Josh Schwartz writing 'X-Men' sequel: OMFG or WTF?

I'm a huge fan of the X-Men movie franchise -- well, at least the first two Bryan Singer-directed flicks -- but not so much of The CW's icky Gossip Girl (I know, blasphemy alert). And that's why I'm more than a little perturbed by the news that Josh Schwartz (exec producer of GG, as well as The O.C. and Chuck) will be writing (and possibly directing) the fourth installment of the film franchise, X-Men: First Class, with plans to "inject a next-gen sensibility into the superhero series," according to Variety.

My colleague Jeff Jensen informs me that "X-Men: First Class is the name of a best-selling 2007 X-Men mini-series imagining the very early adventures of Professor Xavier's first group of mutant students: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, and The Beast." But I just worry Schwartz might be more interested in outfitting these heroes in Prada capes and imagining them (under-aged-ly) sipping martinis at oak-lined hotel bars than in exploring how they'll navigate the treacherous territory of what it means to be a mutant teenager kicking ass in an unforgiving world. I mean, even those of you obsessed with the comings and goings of such mythical creatures as a Blair Waldorf or a Nate Archibald can't tell me you'd want to see the fearsome Jean Grey (played by the fabulous Famke Janssen) pushed aside in favor of, say, Platform, a character who sports a variety of precariously crafted shoes ("Ohmigod, I'm gonna betchslap you, J.G.!"), or (Lord help us) Smoking Jacket, a dude who shoots fire from beneath his array of vintage velvet sports coats.

Then again, perhaps my passage from the advertiser-coveted 18-34 demographic renders completely irrelevant my take on the marriage of Schwartz and X-Men. I just hope Fox doesn't forget the franchise has already raked in $1.2 billion worldwide, despite starring a couple of oldie olsens in Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. What's your take, PopWatchers?

More on 'X-Men,' 'Gossip Girl,' Josh Schwartz, and comic-book adaptations:
EW's 'X-Men' Headquarters
'Gossip Girl': Four Rumors -- and the Reality (an EW cover story!)
Gillian Flynn's EW review of Josh Schwartz's 'Chuck'
'Gossip Girl': Season 1's Best and Worst
Comic-Con: Wolverine's Hugh Jackman steals the show at Fox's movie panel
Which young actor should be cast as 'Magneto'?
'Watchmen' Posters: Snap Judgments

Comic-Con: Wolverine's Hugh Jackman steals the show at Fox's movie panel

They liked Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connolly (from The Day the Earth Stood Still). They loved Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis (from Max Payne). But the Comic-Con fans went absolutely berserk over the surprise appearance by Hugh Jackman, here to promote next year's Wolverine.

Jackman's theater background certainly came in handy as the Aussie actor with the fabulous biceps commanded the 6,000-seat Hall H. (He even jumped off the stage to personally shake the hand of Len Wein, the comic-book creator of his adamantium-clawed character). The cobbled-together footage from Wolverine is nothing like what we'll see when the movie premieres in nine months, said Jackman. But that didn't blunt audience enthusiasm for clips of Jackman, Leiv Schreiber, and Friday Night Lights hottie Taylor Kitsch, who plays Gambit. Given next summer's light tentpole line-up and today's reaction, it looks like Wolverine is poised to be a massive hit.

'Wolverine' set for May '09. Let us pencil that in...

So X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman (and possibly Liev Schreiber as a younger version of Brian Cox's William Stryker), will hit theaters May 1, 2009. Three questions:

1) When do you allow yourself to get excited?

2) What advice would you like to give director Gavin Hood (Rendition) before shooting begins later this year?, and

3) Are the Heroes: Origins people pissed that Wolvie stole their, um, Origins?

Which young actor should be cast as 'Magneto'?

I'm trying my hardest to resist the urge to use the word "neat-o!" (tragic, I know) to express my excitement about the announcement that the co-writer of Batman Begins is working on a script focusing on one of my favorite characters from my favorite sci-fi franchise. Yes, PopWatchers, David Goyer (who's also responsible for directing The Invisible) will write and direct Magneto, a neat-o an X-Men spinoff that looks at the character's villainous origins -- or more specifically, about how his quest to avenge the Nazis who put his parents in Auschwitz turned him into a seriously disreputable dood.

Now, as fantastic an actor as Ian McKellen is, I'm guessing he's probably not the right man to portray the twentysomething version of his popular character. If I were casting the film, I'd go with Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett (pictured), a PopWatch favorite who's got the good looks and charisma of a big-screen leading man, and more importantly, can actually act. (And for those of you who'd disqualify him for being too old, let's keep in mind that in most Hollywood circles, 31 isn't past the cutoff point for playing a high-school senior.) Are you on board with Penikett, or is there another young actor you'd cast as Magneto? Send your memo to the film's casting folks in the comments section below.

What film actors deserve TV deals this pilot season?

Good news to start your day -- Jean Grey is coming to NBC! Oh, no, I didn't mean to imply that the folks at the Peacock plan to air a Dark Phoenix saga on Monday nights at 10, right after Heroes (even though they totally should), but rather that Famke Janssen, who's best known for playing X-Men's split-persona heroine, will be headlining the network's police drama pilot from producer David Shore (House).

To me, that's welcome news; Janssen's the kind of actress who'd probably be a lot bigger star if movie studios would realize she's infinitely more appealing than, say, Mandy Moore. But since that's never going to happen -- at 41, Janssen's more likely to be cast as Moore's mom nowadays -- why not cross over to television, where (ideally) she'll get 22 complex, interesting scripts every year? (After all, this is the actress who transfixed Nip/Tuck fans during her oh-so-memorable season 2 guest stint as a post-op transsexual.)

Anyway, this got me thinking about other big-screen stars who might benefit from a move to TV. If I ran a network, I'd build a primetime soap around the underutilized talents of Faye Dunaway and Andy Garcia. The former could be cast as the paranoid, ruthless head of Hollywood's biggest PR firm, spending each week trying to put a positive spin on her famous clients' public and private disasters; Garcia could play her ambitious, starlet-chasing No. 2 -- stuck in a marriage of convenience with Dunaway while plotting to oust her from her job. Now tell me that doesn't sound more interesting than CSI: Atlanta.

Come on, PopWatchers -- let's show the networks how it should be done. Pick two movie stars who are ready for a switch to the small screen, and tell us how you'd cast 'em.

Tobey who? Snoopy is the new Spidey!

What do you get when you send the philosophical kids of Charles Schulz's classic Peanuts cartoon into the Marvel comics universe? Peppermint Patty Phoenix? Spider-Man Snoopy? Daredevil Charlie Brown? Click here (scroll down) to see the amusing results for yourself.

'X-Men': Which film should be made next?

As we learned in the last X-Men movie, a) mutants watch their own web parodies, and b) it's highly unlikely that Fox will ever reassemble its mutant all-star team for a fourth installment.

With Hugh Jackman's Wolverine movie in the works and the rest of the grown-ups priced out of range, a proper X4 will probably never happen. But there are other possibilities: Which would you like to see?

1. A "Young Magneto" movie has been proposed. According to script spies, the scene where Mr. Miyagi exhorts him to "make these paper clips your bitch" is particularly moving.

2. There's the oft-discussed Saved by the Genetic Anomaly: The New Class approach, which shifts the focus to Prof. X's younger students: Bobby "Iceman" Drake, Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin, and David "Mildly ADD" Micklethwait.

3. The bold approach: three hours of watching Prof. X try to pry his consciousness out of that coma victim's body, culminating in a triumphant finger twitch. It will be the My Dinner with Andre of comic-book movies, and I will make it myself, using nothing but a vintage camcorder, audio snipped from old Next Generation episodes, and a very lazy friend.

Or perhaps you'd like to see something else? Make your last stand below.

'X-Men': We have burning questions

So it looks like everyone in the known universe elected to take the mutant cure this weekend. By now you must realize: Side effects include several burning questions. Most are too spoiler-y to be mentioned here. So allow me to play The Provocateur (my lame mutant alter ego) and kick off two larger thematic debates:

1. What was the thinking (maybe that's too strong a word) behind sampling this web short in a feature film? Yes, I know crowd-sourcing  is all the rage in today's imagination-leeched Hollywood. I know Lost is now as much an online fan conversation as a TV show, and I realize that half of Snakes on a Plane was written by freelance net ironists.

Honestly, though: As the trustee of a beloved franchise, do you reference a popular Web parody of said franchise just for the sake of referencing it? Do people applaud for the sheer familiarity? (Often, the answer is a big scary yes). Is it funny or off-key, like Batman suddenly breaking into a chorus of "Robin Laid an Egg"? Does it sell beloved characters down the river for a cheap laugh? Larger question: Is it disturbing or refreshingly democratic to have mega-budgeted Hollywood, er, juggernauts relying on no-budget Web trifles for inspiration?

2) The issue of "the cure": What divisive social issue does it allegorize for you? Of course, there's the well-worn "queer theory" approach to X-Men, but reviews of The Last Stand have added abortion and even cochlear implants to the political/polemical mix. (Oh, and in case you've been missing the whole Malcolm X/Martin Luther King dynamic between Magneto and Prof. Charles Xavier, Mystique keeps it fresh by refusing to be called by her "slave name.")  So... when Rogue (Anna Paquin, pictured) agonizes over whether to take the "cure," what do you see? A young woman trying to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy? Or an innocently parasitic mutant who'd like to be able to kiss her boyfriend without draining his life force?

3) I know I said two, but... dude, still no Gambit?

'X-Men': It ain't over 'til it's over

So whether or not you think Brett Ratner can live up to the high standards set by Bryan Singer (Superman Returns) with the first two X-Men films, it seems clear that more than a few of you -- despite mixed reviews (our own Lisa Schwarzbaum gave it a B-) -- will be going to see X-Men: The Last Stand this weekend. The jury's still out around PopWatch HQ, but we will tell you this: A little bird has told us, "Stay until the very end of the credits. You won't be sorry."

Snap Judgment: Brett Ratner, Photographer

Out-of-towners, I have amazing news. If you can't make it to Brett Ratner's photography exhibit in New York tonight, you can still appreciate the X3 director's photography via the the so-called in-ter-net.

Here you'll find, among other things, a picture of Kirk Douglas and some dogs with salient genitals. I like it, but I wish someone had encouraged the dogs to at least try playing poker. On the plus side: Brett Ratner is also in the picture, which is amazing, because he took the picture. Maybe he used a timer. Maybe he's actually The Flash. Either way, I'm impressed. B

This is one in a series I call Edward Norton Trying to Look Like a Trucker. Notice how there's no actual truck in the picture. That's because Ratner is a master of subtlety: The truck is in your mind. B+

My favorite has to be I Am Friends with Al Pacino, the apotheosis of Ratner's ongoing I Am Friends with Someone Famous period. According to the caption, Pacino "laughed... when I asked him to do his best Michael Corleone." Brett, concept idea for you: Why not snap De Niro after asking him to do his best "you talkin' to me?" No, no -- don't thank me. A

Trailer Blazer: 'X-Men: The Last Stand'

As part of a promotional agreement with Dell, X-Men: The Last Stand has a 7-minute clip up for perusal. So I perused. With mixed emotions.

The first X3 teaser was, in my opinion, a red flag. Those sassy slo-mo's, set to a dinky club beat? It compared unfavorably with the X2: X-Men United moody preview former director Bryan Singer set so smartly to Holst's "Mars, Bringer of War." But subsequent trailers have looked more promising. And now we get an extended cut: Whole scenes are represented here. The whole notion of a mutant "cure" (known as the Legacy Virus in the comic) is a powerful one, and the fact that it splits both factions of mutants down the middle feels emotionally honest.

I'm of two minds on the actual dramatic work. The paint isn't quite dry on Kelsey Grammer's furry blue Beast getup, but the gentle menace he manages to convey is palpable. The scene is his conversation with Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Storm (Halle Berry, above left), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, above right), and Rogue (Anna Paquin) about the "cure" and its ramifications for mutantkind. Beast (that's Dr. Hank McCoy to civvies) works for the government in this version; he's the secretary of mutant affairs, which accounts nicely for the oratorical Grammer-ian line delivery. (Ah, just what the X-Men need: bureaucracy.)

The scene felt a tad stagy to me, and the conversational rhythms and writing choices certainly differ from the style of the outgoing X-Men team (Singer, along with writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty), who left the franchise to work on Superman Returns). But there's a lot of promise here. Ian McKellen's Magneto still gives a great doomsday speech, and I'm glad to see Pyro (Aaron Stanford) has returned as his new minion. Spike and Quicksilver have also been added to the baddie camp. Toad appears to be alive, which puzzles me, since we watched him die in the first movie. And Angel (Ben Foster) still looks a lot better in flight than on the ground, emoting bare-chestedly. But these are quibbles.

The big un-reveal: The clip contains no Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). And thus, no Dark Phoenix, beyond a couple of quick shots. Ah, well. Guess I'll click on one of these Dell links and find out if they can tell me why my last laptop mutated into a useless pile of crap.

Trailer Blazer: 'X-Men: The Last Stand'

I know a lot of fanboys aren't exactly thrilled Brett Ratner was chosen as director of X-Men: The Last Stand, but I've got to say, the film's new trailer looks pretty good -- not just the Golden Gate Bridge tumbling down, but the ominous final image of Phoenix begging Wolverine to kill her. Intense! I can't be the only one getting excited, can I? And don't forget, haters, Ratner directed the Prison Break pilot, so he can't be all bad, can he? Don't be shy: Weigh in now with your thoughts on the X-Men trailer.

EW gets some 'X-Men: The Last Stand' scoop

In less than three months, we'll all have the answer to one of the biggest questions on the minds of movie buffs everywhere: Will X-Men: The Last Stand live up the high standards of the franchise? Until it hits theaters on May 26, however, you'll have to divine answers from Tim Stack's story in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, in which he tackles such subjects as what the movie's about, how exactly Brett Ratner took over the director's gig from Bryan Singer, and whether The Last Stand will, in fact, be the last stand for everyone's favorite big-screen mutants. Here's what he found out:

The end of X2 seemed to set up a third installment focusing on a Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix story line that would follow the evolution of the goody-two-shoes character (played by Famke Janssen) into a super-baddie. But the driving plot of The Last Stand turns out to be the discovery of a "cure" for mutations. Why the switch? "To start and end the movie with just Dark Phoenix is silly," says Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad. "It's not enough -- you run out of story." But Twentieth Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman says the new direction will still thrill: "It has one of the coolest beginnings. It begins with [Patrick Stewart's] Xavier and [Ian McKellen's] Magneto together as young men." And devotees of Halle Berry/Storm (pictured with, from left to right, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Kelsey Grammer) will be relieved to know that the weather-wielding mutant is central to the third film and, more importantly, has a new wig.

As for what Mr. Stack uncovered about fanboys' hateration for Ratner, you'll just have to pick up EW's latest issue.

'X-Men: The Last Stand' movie posters: Hot!

If you'll forgive me this morning for being unabashedly fan-boyish, the X-Men: The Last Stand posters on display at Movie City News are so cool I think my head might explode a little. I'm especially loving the one of Ben Foster as Angel (center), although Famke Janssen's Jean Grey/Phoenix runs a close second. Check out all six and quit tryin' to be bashful, PopWatchers: Which one is your favorite?

The PopWatch Interview: Hugh Jackman on 'X-Men 3'

Word is X-Men's Wolverine is getting some new moves. Freshman mutants in the movie franchise, like Angel and Beast, hog all the buzz these days, but don't expect the vet to sit on the sidelines filing his claws. In fact, Hugh Jackman, who plays the hotheaded, cigar-smoking superhero, recently told Entertainment Weekly's Neil Drumming that X-Men 3, directed by Brett Ratner and opening May 26, will roll out a much more refined Wolvie.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What's different about Wolverine 3.0?
HUGH JACKMAN: We tried to incorporate a little more of some of the artwork of the comics into Wolverine's fighting style. I was very adamant at the beginning in 1 and 2 -- I used to watch tapes of Mike Tyson -- and I was like, I don't want it to be pretty. I don't want it to be martial arts. I don't want him to be anything other than, like, a street fighter. He doesn't fight for the sake of fighting. If he can take someone's head off in the first punch, he'll take it off. Simon [Crane, stunt coordinator for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Troy, and both Tomb Raiders] kind of convinced me and we worked on some styles of incorporating some of the artwork in the comics, which is a little stylized, more to use what his strength is -- which is [that he's] small. Me, I'm actually a tall man, so that took a little training and I worked hard on that.

So here's the big question: Will fans of the comic book be satisfied -- especially since Brett Ratner is new to the franchise?
Oh, yeah. There's a lot of things we really tried to get in 1 and 2 which -- I don't mean to be blunt -- were just real expensive and we couldn't get them in until 1 and 2 were so successful. So there's some sequences there that the fans -- if you go to that midnight screening on the first night, they'll just be going ballistic. There's some specific choreography, famous fighting moves, that we use in this movie that we haven't been able to do before.

The fans have been the foundation of the success of this movie and they're never forgotten. Trust me. No decision is made without considering the history of each character. You don't want to come in and just rewrite the history books. And let's face it: If I do a disservice to Wolverine, I can easily be spat on in the street.

What's up with a possible Wolverine spin-off?
I'm into it. We're actually working on a script. X-Men is an ensemble movie, even if some characters are in it more than others. It's about the X-Men. I love playing the part. I think it's the best part going around. I may be biased, but I think there's so much still to be mined, still to be learned from that [character]. I think it will stand up to a feature-length movie. And we've had some really amazing interests from some great filmmakers and great writers also really intrigued by the character.

Would you consider writing it yourself?
I will always put my input in from the actor's point of view. At this point I feel like I know the character, from some perspective, incredibly well, so I will always have a lot to say. But no.

Trailer Blazer: 'X3'

I wouldn't care if you told me it's directed by the guy who made Glitter (though it's actually the much-maligned Brett Ratner), the new teaser for X3 looks pretty darn enticing. True, there's not a whole lot to go on, but the mere sight of Wolverine, Storm (sporting a fetching new 'do), and Jean Grey (or should I say Phoenix?) makes me forget there's icky, gray slush on the ground, and fast-forwards me right into summer blockbuster season. Not only that, but the awesome sight of Six Feet Under's Ben Foster (completely unrecognizable here, left) unfurling his wings as Angel is enough to counteract the fact that my least favorite character, ho-hum Cyclops, is back for the third installment in the X-Men series, due May 26, 2006.

But that's just my opinion. What's your take on the first look at X3?

First Look: 'X3'

USA Today has an early look at next year's X3, the third and probably last X-Men movie. The article offers some reassurance that the story is as thoughtful as the first two (there's a mild spoiler describing the plot), and some half-hearted defense of new director (and fanboy punching bag) Brett Ratner --  fans would have complained no matter who we hired to fill Bryan Singer's chair, says Marvel boss Avi Arad, throwing up his hands. Best of all, there's a gallery of pics, including a fierce-looking Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Ben Foster as the white-winged Angel, and Halle Berry, with a short new 'do, returning as Storm. (Keep an eye out, by the way, for the new X3 trailer, due online later today.)

Are you counting down the days to X3's May 26 release? Or have you X'd the franchise off your summer moviegoing schedule?