Movie marketing is a true art these days especially when it comes to the comic-based superhero film. The closer a film gets to a release date the more material finds its way into the public eye. A single image can boost audience excitement, but it can also sometimes squelch it. One example of the latter happened a couple days ago when what appears to be a photo-shopped group photo from X-Men: First Class hit the interwebs and started the geeks a grumbling. Check it out here if you somehow managed to miss it.
Director Matthew Vaughn was apparently just as turned off by the image as everyone else (or at least wants people to think so) and has contacted /film to clarify a few things. He also offered up two new official pics as a mea culpa of sorts for the pain inflicted on the fanboys of the world by that previous image.
I freaked out on them yesterday. I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’…”
That’s Vaughn speaking to /film yesterday about the leaked photo, but he also has a lot to say on other aspects of the film as well. His explanation of the move away from the modernized costumes in the previous films is especially articulate and well thought out… “The costumes are blue and yellow as well, because fuck it, lets take it back it the original.” He also categorizes his film as closer in spirit to Casino Royale than to the recent Star Trek reboot. “If you think about it, Casino Royale just totally rebooted Bond – they kept what they wanted and got rid of what didn’t work… I think my rule is to make a stand alone movie that is as good as possible and do as many nods and winks towards the comics and the other films, but not get tied up in knots worrying about that.”
It’s impossible to judge a film based solely off still images, but that won’t stop people from doing so anyway. Vaughn only has three previous films as director, and two of them are damn fine pieces of entertainment. (Sorry Stardust.) As of right now the best reason to keep faith that his X-Men film will turn out okay is that Brett Ratner has nothing to do with it. We’ll find out this June when X-Men: First Class hits theaters….
For now though, head on over to /film to read the rest of what Vaughn had to say and to check out larger versions of the two new images. And check out Hero Complex for more recently released pics as well.
