When Will We Get A Female Comic Book Movie? – Part 2 The X-Men

When writing about a female led comic book/superhero movie I purposely missed out the X-Men.  The X-Women are so complicated they need their own article.  20th Century Fox currently hold the rights to the X-Men.  The film series so far consists of: X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).  The next film in the series will be X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) followed by an as yet untitled Wolverine sequel (2017).  There has also been a suggestion of a spin-off X-Force movie.

The problem is twofold, the X-Men exist as a group or team and work best as such.  The second problem, the X-Men haven’t always made best use of their female characters.  In the comic books Wolverine has been truly successful as a solo character and in turn is the only one to get a his own movie.  The one female character that could hold a film, Psylocke has never been properly introduced.  The most notable character that advances have been disappointed with is Storm/Ororo Munroe.  Many people blame Halle Berry for her performance, in reality it is more down to the writing.

Jean Grey / Phoenix (Famke Janssen) is better written for the screen but is used to the greatest effect when playing against Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.

Marie / Rogue (Anna Paquin) has been used to less effect in each film until the most recent where she is reduced to a cameo.

Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) Promoted from a cameo for to a leading role in Days of Future Past.

Raven Darkholme / Mystique could be the answer.  Always an interesting character in the first three movies  played by Rebecca Romijn, replaced by Jennifer Lawrence for the prequel movies, First Class and Days of Future Past, star power has been added to the mix.  I suggested the possibility of a Mystique movie five years ago.  I’m would have to be a different story to fit with the existing continuity but could still work.

I mentioned about the idea of an X-Force movie, this could do two things.  Continue the old film series with some of the old characters alongside the First Class team.  It also gives the chance to introduce unused characters or reintroduced characters that were wasted in The Last Stand such as Psylocke.  Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock/Psylocke first appeared in Captain Britain, vol. 1 #8 in 1976 as a supporting character to her brother Brian Braddock Captain Britain.  Originally having precognitive abilities, then later revealed as a telepath, she also gained Jean Grey’s telekinesis ability.  She later transferred into the body of female Japanese mutant ninja Kwannon.  She gained Kwannon’s skills and elements of her personality.  The Character has a lot of millage and could introduced in her Japanese form with an origin story to follow using an English actress.

I don’t see Fox rushing to join the race for a female comic book movie.  But like the idea of an X-Force movie.

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Wool

Last week I wrote about how some stories are better on the page than the screen and that some novels should not be adapted, today I come to you with a book that is crying out to be adapted. Wool by Hugh Howey. Given the quote from the Sunday times on the cover “The Next Hunger Games” I think it is only a matter of time. A well known online encyclopaedia suggests the film rights have been purchased by 20th Century Fox “with director Ridley Scott and [Screenwriter] Steve Zaillian expressing interest”. The book started life as a short story, self published on through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing system. It proved so popular that Howey begun adding to it until it became Wool, a five hundred page novel. A prequel Shift was published earlier this year and a sequel Dust is expected at the end of the year.

Set in what appears to post-apocalyptic (listeners to “wittertainment” will know that post-apocalyptic is an oxymoron, but it is an accepted term in popular culture so I am sticking with it) where people live in a giant silo berried deep in the ground. They are told that the outside world is uninhabitable as the land is ruined and the atmosphere is toxic. Most people take this as gospel, those that don’t believe keep their thoughts to themselves as it is a crime to question this and to express a wish to go outside and find out. Those that do are sent “cleaning”, sent through an airlock to clean the sensors that give the silo its only view of the outside world. Shortly after cleaning the exiles die, seemingly killed by the inhospitable outdoors, thus keeping people inside and satisfied for a little longer. The story starts with the silo sheriff, Holston volunteering for cleaning, for reasons that are explained in flashback. This leads the silo needing a new sheriff, the mayor, Jahns and a longstanding deputy sheriff, Marnes (who has refused promotion) travels to the depth of the silo to recruit their favoured candidate, Juliette. But the honesty and tenacity that got Juliette the job don’t fit well in a world of secrets.

The most important thing about a story set in a dystopian future is that it creates a believable world for its characters to exist in. This is something that Howey does with ease, the silo is explained in perfect detail without getting in the way of the narrative and without huge paragraphs of dull exposition needed. And like all the best movie or literary incarnations of dystopia, everything seems okay on the surface. This isn’t a dystopia where the survivors are battling for survival against the un-dead or a terrible disease, they are just looking for information for the truth. This concept that drives the plot isn’t new, think Soylent Green (1973), Logan’s Run (1976) or even George Orwell’s novel 1984 where beyond the plot the characters motivation is to find the truth. Sometimes for the good of society, sometimes to their own determent, often for both.

The characters are well drawn and believable as are their motivations. Like Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games (2012), the casting is vital to the success of a movie adaptation. Here are a few suggestions: Andrea Riseborough or Jessica Chastain as Juliette – Tom Hanks as Solo – Brian Cox as Bernard – Helen Mirren or Judi Dench as Jahns. Not sure on Holston or Marnes. Lukas is probably the weakest written character so again unsure on the casting, possibly the most famous age appropriate actor at the time, Ryan Gosling? I look forward to seeing how it translates to the screen, given production times, it will probably be two years before we find out.

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