Bryan Singer Updates on 'X-Men' Sequel's Timeline, Sci-Fi & More

As Marvel gears up for their cinematic Phase Two and Warner Bros. looks to make Superman relevant again with Man of Steel, X-Men: Days of Future Past is becoming one of the most intriguing superhero films slated to come out in the next few years. Director Bryan Singer is back to direct after helming the first two films in the series, and thanks to the time travel storyline in this upcoming movie, he'll be able to feature versions of characters from his films as well as their younger counterparts that appeared in X-Men: First Class. We haven't written too much recently and with Singer out talking for Jack the Giant Slayer, here's a Days of Future Past roundup to keep everyone in the know on everyone's favorite movie mutants. Read on!

First up, Singer gave Collider some details about when exactly filming begins and the scope of the project:

“I start shooting April 15th in Montreal, probably until October. It’s a big movie. It’ll be the biggest movie I’ve ever made.”

Singer has, in the past, proven himself to be a filmmaker that doesn't get bogged down by overwhelming budgets when it comes to X-Men movies, as the jump in quality from the first to second film in this series is quite noticeable. Though Jack the Giant Slayer looks like a misstep from the marketing so far, we're glad to hear he's jumping back into the X-Men universe in full force after that movie hits theaters in March.

The director also confirmed that Days of Future Past will be shot in native 3D (though not in 48 FPS as was briefly rumored), and gave Collider some more insight about when the film will take place:

“Part of it takes place in the 1970s. And Richard Nixon’s in it, that’ll be an interesting casting choice…There’ll also be some more science-fiction-type aspects to the story and, without giving it away, some technology that we haven’t seen yet in the X-Men universe.”

I'm not a big enough X-Men nerd to know exactly what kind of technology Singer could be hinting at with that statement, but obviously time travel is playing a huge factor in the storyline, so we're hoping it's something even more epic than that. He also spoke to Cinema Blend, telling them "We'd like to keep some of that a surprise," which is fine by me. It'd be nice to sit down in the theater without knowing every single plot point ahead of time. Singer also told CB about what some of the deeper themes in the film:

"This movie will also deal with destiny, the choices we made, the people we were-- how the people we were when we were young affects the world we have to live in in the future, and what if we could go back and change that."

Sounds like he's getting really ambitious with this one (even talking to James Cameron about the time travel elements), which just makes us even more excited to see what he and writer Simon Kinberg are cooking up. As for casting, we know that many of the key players (Prof. Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Beast) are returning, but two characters we haven't heard solid word about yet are Storm and Nightcrawler.

Singer also spoke to The Huffington Post and told them he wasn't sure if Alan Cumming would be coming back as Nightcrawler, because he wasn't even sure the character is going to be in the movie. "I'm still, you know -- there are certain aspects of the script that I'm still toying with," he said. Fair enough. He also spoke with MTV about the potential of Halle Berry returning to don the cape and white hair as Storm, but he wouldn't give a firm answer about her, either. He did, however, offer up this interesting piece of info:

"I don't want to say [who the protagonists are] yet, or talk about that yet, but I will say that every character has a very important function in the story. The story is designed and catered to the combined cast. It's not just throwing in people to occupy the screen, occupy the billboards. The story 'Days of Future Past,' and our version of 'Days of Future Past' is geared very much toward the mass cast and all their relationships and all their foibles and their achievements."

I guess we'll have to wait until production gets closer before we start hearing about any other additional cast members, and maybe if we're lucky, Singer can actually pull off a mini-miracle and slip a few actors in for cameos without having the internet spoil every last detail beforehand. The possibilities for this sequel are wide open, and that's what makes it so exciting. We have very high hopes for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is already slated to hit theaters starting on July 18th, 2014 next summer. In the meantime, we'll be watching out for any more X-Men updates that pop up, casting or otherwise. Sound good so far?

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