: "I had talked to Angela Bassett. It became an issue of age, and how I was lining them up in their ages. And Halle came in and was so wonderful and powerful and really interested and willing to do it. I made that decision and was ultimately very pleased with that."

On Hugh Jackman's first scene as Wolverine: "I've a terrible memory for the order of things. I can sing any Beatles song, but I can't tell you the order. (after a hint from Tom DeSanto). The scene in the lab when we wakes up, when Jean Grey comes and he springs up and the runs into the hallway."

Why didn't Wolverine know Sabretooth? "Remember, Logan has no memory. There is a certain length of time he existed that he doesn't have memory of that begs exploration, which the film sort of gives way to at the end. That familiarity, that relationship can be explored later in that gray area that he has no recollection of."

Gag reel on DVD? "Possibly. I don't know. I'll think about that. We also don't want to make fun of it. It isn't an Airplane movie. But there are good bloopers. On my other films, we had great bloop reels but we moved so fast through editing, but we didn't cut a gag reel for the cast and crew."

Rumors of Apocalypse and the Hellfire Club in the sequel: "I've never heard those rumors before. I've never heard that before, so I don't think it has any validity."

On how long he's been directing: "I was doing 8mm films when I was 13, so I've been directing for 21 years."

Friday, July 21, 2000

TOY BIZ'S NEW X-MEN FIGURES

New X-Men action figure sets - based on both the live-action movie and the new animated series - highlight Toy Biz's upcoming releases, revealed Thursday at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

The third series of figures from the X-Men movie will include Professor Xavier in a clear, plastic wheelchair as seen at the end of the film; Rogue in an X-Men costume; Toad with a new head sculpt and vest; Wolverine in a denim jacket; Cyclops with a baseball cap from the scene in the train station; and a snow-covered Sabretooth with pelts.

The X-Men movie toys have sold extremely well, ToyBiz's Jesse Falcon said.

"We shipped them about a month and a half before the movie opened, and they were selling really briskly," Falcon said. "But when the movie opened up, they just explored."

GIVE'EM A CLICK

The X-Men Evolution toys, based on the upcoming Kids' WB! animated series, are due in November and will include Toad, Sabretooth, Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops and Nightcrawler. A Logan figure will also be available, but will likely be packaged with a special feature, possibly a motorcycle.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

There will also be Evolution of X two-packs available through Toys R Us in September, which will include a movie figure with a newly sculpted comics version of the same character. Characters include Wolverine, Toad and Sabretooth.

In November, Toy Biz will release Spider-Man Classics, which will include an origin-telling comic book with each figure. Both Spider-Man and a Black Costume Spider-Man will feature 30 points of articulation, and Falcon describes Venom and Man-Spider figures as "artistically beautiful."

Toy Biz continues to produce figures for the direct market through Diamond. Future Famous Covers dolls include Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Punisher, Doctor Strange, Red Skull and Carnage.

Action figures under the Marvel Dark Side banner will include Man-Thing, Doctor Strange (astral version), Dormammu and Vermin. Greatest Moment two-packs will have Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin and Thanos vs. Adam Warlock.

Also coming to the direct market is a Mutant X line, which will include Mutant X, Goblin Queen, Bloodstorm and The Fallen (tentatively).

DEFENDERS RETURN

The Defenders will return this winter in a new ongoing series from Marvel Comics, written by Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen, with art by Larsen and Klaus Janson. The Defenders, edited by Tom Brevoort, is tentatively scheduled to start in December.

"This Defenders team is the Defenders that I always thought of as the Defenders, which were the original three, which is Hulk, Namor and Doctor Strange," Larsen said at the Marvel panel at the Comic-Con International in San Diego.

"Plus, we're tossing in this Silver Surfer cat, and Nighthawk, Valkyrie and Hellcat."

Larsen said it was difficult to put together the team, "because they don't like each other" and credited Busiek for the idea that cinched the concept.

"The big problem with Defenders is that the whole idea is Doctor Strange, Namor and the Hulk get together and whale on guys," Busiek said. "The idea that they would then get together and do that again â¤| well, maybe you could figure out how to have that happen. By the third time, it's 'Why do these guys keep hanging around each other? They don't like each other much and they don't join teams.' And then when they've done it for 10 years, it's just not convincing any more.

"I never actually expected to be working on Defenders. I knew Tom was putting together a new Defenders book and we were talking about just why it's so hard to get these guys together on a regular basis, without softening them.

"You can make them a team if you make them all nice with each other, but do you really want to see that? While I was talking to Tom, I said, 'Wait a minute. It could work this way.' And he said, 'That'll work.' So I called up Erik and Erik said, 'That'll work.'

"Now, we're not going to tell you what it is. Come December, you'll have to buy the book and you'll say, 'That'll work.'"

Busiek said a year's worth of stories have been planned out.

"It's big, it's sprawling, it's earth-shaking and it's wacky," Busiek said.

BATMAN: TURNING POINTS EVENTS

Batman: Turning Points will be DC Comics' Fifth Week event for November.

"It examines the relationships between James Gordon and Batman over the years," explained writer Greg Rucka of the five-issue event.

Here's a rundown of the issues:

The first issue is written by Rucka with an artist to be named and is a Year One story when Gordon was still a captain. "It's a pivotal moment in their relationship," Rucka said.

The second issue is written by Ed Brubaker with art by Joe Giella. It explores how Gordon reacts to Batman having a 15-year-old partner in Robin. "It's a new take on it, written from Gordon's point of view," Brubaker said.

The third issue is written by Brubaker with art by Dick Giordano. "It takes places in the aftermath of the Killing Joke and Death in the Family and how they react," Brubaker said. Joe Kubert is providing the cover.

The fourth issue is written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Brent Anderson. It explores the relationship of the new Batman, who became Azrael, with Gordon.

The fifth issue is written by Rucka, with art by Paul Pope. "This is set in contemporary times and is their relationship as it is seen today," Rucka said.

Rucka said that Batman: Turning Points leads to "something interesting in the books come 2001."

Also, Rucka said December will see every Bat-title featuring a story in which Batman "dies." Each story will be presented from the view of the villain.

"Some of them are pretty funny," Rucka said. "There's one story where Batman dies 12 times."

BRUBAKER TO WRITE CATWOMAN

Ed Brubaker is taking over the writing chores on DC Comics' Catwoman, with a commitment for at least a year.

"It's pretty recent, so I have no concrete plans about anything," Brubaker said. "It's going to be a facelift, I guess. I want to change things to make it a book that I've wanted to write.

"I'm going to try to take it to a different place than it's been because we've seen all that for quite some time. I always thought it was stupid she has to always steal something and then make out with every super-villain.

"It's going to be a new look, a new direction with the same person, but a much stronger character. I want it to be a good comic book that doesn't veer too far from the characterizations of Catwoman that most people have done that I've liked."

Current plans are for Staz Johnson to remain as artist. "I'm looking forward to having him on the book," Johnson said of Brubaker.

RUCKA RETURNS TO ONI WITH NEW SERIES

Greg Rucka will debut his first creator-owned comic book series since Whiteout in March. Published by Oni Press, the new series will feature the British spy character from the first Whiteout series, and she will lend the book its name - Lily Sharpe.

The series will be ongoing, bimonthly, and feature a rotating stable of artists. The focus of Lily Sharpe will be on traditional stories of international intrigue and counter-intelligence.

"When you say 'British spy,' people think James Bond," Rucka said, "but there is a whole other level to the genre that gets a lot less of a focus. Real intelligence work is a lot less flashy and a lot more dangerous. For this series, I'll be looking to authors like John Le Carre for inspiration, and mimicking the tone of a great BBC series called 'The Sandbaggers.' It stars Roy Marsden as a head of a special team of agents and shows the dirty side of diplomacy and world politics."

Despite the realistic nature of the stories, Rucka hopes to have a variety of artistic styles.

"With Whiteout, I had a wonderful collaborator in Steve Lieber," Rucka said. "However, I don't want people to feel that his is the only style suitable to this character. I want artists to feel free to experiment, and even in the grittier spy pictures there is always something flashy about a dark humored man in a leather overcoat. Lily should definitely have that fashionable appeal."

Steve Rolston is drawing the debut story. Ralston is best known for his online, animated comic Jack Spade and Tony Two-Fist. He also has worked in mainstream animation and has his debut comics story appearing in September's edition of Substance Affect, the Scott Morse edited anthology coming from Crazyfish/MJ-12.

"I have been familiar with Steve's work for a little over a year now," said Jamie S. Rich, editor-in-chief of Oni Press. "I always liked it and have been waiting for the right project to put him on. I had been searching for a suitable artist to kick off the Lily Sharpe series, when Joe Nozemack, our publisher, noticed Steve's work on the Crazyfish site. He had a flash of inspiration, and before we knew it, the ball was rolling."

"Obviously, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Rolston said. "Rarely does a new artist get teamed with such an amazing writer on such a highly anticipated project. It's a challenge I welcome, and I hope that Lily Sharpe is just the beginning."

Lily Sharpe is scheduled to debut from Oni Press in March of 2001. The bimonthly comic will be in a standard, black-and-white format and will be geared towards mature readers. At some point in its run, Rucka will also begin co-writing a soon-to-be announced series with Nunzio DeFillipis (a television writer whose credits include HBO's "Aril$$), and that title will be published in alternating months with Lily Sharpe.

BRIEFLY

Editor Tom Brevoort announced that Marvel Masterworks returns in November with a Fantastic Four edition reprinting Fantastic Four #51-60. "The whole of the program rests on this one volume," Brevoort said.

Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada said that the Spider-Man/Daredevil mini-series by Paul Jenkins and Phil Winslade will sport covers by Alex Ross.

Louis Small Jr. is the artist for Codename: Knockout, a Vertigo project due next year.

Come back Saturday for a special report on X-Men director Bryan Singer's appearance at the San Diego convention.

E-Mail the Continuum at roballs@aol.com

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