Twenty years ago on July 14th, 2000, the superhero movie genre took an evolutionary leap forward with the release of the first changed - a term that barely applies anymore - and so has the landscape of feature films. But how did it all begin?
The road to release for X-Men was long and slow, with lots of strange detours along the way. The making of the film was just as interesting as the movie itself. Here are ten things you didn't know about the original 2000 X-Men movie.
Joss Whedon Wrote A Draft
The development process on the first X-Men film was labored, to say the least. Real movement on the film began all the way back in 1984 when the rights first sold to Orion Pictures. After Fox got a hold of it in the 90s, one of the many writers who took a crack was Joss Whedon.
Whedon did a rewrite on the film that included adding a major Danger Room set piece, and putting Jean Grey in the Phoenix costume at the end of the movie, setting up her eventual tragic turn to the dark side.
Kevin Feige Worked On It
Kevin Feige is no stranger to comic book movie fans. The architect of the MCU has utterly changed the game on how movies - and movie universes - are made in modern cinema. What fans may not know is that Feige actually worked on the original X-Men film as an associate producer.
It was his first film, having previously worked as an assistant to major Hollywood producer Laura Shuler Donner. His work on the movie was so impressive that Avi Arad brought him on board to the fledgling Marvel Studios.
Robert Rodriguez Turned It Down
A number of major Hollywood players were involved at some point during the development process of the film, including James Cameron. One of the potential directors that the production team considered was Robert Rodriguez.
At the time, Rodriguez was building a lot of steam as an independent director, writer, and editor. But he turned the film down since he didn't know a lot about the franchise. He would eventually go on to make comic book-based films like Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel.
Beast Was Supposed To Appear
Beast makes his first furry appearance in the third Fox film, X-Men: The Last Stand, and goes on to become a major player in the kind-of rebooted films that followed. He was actually slated to appear in the first film and was in the script until the proverbial last minute.
Concept art of Beast had been completed, but Fox, wanting to keep the budget down to a cool $75 million, insisted on cuts. One of them was the Danger Room sequence, and the other was Beast, considered costly for his makeup and appliances.
Rush Job
Comic book movies are big business and they're also very complicated to make. That was true twenty years ago, but Fox still rushed the film in production anyway. Fox intended to release the film in December of 2000, but due to a shift in the release date of the Tom Cruise-vehicle Minority Report, they needed a big summer tentpole.
They moved X-Men up to July of that year, and the production schedule accelerated by six months, forcing post-production to be done faster than usual.
Hugh Jackman Replaced Someone Else
Endless fan conversations revolve around 'what if' scenarios of this or that actress playing an iconic character. No one in 1999 could have anticipated Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine - not even Fox. Jackman was an absolute unknown at the time.
Originally, producers wanted Russell Crowe to play the character. He declined but suggested his friend, Jackman. Fox went with actor Dougray Scott, but the shift in production schedules forced him out, and already weeks into filming, the role went to Jackman. The rest is history.
Jackman Also Injured Someone
Hugh Jackman's commitment to the role is well-known. He kept up an insane training regimen for years to maintain the physique for Wolverine. During shooting for the first film, Wolverine faces off in a battle with Mystique toward the end of the plot.
For some inexplicable reason, Jackman's prop claws at this point were sharp enough to do harm, which is what happened when the choreographed fight hit a snag. Jackman injured Rebecca Romijn-Stamos' stunt double, but all was right in the end.
Star Trek Connection
Laura Shuler Donner was the driving force behind getting the X-Men on screen. In addition to Kevin Feige, another producer worked with her on the film: Ralph Winter. Winter also produced the Fox Fantastic Four films but is likely best known for his run on the early Star Trek films.
Ralph Winter got his start at Paramount Pictures and helped bring the final four films featuring the cast of the original series to the screen, including Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Changing The Costumes
One of the biggest changes in the film adaptation had to do with the X-Men's costumes. The X-Men all wear iconic, colorful, individual costumes in the comic books but for the film, they all wear matching black leather uniforms.
The producers justified the decision then by saying the bright colors wouldn't work, or just weren't practical. In retrospect, it seems shortsighted. The X-Men would eventually get more individualized costumes as the films went on.
Mystique Make-Up Ordeal
One of the absolute coolest adaptations for the film though was the character of Mystique. Her comic book look is iconic, but the all blue, basically nude look from the film quickly became so as well. It wasn't any fun for Romijn-Stamos, who endured a head-to-toe make-up session that lasted six full hours every day.
This involved painting her skin blue but also applying 110 individual silicone prosthetics on her body to complete the unique look that was later replicated by Jennifer Lawrence.
