X-Men Apocalypse: Bryan Singer Epic Interview
Bryan Singer, director of X-Men Apocalypse, also gave us the first two X-Men films and has been very generous in this epic
interview! The full interview is here at collider.com.
Why now? What makes now the perfect time to tell the apocalypse tale?
“Because it’s just so different. We’ve always treaded this theme of mutants vs humans and Apocalypse has two aspects that make him such a different character than I’ve traditionally explored in the universe. One is that he makes no distinctions between humans and mutants. He’s interested in the Earth as a whole and the purity of civilization and the strongest. And secondly it deals with ancient mutantism, or the origins of the mutant state, or the origin of gods and religion. Which the
X-Men universe has never touched upon any of those things and that stuff I loved when I was a kid. I read Chariots of the Gods when I was a kid, and I was fascinated with religion as a kid and cults and things like that. So
that stuff made this so appealing to do, plus I love the characters so I love coming back with actors and people I know, and I love X-Men.” – Singer.
How would you describe this Apocalypse?
“The way I describe him the most, the best is he to me is the God of the Old Testament and all that comes with that. If there isn’t the order and the worship then I’ll open up the Earth and swallow you whole, and that was the God of the Old Testament. I started from there and when Oscar and I met we began discussing, since he isn’t really God, he’s the first mutant perhaps, but he’s not God necessarily, he’s imbued with certain unique powers. Some of them may or may not be from this Earth, we don’t know. Then we started looking at cults and the nature of cults, because cult leaders, true cult leaders, develop god complexes and he always traditionally had four horsemen so I thought a cult has
traditionally four factions to it that interest me. It has a political faction, and I’d always felt Magneto could fill those shoes. It always has a military faction, so Archangel could fill those shoes as the guardian. There’s also youth faction, those that you’re trying to seduce and grow into your cult, the young whose minds are malleable, and lastly the sexual component because cult
leaders tend to sexualize their position and have sex with half the people in their cult. And the Psylocke character, who was a very bright character in the comic but is always looking for guidance and leadership. Always trying to find the right guy, so she starts with one and ends up with Apocalypse in this one. I always thought there was a mixture of ancient religion and cultism combined in the character of Apocalypse.” – Singer.
You teased in X2 a possibility of a Phoenix story, do you have any plans for one?
“The full Phoenix story, I have no idea. I would have to re-explore that. If it’s already been explored, to re-explore and retell it. Plus the Phoenix story in the comic book has the Shiar Empire and the moon.” – Singer.
What keeps bringing you back to the X-Men Universe?
“I think it’s the history. It’s the history and the cast. I have a history with these characters and when I think of them in the hands of other people, their origins perhaps, I don’t want someone else to be…. I hired Matthew [Vaughn] and I trusted him to tell the origin that
I had told to Patrick and Ian when they asked me what their origins were. But I had to be part of it, I had to produce it. Just like this movie, to tell the origin of Jean and Scott and Storm, I didn’t want to not be part of that, and I didn’t want to not be part of where certain characters ended up.” – Singer.
This is just a juicy little tidbit of what Singer had to offer in the interview. The full interview is incredibly massive and you won’t be disappointed.
X-Men Apocalypse hits theaters May 27.
When Beth “grows up” she wants to see her creations appear on the screen and stage. In her free time, Beth blogs about her love of craft beer and writes screenplays. She received her bachelors in journalism from Youngstown State and received her masters in communication from The University of Akron. She is honored to be a part of the FanFest family.
