‘Thunderbolts’ Director Jake Schreier Thinks It’s “Fair To Say” His MCU ‘X-Men’ Film Will Be Notably Different From Fox Series
Despite the reverence continually being paid to them in such projects as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine, Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier has strongly indicated that there will be a fair bit of differences between his upcoming MCU X-Men outing and Fox’s original film series.
The soon-to-be-two-time-MCU-director offered this insight into his upcoming dance with Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants during a recent interview given to The Playlist‘s Rodrigo Perez.
Asked by his host if he could provide any insight into his vision for X-Men, Schreier asserted, “I mean, yeah, without going into too much – really almost any detail [Laughs] – what I can say is, it’s just inherently interesting and complex material.”
“The core idea of what X-Men is involves complexity,” explained the director. “It’s an incredible opportunity with super interesting characters and [much] internal conflict. These characters are wrestling with their identity and place in the world—that’s inherently interesting and complex material.”
From there, Schreier was pressed as to whether his approach to the team would be “recognizably different from what came before”, to which he positively confirmed, “Yeah, I think that’s fair to say.”
“There’s that red sniper dot out there somewhere, you know….,” he joked about Marvel Studios’ desire for secrecy as he drew his thoughts to a close, “But to be able to explore all of the ideas that are inherent to that rich source material, but also at the scale [emphasis his] inherent to the source material, that’s like a very rare and fortunate opportunity. That’s very exciting.”
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Hot off his Thunderbolts success, Schreier’s attachment to X-Men was officially confirmed earlier this month courtesy of Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.
“Yeah, it’s official: Jake Schreier is doing X-Men for us,” the baseball-capped producer told attendees of a July 20th press roundtable held in promotion of Fantastic Four: First Steps. “Very lucky, and we’re very, very lucky to have him, and very excited to have him. And so we’re beginning. It’s all starting now. Script’s underway.”
“Jake’s an incredibly smart guy, and he’s an incredibly talented filmmaker. We had a great experience with him on Thunderbolts, and if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions — he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. Not—he’s younger than me, for sure—but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think is important. It was important for Thunderbolts, much more important for X-Men, because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie.”
Interestingly, while specific details regarding X-Men‘s narrative remain strongly under wrap, Feige also confirmed during this same round table that the film will not only introduce mutants to the MCU, but also new, post-Secret Wars recasts for previously established heroes.
Per a recap provided by Deadline‘s Anthony D’Alessandro and Justin Kroll:
“With Downey Jr. now playing Dr. Doom, are there plans to recast the core Iron Man, Captain America, etc. on the big screen? Yes and no. Feige sees a star such as Chris Hemsworth still in his prime to play Thor, and even cherishes the return of thespians (i.e. Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Stern in Captain America: Brave New World) who played Marvel characters years ago. But, yes, in the longterm like with many other storied movie franchises, Marvel classic superheroes will get new faces.
When exactly? ‘X-Men is where that will happen,’ promised Feige.”
While production on X-Men is beginning to ramp up, as of writing, the film has yet to receive an official release date.
