So the X-Men: Apocalypse trailer is finally here in its official form. We’ve broken down some of the references and characters featured already, but it turns out that Bryan Singer provided some background secrets with Empire Magazine. And when we’re talking secrets, we’re actually talking some hefty info behind the motivations of our villains, the characters you didn’t notice in the trailer, and even a few things about the filmmaking decisions that went into the trailer.
Likely the most interesting portion of his revelations comes around Apocalypse and his powers in the film. The first thing Singer addressed was the initial reaction to Apocalypse’s look in the film:
“I like that you just see bits and pieces,” says Singer. “It forces you to look at not just his face, but his costume, the scale, the strangeness, the inscription, the technology. It makes you want to lean around the corner to get a better look.”
Singer also addresses the criticisms of Apocalypse’s look. “That was a picture,” he says of the first reveal, and there were no visual effects. He’s a very powerful and imposing character and Oscar acts the sh*t out of it.”
And then the scene with Apocalypse growing to immense size and pinning Charles Xavier to the ground apparently features a “clever” twist on Apocalypse’s power:
“It’s part of the mythology of Apocalypse’s size, but I couldn’t go full Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man where he’s just Giant Apocalypse, swatting at things,” laughs Singer. “I did something a little interesting in how I addressed the size thing, but I think the audience will get a kick out of it.”
The other interesting aspect from Singer’s discussion on the trailer is his take on Magento’s story in the film and the focus on Apocalypse as a God. It plays into Erik’s already established backstory and directly launches from his escape at the end of Days Of Future Past:
“He’s found Erik at the most vulnerable place in his life,” explains Singer. “He’s searching for God. Remember, he was a young Jew in a concentration camp when he first lost his family and now here comes this man who was, is, or claims to be God. The power of persuasion is Apocalypse’s greatest power…
“Fassbender really delivers here in non-traditional comic book style. There are scenes here you will not see in any other comic book movie. I really think Erik goes through one of the most complex journeys in the movie.”
Singer also noted that many scenes we saw in the trailer were only specifically for the trailer. Jubilee was originally meant to be cut, Charles discussing Jean’s dream at the bedside is actually a much deeper conversation than we see, and Evan Peters’ scene will indeed attempt to top his kitchen rescue in Days Of Future Past. He worked more days than anybody on just this one scene:
“There’s one sequence that took one and a half months to shoot for three minutes of film,” says Singer. “It involves the most complex camera moves, very sophisticated explosive algorithms, 3D Phantom cameras travelling at 50mph while shooting at 3,100 frames per second…
“This is tonally different to the Pentagon sequence, and a little bittersweet,” says Singer. “I’ll leave it at that.”
There’s plenty more over at Empire, providing more detail on The Four Horsemen, Apocalypse’s trip with Cerebro, and some info about that final scene with bald Professor X. Well worth a look for fans of the comics and series.
(Via Empire)
