WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND'S SHAWN ASHMORE
NEW YORK -- The Continuum today continues its series on the actors of X-Men: The Last Stand with a question-and-answer session with Shawn Ashmore, who returns as Bobby Drake/Iceman.
Following is an edited transcription of the roundtable interview.
Question: What did you think of the change of directors?
Ashmore: I think when we found out that Bryan (Singer) wasn't going to do it, it was a little worrying. We didn't have a director for a long time, which was kind of scary.
But as soon as Brett (Ratner) came on, came to set and we started working, it was just a matter of days. It was a pretty quick transition. I think Brett understoond that there were actors who had been playing characters for two movies, and respected that, but definitely put his own signature to his film.
I think was a pretty smooth transition, actually.
Question:You get to do something at the end of the film that people have been waiting for. How cool was that?
Ashmore: Incredible. I've been waiting for it, too. One of the cool things about Bobby in this movie, his powers and his abilities were sort of more defensive. He's sort of grown up in this movie, slightly more mature and part of the team and he gets to use his powers in sort of an offensive way -- and that was awesome.
Question: In the intervening time between X2 and this movie, did you and Pyro have a fight?
Ashmore: I don't think we had seen each other. The first time we saw each other was at the Cure Clinic.
Question: How did the animosity build?
Ashmore: The cool thing about John and Bobby were friends at one point, know what I'm saying? In X2, when he blows up my front yard and takes off from the group, that's the beginning of the sort of animosity between us.
I think that's where it started. To me, that's a pretty big first step -- blowing up your family's front yard. I think that's where it began, and I think just the fact that he left the group is enough to cause friction.
Question: Is the cure good or bad?
Ashmore: To me, the whole thing about the cure is that it's an individual decision -- good or bad. Magneto's not bad for sticking up for what he believes in. His methods aren't necessarily right.
But that's the cool thing about the cure. It sort of blurs the line; there's a lot more of a gray area. It's not like evil Brotherhood against the good X-Men. It's about fighting for your belief system in the sense of who should make these decisions. That's what it's really about.
Question: So, is the cure bad? I don't think cure's bad. The cure's reeally good for some people. For Rogue, it might be a positive thing. For Bobby, it might not be. For Beast, it might be.
Question: Imposing it on the whole community...
Ashmore: That's the issue. That's the negative side of it. So when you do have this power and this is a goverment forcing with that power, that's when you have to stary worrying about when is someone going to impose that cure on people don't necessarily want that cure.
Question: How was the Danger Room sequence?
Ashmore: It was incredible. We took forever -- forever. We started on first unit and they couldn't get everything they needed to do second unit. It was a huge outdoor set, just outside of Vancouver. There's like neighbors complaining and stuff. At 4 in the morning, there's like massive mushroom cloud explosions. It was a lot of fun, and there's some really cool stuff in there.
Question: How was it working with Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde)?
Ashmore: Awesome. Ellen's great. Being both Canadians, we had a few friends in common or being that I worked with that were big fans of hers and all that stuff. It was really great. I think she's a great actor and just a genuinely cool girl.
X-Men: The Last Stand opens on Friday.
Copyright © 2006, The Comics Continuum