When it comes to panels at WonderCon, it truly doesn’t get much better than what Twentieth Century Fox brought to fans with the X-Men Dark Phoenix panel. The panel was jam packed with tidbits of info about the film, hilarious cast stories from life on set, and of course exclusive clips for the WonderCon audience only. Check out what we discovered at the panel along with some exclusive photos from the panel.
Let’s start with those clips. Gah those clips!! I don’t want to say too much, as I don’t want to spoil too much for you, but the two polarizing clips we saw from the upcoming film was best described on the panel as “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The first clip we saw was 10 minutes long (thank you Fox!) and you really got a sense of how well all the mutants work together in the film. The entire cast gave epic performances but I must highlight Jennifer Lawrence here – we finally get to see Mystique in a leadership role, quickly followed by oh so much SASS! The second clip featured a lot of action and battle sequences, and revealed who was on which side – some of which might be shocking to viewers. The clips chosen were perfect for this occasion, as it really painted a picture of how the story is going to unravel, without giving too much away. I really can’t wait to see it all unfold on the big screen.
Here are some fun facts we learned from the panel.
- Michael Fassbender is a straight up badass. The producers talked in depth how he and only he could pull off the crazy things they put his character through. There’s a scene in which a giant wall moves right up to him, and they only had ONE take to get the shot, as it is something that is destroyed in the scene. Fassbender has to walk knowing this massive wall is approaching him and can’t flinch. The wall was supposed to stop several feet away. In their one take it stopped a mere 6 inches away and he didn’t flinch in the slightest! Other scenes, he just stood there brave as can be with a subway coming at him, bricks falling around him in the distance, and he is calm as can be. Bad. Ass.
- This is Simon Kinberg’s directorial debut and he spoke highly of the previous directors – watching the way they operated, learning from them as he went. He spoke about how a Director is only as good as his team and he hit the jackpot.
- Dark Phoenix was always Kinberg’s favorite among the comics. This film brings a lot of firsts to the franchise. First time going to space, first time there’s an alien. He promises it’s more emotionally intense, rich, different type of movie this time.
- The cast is all extremely well bonded! Even after the last scene, and cut is called, they would go hang out together off set. And things get fun when they’re together. This included doing dares, and their favorite game “tequila slaps.” What is the game “tequila slaps” you might be wondering? Sophie Turner described it so simply as – you take a shot of tequila, then slap someone’s face. So, exactly what one might guess. Sadly this game had to come to an end, when one of the crew members accidentally became unconscious while playing. (Don’t worry – he was just fine!)
- Something that’s exciting to see in this film is that the Beast is stepping away from Charles. You’ll see a new side to him emotionally in this one, and Nicholas Hoult was really excited about playing this new side of him.
- The biggest jokester on set? Jessica Chastain!
- If Evan Peters could choose his own personal song for a slo-mo sequence (like his epic Quicksilver scenes,) it would be the theme song to Mortal Kombat. He hilariously hummed it for the audience, and said that it’s also the song at the end of Mean Girls. Who knew!
- Tye Sheridan can’t see anything when wearing his characters iconic sunglasses. He spoke about how he would be given directions to hit color coded- marks and he couldn’t do it, because everything is the same color when he’s wearing the sunglasses. Poor Tye!
Here are some exclusive photos taken at the panel.
X-Men Dark Phoenix hits theaters June 7th!
