CHRISTOPHER NOLAN On The First X-MEN Movie “That’s my idea!”

By Nick Dourian on Monday, September 9th, 2013

Can you remember when Bryan Singer was a revered member of the “superhero director” community. Hell, the dude started the entire modern genre of realistic, costumed vigilantes with 2000’s X-Men (although Blade fans might disagree). In those early years, Singer could do absolutely no wrong. No one else had successfully created a group of super powered freaks into a realistic world, with a list of hero themed failures a mile long, starting with Spawn of course (again, Blade fans might disagree, but “Vampire killer” is a far easier pill to swallow than “Eye lasers man”). Though, in recent years the community’s been a bit bitter towards the Sing-meister.

Sure, we all felt betrayed when he abandoned the third X-Men movie in favor of Superman Returns, and a bit more heartbroken when Brett Ratner was chosen as his replacement, but we shouldn’t judge Singer for his change in projects. Hell, he offered to make the third X-Men flick once his Supes film was finished, but Fox refused, and proceeded with a different (and far less skilled) director.

Combine all of this with the rise of Marvel Studios, and the incessant fanboy chanting of “Send the Rights Back To Marvel!”, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for an entirely indignant, unfounded backlash.

Well, here’s an interesting anecdote for you. Hugh Jackman spent time with Christopher Nolan, while the two worked together on The Prestige, and eventually the conversation veered towards the X-Men franchise. Here it is, as told by Hugh Jackman:

There wasn’t really a superhero genre before X-Men came out. Funny enough, I remember catching a plane while we were promoting The Prestige with Chris Nolan [who] said to me that he’d always had the Batman in his mind. Even way back before 2000, he had the version of Batman that he ended up making in his head. He said, ‘when I went into the cinema and saw X-Men, I said damn, that’s my idea.’ The idea that you could really dive in to the emotional life, to the vulnerability of these characters and that, as well as being fantastical, amazing and action, is what’s going to hook people and make them care. That’s what Bryan did, he had a lot of courage to do that.”

SOURCE: Access Hollywood

S#!T Talking Central

Honestfellow_The_3rd

So Nolan’s idea was to make two Crappy X-men films, Then abandon them to make the most boring superman film ever?
- Scott Vickers Heffernan
  
  Yes, that is exactly what Nolan said.
  - Junior Portillo2
    
    Well, what now?
- Walter Iego
  
  Nolan did three boring Bruce Wayne-flicks instead.
  - DoigtDuPeuple
    
    Then proceeded to Produce and help write Man of Steel who yes, was better than Superman Returns, but was still a shitty plot-holed movie that just went bezerk, trampled a city, and gave us one of the most shitty forced kissing scene ever in a Superman Movie… Hopefully the BatFleck incident really did piss him off and made him get off the next movie… I’m hoping Snyder can bring back the actual character of Superman without having a plot holed infested movie that just destroys main characters and story lines… (While Dark Knight (not Rises) was good, it was saved by Ledger’s performance which gave us some leeway to excuse the idiotic plot holes Nolan is renowned for!)
    
    I blame Nolan for Man of Steel’s crap fest.. 😉
    - Walter Iego
      
      I agree. Nolan is a good director, but he should not venture too far into the unknown.
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        There’s always some fan boy out there who thinks Nolan can’t do wrong instead of being able to differentiate the good and the bad that comes with him. Plot holes are his trademark.
        
        Inception, end scene “How do we end this movie Mr Nolan..?” …Nolan: “Euh.. have him be in a dream..” .. . “but that’s a cop out no?? Let’s..”… Nolan: “FIRE HIIM!”..
        
        As if he says “Ok, so he’ll jump and land on the moon.” someone says “Euh.. sure but how will he breathe?” .. Nolan: ” … because .. .. … fire this guy!..”
        
        He brings us back to the 80’s where Superman would suddenly be able to breathe and talk in space, reconstruct the Great Wall of China with some unexplained eye power because he’s just Superman.. While entertaining in those days, today that just doesn’t cut it..
        
        I want WB to push the envelope! I want them to do a movie and minimize the plot holes to a degree we can accept them. Not just push it because a character just can do it..
        
        I think Snyder will do better without him on his second pass at it.
      - jasonca
        
        Yea, I think the ending of Inception wen’t over your head. It was ambiguous ending, not an ending that said it was all a dream.
    - jasonca
      
      what plot hole did the dark knight have again? Man of Steel was written by Goyer not Nolan. I could blame speilberg for transformers since he help develop the story, but he didn’t write it or direct it.
      
      Comicbook nerds are the worst, followed by video game nerds.
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        Even worse are those who criticize and don’t know anything, like you know just going on IMDB and finding out that Nolan DID help the story for Man of Steel.. You know .. as he is credited ON the site… Yes Goyer wrote it, but Nolan had control over parts of the story. So you know.. he decides what happens..
        
        What Plot holes??… Holy crap.. watch the movie.. It’s full on the most idiotic things you could write.. Hell, you can even watch “Everything wrong with Dark Knight Rises” on youtube.. They make a point to find little things.. For Nolan movies, the don’t even have to search for it.
        
        Funny how people like to throw insults at others like “Nerds” when their brain cells seems to have been switched off for so many years..
      - jasonca
        
        Frst of all I asked The Dark Knight not TDKR. Second Everything Wrong with videos are contrived, they nitpick at every film just to get views. Man of Steel was not written by Nolan it was written by Goyer. Goyer has story credit on The Dark Knight although he didn’t write a word of the script.
        
        EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH MoS SAYS IT WAS A SNYDER FILM.
        
        Snyder couldn’t direct a coherent porno.
        
        You are a nerd, invoking those idiots over at, ‘Everything wrong with’ almost guarantees you as a video game playing, anime loving loser that should probably stick to fighting with people over CoD and Battlefield.
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        LOL!! Continue with your rants you troll.. Maybe one day your mommy and daddy will finally accept you and you shall have a pubic hair on your body instead of in your mouth..
        
        You must know so much about who writes what and how they give people credits just for fun thus paying them millions for not doing what they are credited for..
        
        Now go troll somewhere else..
      - jasonca
        
        Did I hit too close to home? Do you even see the irony of calling me a troll when it was you that was trolling a Nolan post? Something tells me you don’t even know what Irony means.
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        LMAO!! Kid, go suck on your mommy’s saggy titties! You are trolling since you make assumptions about things and say “Goyer has story credit on The Dark Knight although he didn’t write a word of the script.”..
        
        Do you even know what story credit means??? Goyer is credited since he had input in the general story line of the movie. A writer WRITES the story but is not necessarily the one who decides where it goes, or how it’s going to develop. They give input ect.. STORY credit is given when the person is involved in the overall concept of the story line. They give the info to the writers, they tell them “The story starts here, will go into this phase, then go here and then ends like this.” Writers can add or give input as to where the characters go but if they are involved with someone who’ll be credited with the “Story” it means they were given specifics about what the movie will do.
        
        It does not mean he wrote the lines for the characters or described in details the fights or action to be taken. They can say “So by this time, Zod will be the one left behind and start attacking Superman. The fight will be devastating to the city and we need to have a Superman/Zod fight where Supe’s has him cornered and Zod goes ahead and try to kill someone and Superman will need to kill him even if this goes against everything he knows.” .. Writer goes with that and writes details about the fight and inserts lines.
        
        OH and by all means, if YOU say that everyone who where involved with the movie say MoS it’s a Snyder movie, then that must absolutely mean that’s what they meant by it.. Not that they are saying it’s a Snyder movie as far as the performances of the actors, the look and feel, the pace involved in it, the concepts behind scenes.. Hence you know.. Making it his, owning the movie in very specific details.. Ect.. you know .. Director stuff…
        
        Many Directors are credited by their staff as it being “their” movie and never write a single word of the script or give major input about the story plot. Directors direct.. Writers write, Story tellers give the story direction.. Some do more than others. Doesn’t make it less a Snyder movie if Nolan and Goyer were the ones giving the whole thing the story behind it..
        
        Here’s a link since you seem unable to find it and just give comments about what you think is reality..
        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers
        
        PS… WB gave Nolan and Goyer to Snyder since they have faith in them because of the money that came in from the new Batman franchise and that Snyder, while a great Director, has had issues with some of his story development skills (i.e. Sucker Punch).. It’s out there .. They had even more input than Snyder had in order to help him tweek his skills before WB let him have the next one with only Goyer to help him with the story. He’s better as a Director and for screenplays (which are based off of the story that was written in case you still are not getting this point)…
        
        And here’s another one for you : a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,[1] by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally[3][4] or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[5] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[6]
        
        So basically this defines your little rants as trolling.. Me I basically responded to Honestfellow_The_3rd and Walter Lego’s comments for which I was agreeing with without defaming someone specifically or attacking someone.
        
        Did I hit home with this one?? Do you need a whole session about your little rants? Now go troll someone else before your mommy comes back from the bingo session with your Uncle/Daddy/Cousin Jimmy Bob Joe who does crack to help him cope with looking at you being his son, cousin and nephew all rolled up into one…
        
        (See that last paragraph could be viewed as trolling since I’m provoking your inbred emotional response)
      - jasonca
        
        You’ve just wrote a novella. Congratulations!
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        Yeah.. and you got owned.. Yet still are unable to stop trolling.. I’m guessing it must run in your family..
      - jasonca
        
        In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,[1] by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally[3][4] or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[5] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[6]
        
        You’re the troll- you moron!
      - DoigtDuPeuple
        
        and the troll continues.. So I hit the right nerve by giving you the same shit you give people on your posts? You know the ones where you can’t just post a comment and be normal or just post what you think without insulting a fellow forum visitor… Your need to elevate yourself by insulting people show that you need some attention so you just keep on coming back for more..
        
        I’m guessing you can’t read very well either .. hence why you think I am the troll.. You know since you brought it to a level of trying to start the argument, upset and posted inflammatory messages… Like I said previously.. Go troll someone else.. ah poor you.. LMAO!!!
      - jasonca
        
        yea. This was a Christopher Nolan news story and you and the other guy started trolling about your anti-Christopher Nolan BS.
        
        You’re the troll get over-yourself.
        
        You continue to over-write too btw. LOOOSER!
- Joe Fiore
  
  Who did that?
  
  Because Singer made two fantastic X-Men movies, one of which is one of the best superhero movies ever made (X-Men 2), and then went on to make an excellent Superman film that was (again) one of the best superhero movies ever made.
  - thomas
    
    Are you related to singer?
    
    The xmen films are terrible come on, can you name 1 oscar worthy performance in any of them?
    - DNAsplitter
      
      That comment makes no sense. With the exception to the Dark Knight what other superhero film has ever had an Oscar worthy performance?
      - PunchingKnowitALLS
        
        Superman 1 and 2, Batman and Batman Returns
      - DNAsplitter
        
        I’m a huge fan of all those films but there was no acting that was Oscar worthy with the exception of possibly Christopher Reeve but that is more of a “let’s give him an award” type of feeling since he is now deceased. Great acting just not the level of an Academy Award.
- DNAsplitter
  
  Oh the fan boys and how the seem to forget that before Singer there were no “real world” superhero films that actually took their material serious with the exception to Tim Burton’s 1st Batman flick. Yes, Singer is a pioneer for the genre and the fan boys owe him a huge thanks for getting it to where it is today. He took something as complicated as X-Men and made it relatable and gave it a realistic vibe with our current world. Love the short term memory of some people. Don’t worry i’m sure we’ll all see you at the midnight showing next summer.
  - blegh
    
    blade came out before xmen and it was rated r and a superior film to the any of the xmen trilogy
    - DNAsplitter
      
      I love Blade but that was more of an action/horror film and was marketed as so. It was until Blade II that mass audiences made the connection it was based on a comic book. And no way is it superior to X2. Get real. The box office speaks for themselves as to the superior films.
      - Hobbs
        
        So by using the box off as a gauge to determine how good a movie is means that the Phantom Menace was one of the greatest movies of all time? Blade 1 and 2 are just as good as the X-Men movies. Worthy addition to the collection.
    - DoigtDuPeuple
      
      I give you credit for bringing that up, but also credit DNAsplitter who also gives a great point about the marketing of it being a vampire movie first and comic book adaptation second.
      
      What I think most people need to do is give Singer the credit he deserves for sparking the Superhero Movie genre once again.
      
      It was only done successfully by WB with the Batman franchise, and even they proved to fail starting with the third original Batman franchise.
      
      Blade came around, but Blade is not viewed as a “superhero” in the common sense. But yes they did adapt it perfectly for the 1st and 2nd movie.
      
      But even with that success Marvel did not think “Wait.. We could make billions out of our heroes!” They were very careful about this and to prove it they never claimed the rights back from FOX who they took the chance on X-Men.
      
      Once Hollywood saw the money that this brought in they realized how much cash could be made, and we saw Marvel, Sony, and everyone else go for the new cash cows that are comic books.
      
      While I hated Superman Returns as it destroyed what he represents, how Luthor is still a property manager freak, Lois becomes the worst mother in the world, ect. I still give him credit for making the genre a success in Hollywood. Without his take (while flawed) on the X-Men we wouldn’t have seen Spider-man, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Avengers.. Ect.
    - Reader1984
      
      I love Blade (am a Marvelgeek,) but did you really say that Blade was a better film than X-2? **rolling my eyes
    - Reader1984
      
      I love Blade (am a Marvelgeek,) but did you really say that Blade was a better film than X-2? **rolling my eyes
acrossalloceans

the title of this article is a total lie. It leads you to believe Nolan is accusing Singer of taking one of his ideas. In reality he is simply giving Singer credit for using his similar idea of exploring the emotional aspect as well as the action side of comic books onto the big screen. No stolen ideas. Real low way to get people to view your articles.
Tim Hansen

I have not seen a single superhero movie yet that has been able to capture the feelings from the comics. And I hate that Singer made the mutants into some gay metaphors.
- Tim Boyer
  
  The comics have been doing that for decades. Singer didn’t invent that metaphor buddy. Obviously you have never read a single X-Men comic book.
  - Tim Hansen
    
    I have read every single X-Men written by Byrne and Claremont, later the Claremont solo run, a lot of the early Lee and Kirby era, and some of the later various writers and artists. Buddy.
    
    At first they were feared due to their powers, but only some time after Byrne left did we get all the fake “mutie” discrimination fad, which I never bought, especially considering how many other Marvel superheroes there are out there with similar looks and powers. Some of them even aliens. And even if they have always been some outsiders, later for some reason also among other superheroes as seen in storylines like Secret Wars, it was always done in a more subtle way, not in the flashy and overobvious manner seen in the movies where Singer rubbed it into our face, like the mother sitting next to her son and asking him about when he “found out” he was mutant, acting like she was asking him about his sexuality. It was embarrassing to watch.
    
    Check it out, Kitty even asks Storm for an autograph when she is told they are the X-Men (and before she learns she is a mutant herself):
    
    http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4341/uxmis12913.jpg
    - Jason Barnett
      
      Kitty’s weird. She’s the type of person who jumped right into superheroing at thirteeen
      - Tim Hansen
        
        The original X-Men were also very young when they started. Also the Titans and Legion of Superheroes in the DC universe were teenagers.
        Very young mutants in suits is pretty common in X-Men. The Kitty Pryde introduction was either way done in a period of the comic that is now gone. It made sense when it happened.
    - All-New Wolverine’s O-Face
      
      Stan Lee actually said it was always a gay metaphor.
Reader1984

I love Bryan Singer overall – The Usual Suspects is still one of the best films ever, and he really elevated the X-Men with those first two films into the leaders of the modern super hero film era. I’m also biased because the X-Men are my all time favorite comic super heroes. The Superman was an obvious exception, but I really admire Bryan Singer’s filmmaking, even Valkyrie. No one can do a thriller quite the same.
KillerPool

Singer is an awful director who ruined the characters of the X-films to the point where people actually think Hugh JAckman is the perfect Wolverine which is just completely silly.
Blade Started the trend of the modern Superhero movie and that credit make more sense to give to David Goyer as much as I hate to admit it.