Corona | Coming Attractions

In an article about Bryan Singer's attachment to direct a remake of Excalibur, Variety also notes that the filmmaker has been "flirting" with directing X-Men: First Class.

Would Anna Paquin be interested in playing Rogue again in X-Men: First Class? "Absolutely. Yeah," the True Blood actress told IGN UK when asked the question. "I would hope I could do a little bit more action next time, though. I kind of find it ironic that I did three big action films and did, actually, no action whatsoever. I mean I got some really amazing emotional story moments, but I didn't really get to do the physical stuff."

When asked what she meant, Paquin replied "You know, as much as I loved doing those films I was kind of like, 'OK, so when do I get to beat someone up? When do I get to steal some powers?' You know Sookie gets to do more action than Rogue ever did. So I'm just putting that out there. More action please, for next time."

During a segment aired on Fox Movie Channel's Life After Film School, X-Men Origins: Wolverine producer Lauren Shuler Donner spoke about the premise of X-Men: First Class. "It is the first class of Xavier's school, way back when, so it's young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that'll be really fun," Donner said. "I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world.

"And hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up."

Thanks to IESB for pointing it out!

20th Century Fox has hired Josh Schwartz to write the screenplay for a new proposed spinoff movie arising from the X-Men universe called X-Men: First Class. The idea behind First Class is to show the next generation of younger mutants learning how to live with and control their mutant powers while attending Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning.

Schwartz is the creator of several successful television shows including The O.C., Chuck and Gossip Girl. Fox's deal also includes the option for Schwartz to direct the film if he wants, although at this early stage he's only committed to produce the screenplay. Original X-Men movie trilogy producer Lauren Shuler Donner will also serve in the same capacity on First Class along with Simon Kinberg, the screenwriter of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, XxX: State of the Union and co-writer on X-Men: The Last Stand.

According to Variety the details on what creative direction Schwartz's screen story will head remain closely guarded by Fox. In 2006 Marvel Comics published a First Class title that told new adventures of the first group of teenage X-Men made up of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Beast and Angel. If Schwartz and Fox keep to the established canon of the X-Men film series then the lineup of mutants we'll see in the First Class team will be slightly modified as some of the movie's first class of X-Men are a decade or more older (like Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Beast) than their classmates (Iceman, Angel).