The three X-Men films that make up the X-Men Trilogy are astoundingly good. They’re old-school comic-book movies done right. I even liked the third one even though many people didn’t seem to. Maybe I’m just a sucker for mindless action flicks. Which would explain why I liked the first Transformers movie as well.
One of the best things about the X-Men Trilogy is Patrick Stewart’s performance as Professor X. Here was a man seemingly born to play the character: well-spoken, friendly but focused, and bald. And it worked perfectly. Which means James McAvoy has a lot to live up to as he’s about to play Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class.
Is he worried he won’t be able to cut it? Never. In fact, McAvoy is about as confident as I’ve heard anyone be in this kind of situation. He recently said:
I’m basically going to try and bury Patrick’s performance. I think the fun about these films, when you go back and you either reboot or do a prequel, is you get to see how people became who they are. That means that you have to do them differently and by the end of the movie you have to do them the same way. The interesting journey is what happens to them, what changes them, what makes them evolve – not just mutate, but emotionally and psychologically evolve.
That’s all well and good but that means bowing down and making nods to Stewart’s portrayal of the character. Which isn’t the same as trying to bury it.
Maybe I’ve taken McAvoy’s comments out of context and he actually had his tongue in his cheek. If not then I’ll look forward to critically assessing his performance as Xavier to see if it even comes close to the majesty of Stewart’s.
Wow James sounds like an arrogant cunt.