Last week stage actor Benjamin Walker dropped out Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class in order to reprise his starring role on Broadway in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Deadline now reports that Nicholas Hoult [About a boy/ Skins] will replace Walker in the role of "Beast". He was most recently seen in Clash of the Titans and is signed on to co-star in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Hoult’s casting follows news from earlier today that Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson is reportedly set to play "Cyclops". Additionally, Collider confirms that Caleb Landry Jones [Friday Night Lights] will play "Banshee". 19-year-old actor Lucas Till [Walk the Line, Battle: Los Angeles] has also been cast in Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class. Hit the jump for the full details.
According to EW, Till is in negotiations to play the role of "Alexander Summers" aka "Havok", the younger brother of the X-Men’s Cyclops.
Update:
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Kevin Bacon appear in a major blockbuster film as a headliner. The veteran actor who rose to fame over 25 years ago with films like Footloose and Animal House might find himself fending off mutants for his next gig. According to Deadline, Bacon is in negotiations to play the Villain in X-Men First Class. Rumour's have originated from a P.R subsidiary from Marvel that Bacon will play "Mr Sinister".
Magneto has been the main villain throughout the trilogy, however there was a time when he and Xavier worked together to fight a common enemy. Mr. Sinister who uses genetic material from other mutants to give himself a vast array of superhuman abilities is the Villain now in the frame. Having an all-powerful villain will definitely give Magneto and Xavier a challenge. This would also make sense as a thematic departure from Marvel's previous X-Men incarnations.
CAST LIST / THUS FAR
James McAvoy : Professor Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender : Magneto
Aaron Johnson : Cyclops
Caleb Landry Jones : Banshee
Alice Eve : Emma Frost
Nicholas Hoult : Beast
Rosamund Pike : Moira MacTaggart
Amber Heard : Mystique
Lucas Till : Havok
Kevin Bacon : Villain [Mr Sinister?]
The characters "Multiple Man" and "Willow" are also rumored to be in the film with close links to Erica Hosseini & Megan Fox. Production is expected to begin soon in London for a June 3, 2011 release.
Update:
The Playlist have reportedly attained access to the updated Official synopsis & script details of X-Men First Class.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, following the classic Marvel mythology, charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.
"We've been handed some new details. However, they're from a draft from a few months ago and we already know the script has been retooled several times, including a recent one by frequent Vaughn collaborator Jane Goldman [writer on Kick-Ass, Stardust]. It could be Jamie Moss' draft, the version that Fox head Tom Rothman fast-tracked. It's unclear at the moment, but here are some things in the early draft as told to us by someone behind the scenes. Some of it could have changed, but a lot of this sounds like core info that's hard to just drop.
- Magneto [then known as Eric Lensherr, played by Michael Fassbender] and Charles Xavier [James McAvoy] travel around trying to save mutants. As more news about their existence leaks out, more goverment led operations are endangering mutants' lives.
- Like the comics, they go and build a school for mutants.
- There is a love triangle between Eric, Charles and Emma Frost [Alice Eve].
Our source didn't want to say too much, but we presume this is one of the factors that tears Charles and Eric apart.
- One of their rifts is apparently also because of their differing ways on how to train and teach their students.
- The script features Cyclops [there's been some speculation out there that some key mutants may be missing in certain drafts].
- We see the transformation of Hank McCoy, how he goes from the regular Beast [Nicholas Hoult] to the blue furry one played by Kelsey Grammer in X-Men: The Last Stand.
- Apparently some shooting has already taken place, but it might just be test footage."
X-Men: First Class" is set for release June 3 2011. It shoots in early fall in the U.K.
Update:
Edi Gathegi [Twilight] has been cast as the mutant "Darwin." The character’s mutant ability is "reactive evolution", which means he can instantly adapt to any environment. So if he’s underwater, he’ll grow gills. If he’s in a fire, his skin will become flame-retardant. EW has said that Fox is releasing the names of characters who aren’t in the film so that it will be a surprise for fans when it’s announced which roles the actors are really playing. Evolution of the Beast seems plausible but the establishment of the Mutant school is obvious. The story seems way to similar to the previous incarnations & Marvels recent re-boot departures from themes i.e Hulk suggest closer inspection. It seems Matthew Vaughn is set to take the franchise into more darker territory.
