Bryan Singer talks Deadpool in the X-Men universe – Redmayne cast in Aardman studios’ ‘Early Man’

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LOS ANGELES, May 9, (RTRS): The X-Men can compete with the cinematic universes being assembled by franchise factories like Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment, director Bryan Singer told Variety.

“It’s every bit as large,” Singer said of the world, which has so far encompassed nine films, while doing the press rounds for “X-Men: Apocalypse” in London. “And now that we’ve altered the timeline (with 2014’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’), there are endless possibilities.”

One of those possibilities is bringing the wise-cracking Deadpool into the fold after the character proved popular enough to top $760 million in global box office receipts, with a domestic take ($362 million) that shockingly topped DC’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” stateside. But as much of a no-brainer as that would appear to be, it’s not a simple equation.

“If you take a character as irreverent and meta as Deadpool and connect him to something as grounded and serious as X-Men, you have to do it carefully and gently,” Singer said. “When you drop them all in together it can be a disaster. That has to be done delicately, but there’s plenty of room to do it.”

Centered

One of the ways in could be through an “X-Force” movie — the paramilitary superhero spinoff group that Deadpool has called home over the years. Singer very specifically brought the title up to his Fox bosses once upon a time, and “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds has said a project centered on the group is a priority.

But beyond that, the X-franchise has already begun to creep out into the world of television with series like “Hellfire” and “Legion” (which are being produced with Marvel). Singer serves as executive producer on both shows, and said there’s plenty of room to grow the brands on the small screen.

“I think the underbelly,” Singer said. “There’s always something interesting about a school that’s got a military aspect beneath its classrooms. Is there another layer to all of that? Is there another layer to the Hellfire Club? The idea of, ‘Who’s running the world?’ — that’s something that was touched upon in ‘First Class’ but has yet to be fully explored. It just has to be explored in a very gentle, methodical way. And I’ve seen it go haywire. I’m not going to be specific where I believe it has. The audience will tell you. But when it’s done right, it all can connect.”

It’s unclear as to whether Singer will be directly involved going forward, however. There have been rumors that he’s planning to leave the world he created way back in 2000, particularly as star Hugh Jackman has said he’s finished with the Wolverine character after one more film. But the director seems too invested still to fully let it go.

“When you spend nearly two decades in a universe, to simply say, ‘I’m done,’ or, ‘I’m going to abandon it,’ just wouldn’t make sense to me,” he said. “I’m very connected to this universe and a lot of these actors, and also the characters, whomever plays them. So never say never.”

Also:

LOS ANGELES: Eddie Redmayne has been cast in Aardman Studios’ upcoming prehistoric comedy adventure “Early Man.”

Directed by Nick Park, the stop-frame pic is co-financed by Studiocanal, representing the second union between Europe’s two premier animation forces: the duo last teamed on 2015’s “Shaun the Sheep.”

Redmayne is the first cast member announced in the toon, which is set at the dawn of time when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth. The Brit thesp will voice the role of plucky caveman Dug who, along with his sidekick Hognob, unites his tribe against the mighty Bronze Age in a battle to beat them at their own game.

It marks Park’s first feature film since Oscar-winning “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.”

Pic is skidded for an early 2018 release. Studiocanal will distribute the title in the UK, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand and is selling worldwide rights for the pic.

The British Film Institute also supports the film.

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