The part of Shi’ar Empress Lilandra seemed to be a lock for Angelina Jolie just weeks ago. As the Hollywood actress was looking over the screenplay with her representatives. Now that talk has gone quiet, a new name has emerged in the form of Jessica Chastain as X-Men: Dark Phoenix builds towards a November 2, 2018 debut.
According to Deadline, 20th Century Fox sees the Zero Dark Thirty and Interstellar star as the ideal candidate to bring the comic book villain to life. Lilandra was once married to Charles Xavier and has a crucial role to play in the whole Dark Phoenix saga, a storyline that many fans considered botched in the 2006 installment X-Men: The Last Stand.
Lilandra is regarded as the central antagonist of the piece for this new adventure as her brother D'Ken and sister Deathbird fight for control of the Shi'ar empire. All of this takes place amid a trip to Earth to find Xavier, imprison Phoenix and hold a trial by combat to determine the fate of Jean Grey.
First Class Gen Reporting Back For Duty
The main chunk of the prequel arm of the X-Men franchise will be back for X-Men: Dark Phoenix. This includes Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X/Charles Xavier), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler).
Shooting will be shortly underway in Montreal, Canada as talk of a 1990s setting seems to fit from the 80s timeline of X-Men: Apocalypse. This will end up being the third X-Men title in the space of 12 months as the horror picture (although still PG-13 rated) New Mutants drops on April 13 prior to the hotly anticipated Deadpool 2 sequel on June 1, 2018.
Baptism of Fire For Old Boy Kinberg
Simon Kinberg has been around the Marvel corridors for many years now. The 43-year old British filmmaker will have been involved in no less than 9 movies from the label once X-Men: Dark Phoenix opens in theaters, writing and/or producing X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Logan, New Mutants and Deadpool 2.
Now Kinberg will be made a director in his own right as he not only attempts to retell a better version of a story he participated in back in 2006, but follow on from a critically disappointing film that paled in comparison to the 2017 masterpiece Logan. With audiences pushing for more from their blockbusters, Kinberg will have to use much more than some CGI set pieces to convince Marvel fans that he is the right man for the job.
Source: Deadline
Comments