[ZariusTwo]

Source: IGN Filmforce


Quote:
February 03, 2005 - Gregory Ellwood's latest Hollywood Hitlist column at MSN contains some pretty nasty rumors about X-Men 3. The columnist claims that there is a bit of a war going on between 20th Century Fox's X-Men 3 and Warner Brothers' new Superman film, which will be directed by former X-Men helmer Bryan Singer (as first reported by IGN FilmForce). It was Singer's defection to Warners that reportedly set this feud in motion.


Ellwood reports that Fox played hardball with Singer and Warners over the casting of "Iceman" Shawn Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen in Superman, a role that recently went to Sam Huntington instead. "Fox is telling actors who have options for the third, untitled X-Men film that it will begin shooting June 20th," alleges Hollywood Hitlist. "That conflicts with Superman Returns spring shooting schedule, which is anticipated to go through July 30."

The first X-Man to jump ship to Singer's new franchise was James Marsden. "Unless a miracle occurs, James Marsden has already been removed from consideration as Cyclops after he took a smaller part as Perry White's son in Superman Returns. We'll see if Marsden's loyalty to Singer was a smart career move," the column claims.

Famke Janssen – whose "deceased" character Jean Grey is expected to be the linchpin of X3 – revealed in a radio interview yesterday that she's to meet with Singer in Australia next week about a role in Superman. If Janssen defects then you can imagine the pickle Fox will be in.

Both X3 and Superman have summer 2006 release dates, but the latter is gearing up for production while the former still hasn't hired a director, negotiated deals with certain cast members or finalized the script.

Indeed, Hollywood Hotlist says that just last week Zak Penn – who received a story credit for X2 – "was brought on board to start a whole new draft."

Penn's reported involvement was news to IGN FilmForce's X-Men insiders but it wasn't denied, either. It seems quite obvious that X-Men 3 is in a state of flux right now. Hopefully, some official decisions on the second sequel should be forthcoming. We can exclusively reveal, however, that Marsden's Cyclops will definitely NOT be in X3. Whether Scott Summers will be killed off or simply recast remains to be seen


...Great, Synger's career oppertunitys have more or less begun a series of events that are going to cripple the third movie, no Marsden? No Jean? NO CLIFFHANGER RESOLUTION FOR JEAN? No Whedon? More rewrites and second drafts? They might as well stop now, becuase "Superman Returns" is going to be much, much better