The X-Men

Genre: Superhero/Comic-Book Adaptation/Action.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox.
Production Company: Donner/Shuler-Donner Films.

Project Phase: Development Hell.

Who's In It: People named as frontrunners or under heavy (and totally unconfirmed-subject-to-immediate-change) of starring in the film are: Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X); Angela Bassett (Ororo Munroe/Storm); Russell Crowe (Logan/Wolverine); Edward Norton (Scott Summers/Cyclops); Julianne Moore (Jean Grey); Sarah Michelle Gellar (Rogue).
Who's Making It: Bryan Singer (Director); Chris McQuarrie, Ed Solomon (Screenwriters); Richard Donner, Lauren Shuler-Donner (Executive Producers); John Ottman (Editor, Musical Score); Steve Burg (Conceptual Artist); based upon the Marvel Comics family of X-Men books.

Premise: Across the world, children are born with an extra twist to their chromosomes that allow them to do superhuman abilities: fire a beam of force from their eyes, or born with a set of wings that allows flight, or being able to read men's minds. These 'children of the atom' are often feared and despised by the world, forcing these 'mutants' to resort to desperate actions. However, one group of mutants have banded together to show the world that it need not fear their kind. Apart, they are simply scientific curiousities, freaks and monsters - but together, united by their shared belief, they are more - they are the uncanny X-Men.

Now the team of X-Men face two of their greatest challenges: accepting a ferocious mutant known as 'Wolverine' into their fold; and battling a mutant capable of bending the forces of magnetism to his will - the deadly Magneto.

Release Date: Summer 2000.

Which Characters Will be In It?:

One of our trusted scoopers has told us that in the first draft of McQuarrie's script The Beast has been dropped, leaving the lineup of X-men as Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, Wolverine and Professor X. This may have changed in McQuarrie's second draft or in any recent revisions.

Comments: The mutant superstars of the four-color superhero world of comics get their shot at the silver screen under the creative direction of Richard Donner, the man who showed that a man could fly in 1979's Superman movie. With over thirty years of history to the comic, and nearly three dozen past-, present and future X-Men that we've seen, what shape will the film version take? There are some pretty good ideas on what we'll see - the effects of the mutant persecution (which was an allegory for race, sex and ethnic relations), evil mutants threatening the globe (Magneto? The Brotherhood of Evil?), and for sure, a certain Canadian canuckle-head who sports admantium claws and a heightened healing factor (Wolvernine!) The only real two questions left now are: when are we gonna get to see it for ourselves, and will it break the poor track record of previous Marvel film adaptations?

Developments:

November, 1998... McQuarrie submits his second draft.

July, 1998... Chris McQuarrie is now writing the screenplay.

April, 1997... Ed Solomon has been hired to write the screenplay from an idea developed by Singer and his team members.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

March 26, 1996... The newest draft of the X-Men is being written by Andrew Kevin Walker, of Seven fame. [Scoop reported by "HtC!"; taken originally from Wizard magazine.]

April 10, 1996... The plan of Fox may be to take elements from former screenplay drafts of X-Men as well as the Walker draft, then hiring a new screenwriter to lace together the stronger elements of both into one cohesive script. Looks like Fox is going to miss their projected Christmas '96 release date. [Scoop reported by 'Pavlov'.]

May 1, 1996... Ben Kingsley may be being considered for the role of 'Professor X'. [Scoop sent in anonymously.]

July 25, 1996... An anonymous sender reports that the film is being pushed back by Donner until after his stint directing Conspiracy is completed this fall. [Scoop mailed in anonymously.]

August 1, 1996... The first fellow writes to tell us they heard that the singer Danzig was rumored to be up for the Wolverine role, while the second scooper heard the name Jean-Claude Van Damme. We've heard nothing about either. [Scoop submitted anonymously and by 'Doc'.]

August 5, 1996... X-fans may perk up for this one: Fox has announced that the X-Men film will go before the cameras before the end of 1996. [Scoop sent in by Christian, mutant #A234991.]

September 8, 1996... A couple of individuals send word that they've heard nothing indicating the X-Men movie will roll before the end of 1996. One scooper heard from the production company that the film has been pushed back, possibly to next year. This seems to go along with what we've seen here at CA - no 'go' for the project has been given as far as we can tell. [Scoops sent in anonymously.]

December 9, 1996... Variety reports that director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) is in final negotiations to helm this picture. Singer mentioned that the superhero aspect is being treated matter-of-factly, even going so far to call the X-Men a group of "anti-heroes". While nothing substantial was mentioned concerning the plotline elements, Singer did add that the film would involve the formation of the team, but not necessarily the same way as the comic's depiction. He also mentioned that they have come up with a way to present the X-Men to not only fans of the comic book series but to the general public. [Scoop reported by 'coleo', Kurt Martin, 'pkalapa', 'm2nal', 'Maverick', 'jsimmon1', 'ckilpat1', Bob Tucker, 'SuperDave', 'jforeman', 'truck' and anonymously; originally appeared in Variety magazine.]

January 6, 1997... There's a good chance producers are considering Vanessa Williams to play Ororo (Storm) Munroe, one of the X-Men with the ability to control the weather. Word is execs are happy with the results of her efforts in Schwarzenegger's Eraser flick. [Scoop sent in by James Furlong, obviously a mutant with extensive mind-reading abilities; additional details supplied by other scoopers.]

June 22, 1997... With Ed Solomon presently writing the much-anticipated screenplay, fan interest is building for this project already. An interesting scoop arrived that seems to suggest the writer has some inside knowledge about how the production is shaping up. Among the items the scooper spoke of was the possible sub-title of the film: Children of the Atom (just like the recent video game in arcades.) Of the characters confirmed to be in the script, the scooper only indicated three: Jean Grey, Cyclops and Wolverine. As for the other X-Men, decisions are being made soon as to which ones will be included in the movie's team roster. Characters being considered include Psylocke, Blink, Rogue, Iceman, Gambit, Jubliee, Morph, Warlock, Longshot and Havok. X-Men readers will note the absence of some of the supporting cast of mutants, like Gambit, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Banshee. The reader explains that this line of thought is being done on purpose; already, a possible sequel premise could involve the original X-Men being captured and a new team of mutants being assembled to rescue the others (much like the storyline in the comic books.) If the 'Children of the Atom' subtitle is dropped from the first film, expect it to show up in the sequel's title. The first film focuses on Wolverine joining the team, as well as having Magneto as the principal nemesis of the X-Men. Also, a Marvel artist should being hired soon to design key sets for the film's scenes, including the Danger Room, X-Mansion, and the Weapon X laboratory. [Sent in by 'Cerebro'.]

July 1, 1997... The latest issue of Fox's SciFox newsletter gives a brief sentence blurb about the direction of the film's storyline: essentially, Wolverine is recruited by the young mutant team known as X-Men to battle the villain Magneto. [Scooped by Jon Reeves.]

July 21, 1997... Ok, listen up. We know that there's a lot of you out there dying to know what's going on with the feature X-Men film. There are things being decided on at the moment that we will be able to report to you soon, but not just yet. But you've got to listen to us about all this sordid fanboy wish-fulfillment casting: it ain't goin' down like that. As much as Glenn Danzig would like to play Wolverine, it isn't the truth. Same goes for Jean-Claude Van Damme in the role. Trust us - the guys that are putting it together are still working on more important stuff. So stop sending us email that it's a done deal, because it just ain't. Whoever's telling you that someone is locked into a role 'for sure' is yanking your leg - so break theirs.

We promise to get some info to you soon, and when we do it'll be the latest scoop, way, way ahead of anyone else. Trust us - the fellows who're putting this movie together are avid fans of the X-Men, and want to make the film with the same level of excitement readers of the comic books want to see.

For now, this is the latest: no actors have been officially approached. Ed Solomon continues to write the second draft. There have been some well-known actors who've sent out 'feelers' - they've let the production team know they're interested in playing a character, and would like to test for the role. Some are good casting choices, while others are excellent casting choices, if they do eventually happen. [Reported by our very own Coming Attractions Cerebro unit.]

August 12, 1997... We received this letter in response to our July 21 entry:

"I've read the stuff on X-Men and I'd like to add a few comments. The following is factual: 'Children of the Atom' is not being considered at all as a title. Ed Solomon is currently working on a FIRST (not second) draft. Fox is not using any of the material from any previous drafts. Of the confirmed characters, I've heard for sure that Wolverine is one, and Storm and Xavier and Magneto are all being used. But apparently their approach is not to refer to them at all as the 'comic' names - but they are using the real names of the characters; ie 'Logan' etc. The notion, apparently, is that they are trying to ground the movie completely in reality, using the effects and stuff only as augmentation to the characters. They don't want the movie to be 'Batmanized' - ie, be all about the effects and nothing else. They've apparently been consulting with Stan Lee, who apparently loves the way they're going with it."

We edited out the part where the scooper mentioned their source. "The other stuff I know is that they are doing all sorts of genetics research (apparently they are working with a scientist who is one of the people who is working on the cancer gene stuff - and who also is an X-Men fan.) My friend said that nobody has seen the script yet, and that Solomon hasn't even showed pages to the director yet." The scooper also mentioned that Solomon is getting along with the project's director, Bryan Singer. The scooper also mentioned they heard about the opening sequence but promised to not spread it around because it sounded "so cool." OK, we can understand that. [Scoop submitted anonymously.]

August 17, 1997... A couple of interesting anonymous emails hit our front porch. One person out there tells us that character actor Christopher Walken has first refusal on whether or not he wants to play the tortured spirit known as Magneto. [Scooped anonymously.]

And over on AOL, actor John Leguizamo (most recently seen as The Clown in Spawn) informed the listeners on a chat channel that the 'creators' of the X-Men movie are considering him for the role of Wolverine. Leguizamo said he would do it if the producers and creators of the movie are seroius, but also mentioned that if he could choose which character he'd really want to portray, he would rather play Nightcrawler. [Sent in by 'Jwoo42'.]

Another person remembers reading an interview with producer Lauren Shuler-Donner. While throwing around ideas for casting Wolverine, she mentioned the name of Gary Sinese in a 'What If?' type of scernario. Which makes us wonder which look the producers want to give the big-screen Wolverine... [Scoop sent in by 'forest'.]

August 19, 1997... Elias Koteas, best known for his roles in Crash, The Prophecy, Exotica and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film may be the next actor considered for Wolverine if Sinese passes on it. [Sent in anonymously.]

August 24, 1997... This scooper heard on E! television that British model-turned-actress Elizabeth Hurley "will play Psylocke." We feel that this must be a rumor reported on E! only since no casting decisions have been announced - but nevertheless, we agree with the choice. [Sent in anonymously.]

September 14, 1997... Although we're not in the habit of posting fan speculation or wish lists about casting for movies (otherwise nothing would ever get done, don't you know), we're going to let that rule slide for this scoop. Sent in by the high school students of Lebanon, Oregon was this email detailing the results of a school pool about what they would like to see the X-Men movie to be. Since our site does receive its fair share of readers from Hollywood and who're are in the biz, why the hell not post it up?

"Equal numbers of male/female students were polled at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Oregon about the upcoming X-Men movie, as well as equal representation of all four grades. The sample space was 400 students.

"Question 1: Which is your favorite male X-MEN character?

46% Professor X
43% Beast
9% Gambit
2% Other

"Question 2: Which is your favorite female X-MEN character?

34% Psylocke
31% Rogue
26% Jubilee
6% White Queen
3% Other

"Question 3: Which is your favorite enemy?

57% Apocalypse
35% Sinister
8% Other
"Question 4: Who do you think should play the following characters? (The number of people supplying answers for this question varied so much that we just list the actors/actresses in order of popularity)

Professor X: Patrick Stewart, Christopher Walken

Gambit: Jean-Claude van Damme, Chris Potter (the current voice of Gambit on the cartoon), Dolph Lundgren, Adrian Paul

Wolverine: Lorenzo Lamas

Jubilee: Sarah Davenport, Heather McComb

Banshee: Jeremy Ratchford, Adrian Paul

White Queen: Finola Hughes, Sharon Stone

Psylocke: Talisa Soto, Tia Carerre

Question 5: On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not at all and 10 being a significant amount, how important is the upcoming X-Men movie to you?

54% 8
40% 1
3% Other
3% 10
"What we noticed in this survey was that most people were loyalists to a specific character or actor/actress combination in the cases of the first four questions, and that people had fairly strong opinions about the importance of the movie: either they were 'into that kind of thing' and really wanted to see it, or had no interest at all.

"Also note that the results of Questions 1-4 were the answers of people that wanted to see the movie, the 57% of the sample space. The others would not comment." [Poll results thoughtfully sent in by 'daphaze'.]

November 2, 1997... We've been told by an anonymous scooper that Bryan Singer's producing partner Tom DeSanto is the "true creative prophet" behind the project. DeSanto is said to be involved with all aspects of the project, especially with the development of the story and script since he's been an X-Men fan since being a kid. Word is that DeSanto was the one to encourage Singer to take on the high-profile project. [Scoop submitted anonymously.]

Then we get this nasty email from an anonymous sender. Doesn't really provide us any additional information about why the informant believes this way, but here it is...

"Why the heck are you guys getting so excited about this X-Men film? This is a director who hates comic books, and a writer who brags about never reading a comic book in his life. Far from being a group of people who love the property and intend to be faithful to the comic book, this film is going to be a true disaster.... And you can take that from someone who has been there in the room with the director and the producers, people who are truly without a clue." So if you were really in the room, fill us in. What's the storyline about? [Sent anonymously.]

Another anonymous person reported, "If the screenwriter is getting along with Bryan Singer [as mentioned in one of your scoops], he will be just about the only person in Hollywood who does..." [Anonymous.]

As of the middle of October, screenwriter Ed Solomon was about halfway through his script. The previous pages have been shown to the people involved with the project, but there's no word as to how the production team or Fox reacted to Solomon's direction. [Thanks to 'Tomjerry' and 'MShah972' and 'Cerebro' for the info.]

Meanwhile, in October an email was sent out to fans of the X-Men comic. Although the scooper didn't fill us in on exactly who or how the information was sent to him, it appears to be in the form of some mailing list for fans of the Marvel comic book.

According to 'Marian DeSilvo, Personal Assistant to Mr. Lee', the 'facts' are as follows: the budget is set at $ 65 million; ILM is handling the FX; the cast will be composed of unknowns; Iceman and Apocalypse will be entirely CGI; and the storyline features the X-Men joining forces with a reluctant Magneto to battle Apocalpyse across alternate timelines. [Sent in by 'jewood'.]

Adding to the confusion, Ain't It Cool reported last month that director Bryan Singer had been removed from the project due to a controversal matter that happened on the Apt Pupil set (see Apt Pupil page for additional details.) This report was indeed erroneous, and CA has learned that it may have been planted by someone wishing to generate bad press on the X-Men project. [Information supplied by 'Cerebro'.]

November 12, 1997... Premiere magazine published a mini-interview with X-Men director Bryan Singer, and he commented juuuust a little bit about possible casting ideas for some of the characters. Singer mentioned that they were considering Angela Bassett for the role of Storm and Patrick Stewart for the mentor/founder of the misunderstood team of mutants, Professor X. Based on the email we received from our scoopers who read about it first, it seems the majority of the population who'd pay to see the X-Men movie agree wholeheartedly with it. [Thanks to many of our mutant friends.]

December 17, 1997... Speaking at an NYU seminar, director Bryan Singer fielded questions from the audience, some pertaining to this project. Singer denied the rumor that Gary Sinese was under consideration to play Wolverine. [Turned in by 'sexyboy_4' and an anonymous source.]

Now that the Sinese rumor has been tackled elsewhere, we can turn our attention to Ed Solomon's script. Contrary to any and all rumors you may have heard, the first draft of the script has just been handed in this month. Casting will not be decided upon until the script is final and solid; the storyline remains the most important thing right now. [Thanks to our two mutant buddies Bryan (for hanging in there while we verified him!) and Tom.]

January 10, 1998... This scooper's overheard the script has nothing to do with the 'battle across time' rumor but instead focuses on Wolverine joining the team. The scooper's also overheard talk of Angela Bassett as Storm, and a mention of Kurt Russell as Wolverine, but the one that has us most curious is the previously unmentioned rumor that actor Ian Buchanan could be amongst consideration for the role of Professor Charles Xavier, just as Singer's favorite choice of Patrick Stewart is being considered. We did a bit of research on the The Internet Movie Database's entry for Ian Buchanan, who may best be known for his supporting role on Twin Peaks as Richard Tremayne (Lucy's potential suitor, remember?) and game show host Lester Guy on Mark Frost and David Lynch's other ABC creation, On the Air. While Buchanan doesn't as much a dead ringer for Xavier as Stewart does, we also think he'd be a good pick for Prof. X.

Finally, the scooper tells us that Solomon has the characters call each other by their first names and not codenames -- instead of 'Storm', 'Wolverine' and 'Magneto' it's Ororo, Logan and Magnus instead. [Scoop supplied by 'DeMzaLF', an unregistered mutant.]

January 14, 1998... According to this scooper, he was passed a leaflet from an extras agency while walking on some street in an unknown city on Monday. The agency listed certain films that they were supplying extras for, one listed being The X-Men. The info listed on the leaflet said the director was Bryan Singer (ok, true), that it stars Angela Basset (hey!), and shooting would begin in Toronto in Febuary 1998 (what!?!) We're pretty confident in saying the film won't start shooting next month, which means either one of two things: the scooper is full of it, or some extras agency is. [Scooped anonymously.]

February 3, 1998... Dark Horizons has reported that the film has been put on-hold due to creative differences between Ed Solomon and Bryan Singer. CA has learned that this is not true; the movie is still slowly inching forward in its pre-production phase. [DH scoop brought to us by 'MC Man-At-Arms of the Hefty Ivory Locos'.]

March 4, 1998... An anonymous scooper writes to us that "The script didn't go over very well. Time for some furious revisions" The scooper alludes that part of the problem may be with Solomon and Singer not being familiar with comic books, and feels this project is encountering the same sort of difficulty the Hulk and Fantastic Four projects are encountering -- rewrite hell. [Sent anonymously.]

Personally, we think it's way too early to tell if the script is going to be seriously snafu'ed; Solomon just handed the thing in a month or so ago. There's also been a mini-interview with Bryan Singer in the latest Wizard magazine that's attracted the attention of a lot of CA readers. In the piece Singer talks about the casting choices he's contemplating. No major leads are revealed, and Singer re-addresses the Bassett and Stewart casting ideas again. [Submitted by these Wizard readers: 'thanson', 'philr'.]

April 5, 1998... B.S. detector alert! According to a reader, The Sun, a British newspaper has reported both Elizabeth Hurley and Leonardo DiCaprio have signed on to play Psylocke and Iceman, respectively. It ain't true. [Anonymous.]

April 19, 1998... Terence Stamp is currently up for the role of Magneto in the X-Men movie. [Anonymous.]

May 17, 1998... Here's a fantastic opportunity for you X-fans to see how a previous attempt to bring Marvel's mutants to the silver screen developed. Novelist and screenwriter Michael Chabon's home page features an interesting account of his abortive involvement with this project including some musings on why it may never make it to the screen as well as his letter to Twentieth Cenury Fox and the actual proposal itself. We'd like to remind you that this is a dismissed concept and not the project's current direction.

Michael Chabon's 1996 X-Men experiences can be read by you at this URL: home.earthlink.net/~mchabon/XProposal. [A fantastic scoop brought to our attention by 'Odd John'.]

This scooper reports that, after they spoke with Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, the plan is to get the X-Men feature underway by December. [Submitted by 'Pooper Scooper'.]

Last month there was a question and answer session at the University of Los Angeles where screenwriters Ed Solomon and Scott Rosenberg (Con Air, Beautiful Girls, both former alma mater members, spoke about their movie experiences. According to the scooper Solomon said that his experience on Men in Black was one of the worst experiences of his life (!), but the questions he was asked concerned X-Men. Solomon was he was enthused with Bryan Singer's take on the story, and when he wrote the script he said he was truly challenged to capture the comics' spirit in a screenplay. [Sent in by UCLA's own Bruce.]

A Wall Street Journal article from mid-April revealed that Solomon has written a character called Scott Frank in his draft of X-Men. Frank and Solomon are both screenwriters and friends, and both have a friendly rivalry between the pair, playing practical jokes on each other. So it seems this is Solomon's latest practical joke. ['fturner' sends us the news.]

May 19, 1998... San Jose Mercury News columnist Marilyn Beck reported today that X-Men producer Lauren Shuler-Donner may be very close to could be signing an actor for the role of Wolverine. Shuler-Donner said that she wants this actor in the role, and the actor very much wants the part. We may be getting close, kiddies! [Reported by 'Jetman' and anonymous; originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News.]

June 29, 1998... A new scooper reports that one of his associates is one of the people working on pre-production artwork for the movie, and that associate friend of his now has an unexpected two-week vacation from the project while a hasty rewrite is conducted. According to our scooper, all preproduction efforts have been temporarily frozen while the rewrite takes place. The scooper emphasized that the X-Men production office is informing everyone hired by the show that work will commence again when the new script is delivered, adding that "everyone still has their keys to the production offices -- but my friend seems to have his doubts as to whether this will happen. We should know one way or ther other by the middle of July, it seems." [Sent in by an anonymous scooper.]

July 12, 1998... We've confirmed that Ed Solomon's script has been jettisoned and Chris McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) has been called in to write a new script. One scooper reports that McQuarrie "has been paid a butt-load of money" to do the deed and given an absolute, hard deadline of December. Another scooper, just as critical of the current development as the first, tells us that the reports of Singer and Solomon getting along were "bullshit". Yet another scooper confirmed the McQuarrie development but also added that tomorrow, July 13, is the day pre-production resumes on the project.

What does it mean? We're uncertain if the entirety of Solomon's script has been jettisoned and McQuarrie is faced with the prospect of writing a completely new storyline, or if McQuarrie is doing a new take on the same storyline Solomon worked out...but one thing is certain: the X-Men movie has a new screenwriter. [All reports handed in by anonymous scoopers.]

July 14, 1998... Our world-exclusive scoop on Sunday generated a flood of email from CA readers that continues to pour in. Rather than post fifty responses and move away from the flow of development news on the film page (dammit, we need reader forums!), we've decided it was best to just go with showing two pieces of reader email...but two very different emails that'll illustrate to you the vast gulf of difference the McQuarrie development has created...

For the con- side of the arguement, "Anonymous" speaks:

Isn't it obvious WHY Ed Solomon's script got tossed? Bryan Singer and Co. hired Ed based on the Men in Black script. But, as everyone knows, he didn't write it -- David Koepp did. To be honest with you, I don't like the idea of Bryan Singer making an X-Men movie. I'd rather a more experienced, more proficient, director handling it. But if we must have him, at least get a writer who can actually write a screenplay. Of all the screenwriters in the world, they choose Ed Solomon? And now -- even worse -- Chris McQuarrie? The least talented Oscar-winning screenwriter in history.

"Why don't they look up someone like David Koepp, Joss Whedon, Ron Bass or Daniel Waters ... So fans don't have to walk out of a theater with a 'It-was-okay-but-it- would-have-been-REALLY-cool-if-they-did-this-and-didn't-get-lame-and-stupid-in-the-end' speech." [Anonymous.]

And for the pro- side of the argurment, 'Rosencrantz' would like to say:

"You know, Christopher McQuarrie as the screenwriter for this particular project I think just kicks total ass. The Usual Suspects I think is the movie that really qualifies Bryan Singer to be THE director for an X-Men movie - it's a team picture, but a really unconventional take on a team picture, which I think the X-Men has to be. And, of course, The Usual Suspects worked because you had Singer AND McQuarrie together. I have even higher hopes for this now than I did before." ['Rosencrantz'.]

Surpringly, the email's about 60% favoring McQuarrie, 40% against -- and that's without one leak of Solomon's script details.

We do, however, want to gloat and cackle. A late report from a known source has overcome the zero Solomon leak barrier (God, it sounds almost like...never mind): a scene in the Solomon draft involves a certain adamantium-laced mutant involved in colossal fight atop the Statue of Liberty while Xavier looks on. [Anonymous.]

July 26, 1998... Ok, listen up: what we're about to disclose hasn't been confirmed or announced by anyone associated with the film. That means the scooper who's sharing this morsel of gossip with us could be trying to pull the wool over our eyes and you shouldn't take this scoop as law or anything, got it?

That said, our scooper told us that an actress named Patricia Haywood has tried out for the role of Jean Grey. A quick consult on the Internet Movie Database failed to provide any listings for said actress. That doesn't bode well for the likelihood of the scoop panning out as fact. [Anonymous.]

Another scooper comes to the defence of previous X-Men screenwriter Ed Solomon (who's been getting bashed around in an earlier scooper's emails):

"Just thought it was worth writing in to defend Ed Solomon. I worked on Men in Black, myself, and he most certainly DID write it. In fact, no other writer even applied for credit. Regardless of what actual work he's done on X-Men (I haven't read his draft) he's certainly qualified to write it.

"As for the list the e-mailer has suggested as alternates to McQuarrie or Solomon, it only reveals their painful lack of knowledge about Hollywood screenwriters. Some of the people mentioned are notoriously bad rewriters, known for literally phoning it in (I won't name names.)" [Anonymous.]

August 4, 1998... We've been told that Solomon's original script has not been completely jettisoned, thereby ending the speculation that McQuarrie is penning an entirely new script. We've been told McQuarrie is picking up a cool half-million to do a "polish" on Solomon's script, and that pieces of the new draft are coming in on a regular basis. Daily meetings between director Bryan Singer and the visual effects producer are happening. Rumors that the project has been placed on hold indefinitely are therefore totally false. All that remains to be seen is what effect McQuarrie's input will have on the shape of the movie. [Anonymous.]

August 18, 1998... We can confirm that McQuarrie is re-writing the Solomon script at present. That means until the question of credits gets determined we'll be listing both writers as screenwriters for the X-Men feature.

Meanwhile the Wolverine casting rumors have intensified yet again. Premiere mentions that the latest actor mentioned for the role is Russell Crowe (L.A. Confidential, Virtuosity). Again, no official word has been issued from Fox. [Reported by 'spikette', anonymous]

Steve Burg is the film's conceptual artist. Burg's a veteran of many heavy SFX films including The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and last year's Contact. [Anonymous.]

August 30, 1998... With production of the X-Men feature scheduled to begin before the final moments of this year casting determinations should be cementing very shortly. But with no actors officially cast in any roles just yet the rumor mill has been steadily churning. In addition to the Stewart, Bassett and Crowe rumors we now present to you our latest scoop, apparently overheard in the Warner Bros. hallways. (Yes, we know X-Men is a Fox production, but that doesn't stop the other kids from talking about the other kids' new toys, does it?)

Our WB rumor has a semblence of legitimacy to it. According to our scooper, one of the stars on a show that currently airs on the WB Network has been approached about playing one of the X-Men. Whom you ask? Why, none other than Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer -- who, if the rumor holds true, is considering taking on the part of Jubiliee in X-Men.

We haven't heard that Jubiliee is in the current draft of X-Men, although the character did appear in two previous, disposed drafts by other X-Men screenwriters. Time will tell if it turns out to be true or not. ['Psycho Dave' pressed his mutant ears against the WB water tower and heard it all.]

September 8, 1998... A disturbing email rolled into our mailbox this past long weekend from a scooper who had given us legitimate information in the past. That scooper told us that Twentieth Century Fox has just cancelled the X-Men film.

This runs against what other scoopers had told us about the state of the project in the recent past. What had happened in such a short space of time? We waited until today to contact Fox and see if we could authenticate our scooper's information; after all, we didn't want to get hundreds of thousands of X-fans needlessly upset if it turned out to be nothing.

After being bounced around various Fox departments who refused to answer our question, we finally were instructed to call Peter Rice's office. Rice is Twentieth Century Fox's Vice President of Production and as one Fox employee told us today "the man who's developed this project from the start."

We reached Rice's office and asked our question to Rice's assistant. "It has not been cancelled," was his only reply.

Was the report our scooper gave in error? Possibly. Is the project alive and kicking? As far as we know, yes. Who do we believe? That's a good question. Hopefully in the days ahead we'll be able to learn more about the reason for being treated like a hot potato on the phone to Fox, and the reasons behind our scooper's email to us. Perhaps there's been a delay in the film's development that Fox isn't prepared to discuss right now but it's not a killing blow like our scooper believed. All we can say to you, dear reader, is stay tuned for more news when it becomes avaliable. [An anonymous source started this.]

September 14, 1998... Sorry to leave you X-Fans on a cliffhanger with our last report but we're happy to say that we're back with more X-Men film news, including our findings on the latest status of the picture. Over the course of the weekend we had afternoon tea with the ambassador to the island nation of Genosha (known for its incorporation of mutants into its nation's workforce). Thankfully the ambassador was able to follow-up on our phone calls to Peter Rice's office and get confirmation from the studio that Fox has not pulled the plug on X-Men -- so you can all breathe a little easier tonight. We then asked the Genoshan ambassador some more questions but, alas, he source could only give us that tiny, but nevertheless very important piece of information, before handing us a tray of digestive cookies.

Of course, we don't like taking no for an answer -- that's why we brought a half-dozen of the latest model of Trask Sentinel with us. After we conducted a small display of the advanced capabilities of the Sentinel Mark XII, the ambassador was more than willing to share some additional Genoshan intel. Genoshan spy satellites have confirmed that Chris McQuarrie is still working hard on the script, due around the first week of October (thermographs showing the location of McQuarrie working on his laptop seemed to confirm this time estimate.) Since the ambassador brought it up, we asked if the satellites had detected any other news concerning the movie. Directly after the dark shadow of our Sentinel units fell over the ambassador, he then reached into his attache case and produced additional photos showing some artist-types exiting a building. Other photos showed close-ups of the same individuals driving away from the building, stopping at traffic lights, entering their homes...well, you get the picture. These individuals have been confirmed to be the picture's art department team members. Without knowing what McQuarrie's script rewrite changes will bring to Ed Solomon's X-lineup, locations and storyline(s), Genoshan intel surmises that the pre-production component of the picture can't proceed right now and so have been let go until a solid script foundation is in place. Our September 8th scooper's submission suddenly made a little more sense to us when viewed under this new light.

Our curiosity sufficiently sated, we thanked the ambassador and departed the Genoshan consulate. According to local news reports, the consulate building began reparing the Sentinel-sized holes in their roof Monday morning. [Our thanks to the Genoshan Ambassador for showing us his hospitality.]

Next up is a little news brief that ran in the British sci-fi magazine SFX. In an interview for the magazine, director Brian Singer confirmed that X-Men is heading for a Summer 2000 release -- old news by now to readers of CA. SFX reported that the film is fully storyboarded and location scouting is underway, with production scheduled for later this year; of course with the McQuarrie rewrites coming in, the storyboards will probably change but not be totally thrown away. Singer is quoted as saying: "[The studio] like the material, they like what's going on with the story, and the budget is not spinning into some forbidden zone. And it's the X-Men, for God's sake! This must be made!" If Singer knows about the Genoshan surveillance he's presently under, he didn't reveal it to SFX.

But the major scoop du jour from SFX is the mention of Chris McQuarrie's latest script team lineup: Professor X (yes, we all know Patrick Stewart is in talks), Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Rogue, Storm and Beast. Singer still says that while the film is not exactly about the team's origin, it is based "in the beginning", as his earlier Wizard interview had mentioned. [SFX editors can thank 'Wossy' for sharing with us your latest scoop, originally reported in SFX. Hey, we figure if SFX can report that our April Fool's Day pages were the real deal, we can give 'em credit for getting us some new X-scoops.]

And while we were giving our Sentinels an oil change this past weekend we missed the MTV Music Video Awards. The scooper who first reported to us that Sarah Michelle Gellar was up for an X-role returned to tell us that they were indeed in error. Dark Horizons has already broken the news that SMG apparently appeared on the awards show as a presenter -- with her hair dyed black with a white streak down the middle. Gellar has apparently already done an unknown number of test screenings, and is now in final negotiations to play everyone's favorite Southern mutant belle, Rogue. ['PsychoDave1' is back.]

September 19, 1998... A number of MTV Awards viewers have come forward to tell us that Sarah Michelle Gellar did not have her hair dyed black at the awards ceremony last week. "Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared with her hair very much blonde" our scooper 'El President' told us. "She presented with Hanson, and we spent time musing how she was the fourth Hanson (insulting yes I know), and they looked like clones. 4 blondes in a row." So Dark Horizons report must have been in error.

But then we got this scoop: "Sarah Michelle Gellar's hair is NOT dyed black with the middle patch white... it is honey blonde with a whiter blonde front part... which still would help corroborate test screening for Rogue.. just wanted to make that slight correction..." Argh. OK -- so let's run down what we know: 'Psycho Dave', one of our scoopers, said that they heard Gellar was mentioned as being up for role of Jubilee. But the same scooper returned to report the Dark Horizons rumor. Can we trust this scooper or not? For the time being, we've got Patrick Stewart as a shoo-in as Xavier but everyone else is still playing musical chairs.

['El President', 'fenric' and anonymous had their MTV.]

September 22, 1998... Lex wants to point out that "In the comics, Jubilee is supposed to be Chinese-American, perhaps an oft-forgotten fact. This would seem to preclude [Gellar] from the role, unless the writers were changing continuity." Change continuity for the movie? The X-Men comic books change continuity on a monthly basis, forget about the movie. But still, a valid observation. [Thanks to Lex for the scoop.]

September 30, 1998... 'Vouyerx' writes in with some more fun and games. "Hi CA. By know [sic] you know me as the mysterious scooper who broke the news at Dark Horizons that Sarah Michelle Gellar is being considered for the role of Rouge." Awww, you're not that mysterious. We had you over for tea last week, remember? But anyway, I'll let you finish.

"I just wanted to clear a few things up. Number 1, I never said her hair was black and white, but that it was colored light red with blonde streaks. Number Two, the character of Jubillee is NOT in the film. Number three, she is being considered for the role of Rouge and is the front runner for the role. We should expect to hear a final discission from Bryan Singer around the end of October. He is to busy getting ready for the release of Apt Pupil right now to talk aout X-Men, but expect major casting and production annoucements after the movie (Apt Pupil) is released. Hope this clears things up." [Things cleared up by the pseudo-mysterious 'vouyerx']

October 2, 1998... 'Fake Shemp' chimes in with a summary of the first draft of the script as reported by Harry Knowles. Apparently, the timetable goes from Nazi Germany to today. The good guys are Professor X, Jean Grey, Storm, Beast (blue and furry), Rogue (no Ms. Marvel powers), Cyclops and Wolverine. The bad guys are Magneto, Mystique, Pyro, Blob, Toad and Sabretooth. There are also some gifted students that kind of exist in the background (New Mutants?) of the Xavier School. There are no battles set up in the script yet, they all say "Insert Battle Here." Also, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are never referred to that one, because Magneto sees himself as standing for mutant rights, and not evil. McQuarrie is reworking the script even as we speak. Is it everything a fan would want? Not yet. Is it getting there? Sounds like it has potential, though. [Originally appeared on Ain't-It-Cool News; reported by the benevolent 'Fake Shemp.']

Apologies go out to 'HKhaleghi'. He's the costumed avenger who clued us into John Ottman's involvement in this project as editor and musical score creator. Unfortunately, it didn't make it as a scoop due to the interference of Undercaffeinated Man, who has since been jettisoned into the prison that is X-Men comic book continuity. [Scoop was given by 'HKhaleghi,' we promise.]

October 5, 1998... Adrain chimes in, "You keep spelling the character 'Rogue' as Rouge. As far as I know she doesn't use that kind of make-up. :)" Thanks for the word, buddy, but just so you don't think we're maroons--we don't alter the spellings that our scoopers send in. They're all printed as is. But for the record, yes, the character's name is "Rogue." [Spellcheck by 'Adrain']

October 6, 1998... This mysterious scoop was left on a yellow sticky on Cerebro. "Although everyone wants this film to go forward, obviously, there are more than a few reservations about the script, including the latest draft by McQuarrie. There are over a dozen mutants in the script, all flying around and throwing fireballs, and so forth. Although one or two scenes attempt to enter a deeper thematic discussion, this movie is basically a bunch of good guys fighting a bunch of bad guys in a series of so-so action scenes. Not exactly the transcendent version of X-Men we could have hoped for; but the attitude is, god, let this thing get made, and we can do better in the sequel...." A frightening prospect. If this scooper can be take as trueness, then remember this: if the first film sucks, the sequel might not be a given... [Insight provided by "has to be anonymous"]

October 6, 1998... Some interesting factoids provided by Mr. Singer himself in a recent issue of The Trenton Times: (1) Filming starts this coming spring. (B) Release date is still supposed to be summer 2000. (III) As far as the budget, it's set at $80 million. Bryan says: "It may cost $80 million, but I'm going to make it look like it cost $180 million." Bryan, I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you. [Originally appeared in the Trenton Times; reported by 'fcline']

October 11, 1998...Here's another casting rumor to throw on the fire, courtesy of 'Havok', that we're gonna end right here and now: "I don't even know if I want to submit this or not since I know it can't be true, but over at Daily Sci-Fi...they reported that the latest X-Men casting rumor as Chris Kattan as Nightcrawler. Yup. From the Roxbury to the Danger Room. 'Nuff said." Hey, but what do you care, man? You're hanging out in a parallel universe with Maddy Pryor! Me-ow.

Since McQuarrie's first draft has already been handed in and the boys and girls at Fox liked what they read, we figured we eat the long distance charges and get us some confirmation or denial on the Kattan rumor from the Genoshan ambassador. When we say that there's nobody blue or furry in McQuarrie's latest draft, X-fans will know we're actually talking about two characters and not just Nightcrawler. Sorry Chris -- looks like you're outta luck being a blue mutant this time 'round. [Scoop knocked out of orbit by 'Havok'.]

Also, we received this report: "Singer was at USC last week showing Apt Pupil and he talked about X-Men. He had just submitted the most recent script to the studio and he was expecting to hear back from them last weekend or early this week. Apparently he shut down their production office a few months ago because it was costing them $50,000 a week or something like that and they needed to re-tool the script. They are back on track now he says. No confirmation of casting, but he did seem to know a lot about Sarah Michelle Gellar's new movie (mentioned how the name had changed) and she's showing up at the Apt Pupil premiere tonight, so put two and two together and it looks like she might be suiting up for the pic. This is anonymous. Don't post my name."

Don't worry, you didn't give us your name, and our staff psychics have promised not to find you on the astral plane. We can't vouch for the Shadow King, though. [Thanks to anonymous]

October 20, 1998... 'Last Shemp' provides us this information from Harryland, taken from a spy called Quint (Kurt Russell? Nah). Quint apparently got to interview Mr. Singer following a showing of Apt Pupil, and found out this: "Singer provided the info that ...(Monday the 12th) will be a defining day in the future of the X-Men project, as McQuarrie and Singer hand in their latest draft, which Singer said he's 'very happy with.' Anyway, Singer confirms that in the latest draft, Wolverine says Bub, smokes cigars and drinks beer, and Beast... well, Beast isn't going to be in the movie. So cry oh cry away, Hank McCoy fans, but it won't do any good. Oh, and the biggest name in the movie might end up being Oscar Winner Kevin Spacey... but as who?" Hmm. Who indeed? [Originally appeared on Ain't-It-Cool; reported by Last Shemp]

October 22, 1998... The first script review of the Singer-directed X-Men feature has been leaked to the 'net and Garth Franklin's Dark Horizons broke it to the world first. The same review by 'Wong Fei Hung' also appeared in CA's mailbox today but Franklin's site broke it first.

Some MINOR STORY SPOILERS are revealed in the positive review below, although it should be noted that the ending of the film is revealed. Although we cannot ascertain for certain, we're pretty sure that this is the Solomon draft being reviewed and does not include the McQuarrie changes (one of which is said to be the dropping of the Beast character.) It confirms the existence of a battle at the Statue of Liberty, which we first reported about this past summer on this page. Now, without further adieu, 'Wong Fei Hung's script review of X-Men:

"

X-Men - A Review by 'Wong Fei Hung'

"This script is more'n likely the hottest script going around right now. People seem to have a massive hardon for ANY kinda info on this so when I got my greasy little paws on the script i read it in one sitting. What I read could quite possibly be the BEST comic to film adaptation yet. Well, this script ALMOST beats the treatment that Cameron did for Spider-Man but it's not that brilliant.

X Men starts out with the introductions to our main players as they discover their mutant powers. Magneto dicovers his as he is being seperated from his family in Nazi Germany. Storm discovers hers as she makes it show and hail in the sunny land of Africa.

"The coolest intro though belongs to Cyclops. We first meet him at his senior prom where everyone is hanging out in the bathroom smoking weed and having a drink. Scott Sommers (Cyclops real name) is sittin on a toilet complaining about how his eyes hurt. He shows a friend and his eyes are totally blood shot red. The friend says he smoked too much dope. Right after the friend finishes his line Scott shoots a blast of energy through the bathroom wall and blows a perfect hole through 2 feet of concrete.

"Jean Grey lectures Congress on how mutants aren't harmful. Wolverine does fierce battle with Sabertooth in the Alaskan wilderness and almost dies. At the last moment he's rescued by Jean Grey and Cyclops.

"Wolverine awakens in the X-Mansion or whatever they call it. This is where we meet Professor X and Beast for the first time. I won't go into the whole plot of this thing but Wolverine holds the important secret that both the X Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (never called that in the script) need to know.

"Of course if you're an X-Men fan you know that the secrete deals with Wolverine's Adamentium covered skeleton. Magneto wants it so he can make mutants more powerful and able to fight the humans. Professor X basically wants Wolverine to come ot the school and learn to live socially with other mutants.

"There's some really cool stuff involving Rogue and Wolverine (I liked this alot). And theres a GREAT scene where Cyclops explains to Jean Grey why he is so jealous of Wolverine. Now if you've read my scoops before you KNOW that I like to give spoilers but to tell y'all any of this would be a crime!

"The whole thing concludes with a FIRECE battle atop and around the statue of liberty while the president holds an international dignitary meeting on Ellis Island. Wolverine and Sabertooth do battle atop the torch and basically tear the damn thing apart. We're talking MORTAL combat here. thesse boys basically rip the skin off each other. Everyone else is involved in one bigass brawl at the bottom of the statue with the evil mutants (Blob, Mysteque, Pyro and another I forget)

"OF COURSE in the end the good mutants win and Magneto and his plan don't succeed. The final moments of the film find Wolverine donning his official 'X Men' suit that we all know so well. In fact in the film it never mentions what he was wearing so I expect to see the sorta ruff tuff candian lumberjacker look that Logan wore whenever he was off on his own.

"Coolness all around! If they don't make this movie I'll peronsally track down whoever kills it and beat them to death with a spatula!! 5 beer bottles outta 5! "

[Submitted by 'Wong Fei Hung'.]

October 25, 1998... We've received word from a new scooper that the draft of X-Men 'Wong Fei Hung' reviewed is indeed the first draft of Chris McQuarrie. That version (McQuarrie is presently working on the second draft) is 108 pages in length, surprisingly short of what we expected it to be (120-130 we were imagining it to be.) Our scooper, known as 'Bill Carson' to us (and no, that's not their real name) said the reason for McQuarrie's draft being a tad short in its length comes from the decision to not script approximately 80% of the battle scenes.

This is not uncommon in the screenwriting business; action scenes are sometimes decided upon once what the budget will be. Action sequences for an X-Men movie will probably have a ton of special effects to showcase a dozen mutant powers, so we suppose that once the script's storyline has been cemented into place Singer will sit down and decide upon what sort of action sequences these will be.

A good example of this comes when the X-Men fight the Brotherhood of Mutants at Ellis Island. Instead of the battle waging over 5 to 7 pages, here it's three-quarters of a page with no given dialog. Once the scene is completed, the script simply states "We now return you to your properly formated screenplay."

Our scooper also says that, besides stating the author's name on the cover, the writing style of the script authenticates it as a McQuarrie script, as his other works The Usual Suspects, The Thomas Crowne Affair and True Crime do.

November 1, 1998... OK, before we report these scoops, a little bit of effort is required on your part. First, let's get into the right frame of mind before you read these two tantalizing scoops. Remember to think of situations where you might not be so openly enthusiastic to believe what you've just been told -- for instance, during elections. There. Now that we've gotten that out of the way --

We were scooped over the weekend that Patrick Stewart just signed on to X-Men for 7 million, and Russell Crowe is being offered 5 million snikt!s. Like we said -- if this is legit, it just happened and it isn't by any means officially validated by TwenCen Fox. So we could be merely posting a vicious rumor. Or not. ['HauptGeld T' has stirred up the pot.]

And as for the next scoop, we're gonna print this one as it appeared in our mailbox. Judge for yourself if it's legit or bogus. Examine the writing style of the scooper: do you believe them or not? But the one piece of tantalizing gossip they atomic bombed us with has us in agreement: Edward Norton would indeed make a cool-as-hell Scott 'Slim' Summers -- better known as Cyclops.

"Lots of casting rumors. Lots of them. Patrick Stewart as Xavier, Angela Basset as Ororo 'Storm' Munroe, Russell Crowe as Logan, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Rogue, Terence Stamp as Magneto. Some of them are closer to the truth than others, the newest one, Julianne Moore as Jean Grey, is as up in the air as the rest (really, Singer has only contacted Stewart).

"But now, in the short amount of time that I have (is it because I'm a 14 year old snot and my Mom is calling or because I work in Donner's offices and someone might be watching? Maniacal giggle...) Here the latest one somebody just said today. As you know, the other casting rumors are, not unknowns, but rather character actors who are not household names, not 20 million dollar salaries, and have all been in a movie that a lot of some kind of people saw (well, L.A. Confidential was seen by a good amount of people). So here's the new name being tossed around.

"Edward Norton as Cyclops.

"Interesting, huh? Not very familiar with the comics, I don't know how it would hold, but as I understand the character is being seen as a troubled human being trying to fit the super-hero mold. And Norton can appear young (for his first scene, at the prom) and older (see The People Vs. Larry Flynt). If Moore actually gets considered, it'll be interesting to see if they match up, Norton and Moore (Moore is considerably older).

"I'll let you stew on this, maybe I'll send something later when more validity is presented to this rumor. Oh, and whoever said Spacey would be in the movie is probably referring to Singer and Spacey, hanging out at a con, when Spacey said he'd like to work with Singer again real soon (and I think he might have wanted to be considered for Wolverine). But I doubt the reunion will be with X-Men."

[Believe it or not, that came from someone who'd like for you to call them the 'Uptight Chief'.]

November 5, 1998... It's on, then it's off. It's off, then it's on. Sigh. "I have heard from a reliable source that there are creative differences about which way the film is meant to go. Stan Lee is getting very upset that the studio is not listening to his 'key ideas' as to the film staying true to the comic and the studio appears to be in it only for the merchandising opportunities (suprise suprise). On two occasions I have heard of the studio threatening to drop the whole idea because of The Man getting in the way too much - which may have been where you got the idea that the film had been called off? The whole organizing of the film is at the moment in deseree, with casting fallouts (Russell Crowe will definately NOT be playing Wolverine!) and people not being able to agree on the script - word is that if it does get a 2000 release it will be extremely rough." Will the chaos never end? Nah. Then we'd be bored. [Thanks to 'mercenary9']

November 9, 1998... Ready to learn which X-Men will be in the movie? 'Wong Fei Hung' returns to give us a roll call on which mutants made the grade in the first draft of McQuarrie's rewrites. They are: Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Professor X, Rogue, Storm and Wolverine. Since that time, the Beast has been dropped in the second rewrite-in-progress by McQuarrie. The current roster of the Brotherhood of Mutants are: The Blob, Magneto, Mystique, Pyro and The Toad. There are some scenes in which The Toad's tongue shoots out and he gobbles down a fly or two. Remind yourself that McQuarrie's second draft isn't yet complete, and there might be additional changes to the lineups. ['Wong Fei Hung's mutant power is to change into a fly on the wall.]

December 8, 1998... Our second week into December and still McQuarrie's second draft hasn't been submitted just yet. X-fans are hoping their Christmas present this year will be a greenlight from the studio. [Anonymous.]

January 5, 1999... It's taken us a few days to sort the pieces of this puzzle together but we're pretty sure we know now the truth: Chris McQuarrie's second rewrite of X-Men was submitted the day before the American Thanksgiving holiday last year and it stunk. That's right -- submitted in 1998. Wednesday November 25th to be exact.

Uh, excuse me? Just what the hell happened???

Believe us, it wasn't an easy task finding out. We still have many questions that we'd like to ask and little in the way of hard answers. But from the emails we've received from multiple scoopers we believe we have a clear vision of what went down -- and still is going down -- over at Fox. Our scoopers work on various sides of the film business but each of them repeat the same basic facts: the script is in and the readers didn't like it one bit.

We knew McQuarrie was already late handing in his second rewrite. What we know happened for sure is that McQuarrie handed in his 144 page second draft of X-Men that late November day and then dissapeared. Apparently Fox has been trying to contact him; their efforst have been unsuccessful; as well, it also seems the people at International Creative Management (ICM), his agency, aren't having much better luck either.

Others walking through different hallways overheard important conversations. One scooper even began their email by boldly proclaiming "The latest X-Men draft tanked with the studio at the end of last year. Color this project doomed." But when the same person who scooped us that the James Cameron/T3 impossibility was in fact a reality contacted us and repeated the same dark rumors of a bad McQuarrie script, we knew there had to be truth to the rumors. "The latest draft of X-MEN came in, and apparently reaction was not good. In fact, it was downright negative," wrote our eavesdropper. "I know this is much more of a 'rumor' than my last TERMINATOR 3 scoop, but I decided to mention it to you anyway because I heard it from a very legitimate source whom I trust. Anyway...there you go, take this one with a smidgen of a grain of salt, because no official decisions have been made; but, I tell you, things have been pretty quiet from the X-Men camp lately, haven't they?"

What the hell happened? Did McQuarrie dump a bad rewrite on Fox and really dissapear from Hollywood like our scoopers say he did? But what about the positive script review 'Wong Fei Hung' reported to us last October; what specifically stinks about the latest McQuarrie draft now?? And if the script isn't as badly realized as people say it is then why hasn't McQuarrie surfaced?? A lot of pieces to this puzzle are still missing.

[No less than five sources contributed to this scoop, and every single one of them remains in the mutant protection program.]

January 7, 1999... Our latest X-Men update has sent X-fans into a tizzy wanting to know more about what's going on with their beloved mutant heroes. Among the many emails we've received over the past 36 hours, we chose one email to post and comment upon:

"You're X-Men update is totally incorrect. Chris McQuarrie did not hand in a draft of the script to Fox at Thanksgiving. The Fox executives recieved the rewrite from Bryan Singer just before the Xmas holidays. The script was read and liked by the big wigs at fox over the holidays and an official response will come down this week. This is not rumor this is fact." [A 'Peeper' who wishes to remain anonymous.]

According to our sources McQuarrie did submit his draft in November, and we're sticking by our story: we're hearing it from scoopers within Fox and other associated Hollywood business individuals. These people have proven their authenticity and reliability to us before and there's no reason to believe they're lying to us now. However, we are hearing conflicting reports that a rewrite may indeed exist, and that the Fox "big wigs" are indeed moving to make a decision about X-Men very shortly (this week? this month?) Is this the anticipated greenlight decision or something else? Our phone call to Fox was left unanswered.

January 12, 1999... Our last two reports have touched quite a nerve amongst some. Scoops received by an unknown person to the Comics2Film and Cinescape Insider sites state that the project is moving along with no problems and that Bryan Singer is continuing to work on the script and that "various Internet rumors" about any problems are totally unfounded.

If you go back up to our original January 5th entry you'll see nowhere did we mention the project was dead. It's not -- it just had a big problem with the script back in late November/early December, or so our scoopers said. Add to that reports that McQuarrie was unavaliable to work on any rewrites and a picture begins to form.

In any case, we've also received reports that indicate Singer was involved with a rewrite during the holidays...or at least that's what our scoopers are saying.

"I interviewed Bryan Singer in the middle of December for a documentary series I am making. He turned up late and apologized that he had been up till 6am that morning rewriting the script. He said that he had finally managed to work out some of problems with the script that the writers (yes plural) hadn't been able to." [A person who requested anonymity.]

Then there's this enigmatic email left by an unknown individual who asked us to please post what they had to say. Does it come from someone who would know, or is it more fanboy pranks? (And why do we suddenly think we sound like Leonard Nimoy from In Search Of...??)

"Is it possible both stories are correct? Simply put, McQuarrie's lackluster rewrite was delivered on NOV.25/98 to boo's and hisses, when BRYAN SINGER, being the intelligent fellow that he is, pulled up his boot straps, and dove into a 911 salvage operation, rewriting the rewrite. This would explain the long silence regarding news on this project, as SINGER was a busy boy! It would also explain why there are conflicting rumors of a bad McQuarrie script,and Mr.SINGER delivering another 'hush,hush' version,one month later over christmas. PLEASE,PASS THIS ON." [Anonymous.]

At the very least, you must admit this: our January 5th scoop broke the news that indeed McQuarrie's script was already done. Even though we heard six to ten different stories before the 5th, each scooper did say that the second McQuarrie draft was in -- and while the other scoopers who've sent emails to Cinescape Insider and Comics2Film may have tried to or actually 'disspelled' some of the reports Coming Attractions was receiving, there remains the fact that both CI and C2F were scooped by someone who agreed that the McQuarrie draft was in -- information that we received along with our own scoops. Draw your own conclusion, dear reader.

So as it stands now there very well may be an X-Men script that's lying on Singer's desk that sparkles and shines - all we don't know is who's name is on it. We may never know what these script problems were during the last two months, or if McQuarrie was involved with the latest rewrite. If the script is indeed close to being given a greenlight, we doubt fans would care about the details of what went down late last year and instead worry a lot more on which X-Men were in the film. Will that long-awaited announcement of full-blown production be given within the near future? We're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. (And while we're doing that, does anyone out there have a review of the second McQuarrie version or the latest (Singer?) rewrite they'd care to submit??)

January 14, 1999... Yesterday Ain't It Cool News published a report from one of their readers stating that X-Men has been greenlighted -- and they got it wrong. Sorry Harry, but it has not been greenlighted by Fox.

We've been told there's momentum building on the project but we're not privy to the specifics. While whatever problems may have previously existed are being sorted out, remember that Fox still hasn't given the all-clear signal just yet. Sometimes good things take a little while longer. [Thanks to anonymous, but did you have to leave the message on our front lawn last night? The neighbors are starting to get concerned.]



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