If you know only Brian Singer to "directing "Very Suspect," it's time to keep up with the times.
By the time Polanski was once again trapped in the "extradition trap" and Zhang Zuoji was still serving his sentence in a Taiwanese prison, Brian Singer could already stand up for his "Apocalypse" around the world. When Singh's last film, X-Men: Reverse Future, was released, he was once mired in "child abuse suspicions", and Singer was accused by an underage actor of "enforcing unspoken rules", which caused an uproar in public opinion. Fox canceled Singer's trip to follow the crew on global publicity to avoid negative impacts on the film's box office. However, with his "out-of-court reconciliation" with the underage actor, the "unspoken rule scandal" disappeared in an instant. Singh soon filmed X-Men: Apocalypse, and two years later, he and two young actors in the film are still in China to promote the film around the world.
However, Singh's career has been controversial all the way. As we all know, it was Singh's "X-Men 1" directed in 2000 that officially kicked off the prelude to the "Comics Super British" blockbuster, and in the case of the box office reputation of "X-Men 1", there was the old "Spider-Man" trilogy and the old version of "Fantastic Four 1-2" that came out one after another, and the "Marvel Universe 1.0" pioneering work "Iron Man 1" was released eight years after "X-Men". However, after Singer successfully filmed two X-Men sequels, he suddenly jumped ship with the original team in 2004 and announced that he would take over the reboot of Warner's "Superman" movie for several years. At that time, Singer's job hopping once caused great dissatisfaction among industry insiders and Marvel fans. But from Singer's personal point of view, his favorite superhero since childhood has always been "Superman"; he shot the "X-Men" series in a B-movie style, perhaps to accumulate experience for him to shoot the real A-movie "Superman".
As a veteran "Superman fan", Brian Singer has a strong personal subjective color for the adaptation of the "Superman" movie. The first thing he did when he took over the "Superman" project was to completely abandon the setting of Tim Burton's version of "Superman Resurrection" - the latter was Warner's "Superman" project that Warner actively prepared in the late 1990s, wrote the script by Kevin Smith (director of "Crazy Clerk") in the American independent film industry at that time, and then hired Tim Burton, who successfully directed the canon "Batman 1-2". At that time, the "superman candidate" selected by the crew was Nicholas Cage, who was still at the peak of his career. However, due to various events such as creative ideas and personnel turmoil, although the initial investment of this version of "Superman" exceeded 50 million US dollars, it could not start filming until Singer took over. According to the documentary "Superman Resurrection" Death, Singer has always used the "Cage version of Superman" as a laughingstock when filming his "Superman Returns". Whenever anyone else objected to Singh's "Superman setting," Singh and his assistants would take out the picture of "Cage Try on Superman" and throw it in front of them, which was self-evident — you guys made this a few years ago, or did you mean to oppose me?
However, the abandonment of "Superman Resurrection", which has a strong "cult atmosphere", invisibly allows the "Superman" project to slide to the other extreme - too traditional and old. Brian Singer's version of Superman Returns chose Brandon Rose, who looked very similar to Christopher Reeve, who had just died, and resolutely gave up Henry Cavill, who later played Superman in "Man of Steel". Singh hopes to create Superman that is completely faithful to the old movie and the original TV series style. In the end, this version of the old-fashioned "Superman Returns" suffered a fiasco of both word-of-mouth and box office, and the film was also ridiculed by Kevin Smith and others as "a super British movie that does not fight but saves people".
Brian Singer temporarily left the comic book project. He wanted to pick up the suspense thriller he was best at, and the story was set in the "Nazi Germany" that he was most interested in. In 2008, Singer teamed up with Tom Cruise to shoot the political thriller Hitler. However, when "Thorny" encountered a decline in European word-of-mouth and was about to be released in North America, the scandal of Tom Cruise spending a lot of money to buy some film critics was exposed by the media, which actually played a great negative role in "Thorny" in North America. Perhaps the critics have criticized the film out of overcorrection to avoid suspicion, and Singer has been obsessed with "Nazi themes" all his life, and now that his works have been spurned again, Singh can be described as another heavy blow.
In 2010, the lost Singer and Fox, who was scolded for Wolverine 1, suffered again. Brian Singer became fully involved in the planning of the X-Men prequel trilogy. It just so happens that the first part of the prequel involves a lot of World War II background, which provides room for Singer's "Nazi complex", and he works together as a screenwriter and producer with director Matthew Vaughn to complete the most profound X-Men movie to date, "First Battle", which explains the horror process of the mutant Eric who became Magneto step by step under the influence of Nazi ideas.
In fact, in addition to "Very Suspect", Singh's early works also explored the "Nazi theme" of the film "Nazi Pursuit". As a Jew, Singer was obsessed with the Nazis as a child and even formed a club organization. In addition to shooting Nazi-themed films directly, Singer also continued to add relevant elements to the X-Men series. The X-Men 1 begins with an elaborate "concentration camp rain scene." Until this "Apocalypse", which had nothing to do with World War II, Singer continued to give in the concentration camp number on Magneto's arm and Auschwitz in Poland and other World War II elements.
In the following interview, Singer himself reviewed some of the events mentioned in the above text, perhaps to help us understand the controversial genius director.
(The following interview contains serious spoilers, please read with caution)
Director Singer talks about the core of "Apocalypse": This film aims to explain why X Academy is armed
Pomi: There is a detail, is the daughter of Magneto killed in the film, "Nina", the Crimson Witch?
Singh: Hmm... Quicksilver is Magneto's son, and then he has a sister, but I haven't revealed that part of her story in this film. I'll start by focusing on this fast-moving boy. He wants his family to be back together, he has a lost soul, he is looking for his father, but what he finds is a very distant person, he struggles to be closer to his father, so it is very sad. Quicksilver was supposed to be a very happy character in the movie, but in the end the story is sad. I also have a son, 15, who is also a child and he is very special to me.
Bomi: The role of "Phoenix Girl" in this film is decisive, is the core of the story of this film the growth process of "Phoenix Girl"?
Singh: No, the center of the film is what I present at the end. The film is about how, when, and why the X-Men team was built, especially why they built it in schools. Why do idealists like "Professor X" think that school alone is not enough, but also a fighting team: uniforms, weapons and superpowers. It comes from two reasons: the main reason is the appearance of the apocalypse, and the "Magic Woman" Ruiwen also convinces the professor, that is, the role of Jennifer Lawrence in the film.
The X-Men director on Deadpool: I love Reynolds, but Deadpool doesn't fit that style
Pomi: Deadpool was a huge success at the beginning of the year, have you ever thought about putting a young version of Deadpool in X-Men: Apocalypse?
Singh: I can't say much about the younger version of Deadpool, because I've always loved Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, and I wanted to see if his Deadpool could find a suitable way to eventually join the X-Men universe. I personally want to work with him as well, and others are nice; I've met him a few times and he's talented. I'd like to see his Deadpool join. But for now, I also have to take into account the issue of style unification, and the styles of Deadpool and X-Men do not match.
Pomi: "War I" and "Reverse Future" both have a strong Cold War background, both use mutants to talk about the discrimination of minorities in real society, the background of this film is still in the Cold War, does it continue the practical significance of this aspect?
Singh: The movie is about: Although everyone knows about the existence of mutants and knows that they live all around us, people are beginning to learn to understand and accept them. But not every corner of the globe is in harmony. This is what Jennifer Lawrence's character, The Witch, wants to explain to Professor X that although you live a peaceful life on your own base, the persecution of mutants still exists in other countries, such as here or in the United States, all over the world, which is still a serious problem.
In reality, whenever different voices or ethnic minorities appear in society, they are often persecuted in various ways. And these people need to be accepted. In the movie, the contradiction between "Magic Girl" Ruiwen and "Professor X" is also intensified.
Brian Singer on his previous game Superman: Superman is too just and too hard to write Cage is not for Superman
Pomey: You've made both Superman for DC and X-Men for Marvel, but obviously the latter is more successful than the former, is it that Marvel's comics are a little easier to adapt than DC?
Singh: I think it depends on the story and the characters. Each film is independent, and none is easier. Superman is hard to shoot because he has extremely powerful superpowers. He represents pure righteous goodness, so his characters are difficult to write about. We had a lot of cartoonists to write About Superman, and everyone complained that it was too hard to write.
And "X-Men" at least has a lot of characters, a lot of superpowers, so there are many places to write, and the weaknesses are also very distinct. Each mutant's superpowers have corresponding weaknesses — some can't stand bullets, "Professor X" is a wheelchair, and so on, and their superpowers always have weaknesses. So, while it can't be said that X-Men is easier, the story is really very different.
Pomi: There were rumors that Tim Burton had tried to get Cage to play Superman, but you turned it down?
Singh: Yes, I have photographs to prove it, and one of the makeup audition photos shows Nicolas Cage in Superman's uniform.
Pomi: But when you took over the project, you didn't accept it...
Singh: I don't think he's a good fit for Superman, and the design for Superman at the time seemed a bit... unnatural. The style of uniform that was too brightly colored was not at all the Superman I had seen as a child. I grew up watching reruns of the original Superman TV series and Richard Donner's version of Superman movies, and that's where I was inspired by the characters.
Brian Singer on previous games and partners: "Thorny" will definitely leave a name in the history of the film Ultraman is unique
Pomi: From now on, do you think your previous game, Action Target Hitler, was underestimated?
Singh: It's one of my personal favorite films, and I think over time, people who study history will always realize the accuracy of this movie, and this movie will definitely leave a name for itself, in short, I am personally proud of it.
Pomi: Can you talk about your longtime partner John Ultraman? He is a rare soundtrack and editor.
Singh: Yes, he's unique, he's the only filmmaker I know who can do both. Of course, he also worked hard. You think, he's an editor and needs to cut a movie into a film; then put down his work and go to the studio to compose music. In fact, he doesn't write music, but he can write all the instrumental passages and play them to me simply. If I don't like it, he has to rewrite it, and he's always depressed... He then oversaw the sound effects and music mixing with me, and he was also a co-producer of the film. In fact, we met in college, we are friends, we have our own secret language, we know each other very well.