X-Men movie scribe Simon Kinberg talks Apocalypse, Gambit and Hugh Jackman

Latino Review had the chance to sit down with X-Men movie scribe Simon Kinberg, and while he didn’t reveal any new details about the future of the X-Men movie franchise, he did drop clues about some of the things we can expect going forward. Check it out.

One burning question X-Movie fans are wondering is, what characters will play Apocalypse’s acolytes, The Four Horsemen:

…I will tell you this and obviously there are a lot of different versions of the Horseman over the books, and this will not reveal any of the identities so I apologize in advance. I will let you know that our choosing of the Horseman was something that we, Bryan and myself took very, very seriously and did only after an exhaustive review of all the different Horseman, both in the comics and the cartoons who have at one point or another fallen under APOCALYPSE.

When asked about if Gambit will be introduced in a stand alone film or through an X-Men movie:

I genuinely don’t know the answer to that question. It’s something we are all talking about whether it would be good for Gambit to be in a mainline X-MEN movie or he would be in his own stand-alone movie potentially one day to be able to be in another X-MEN movie after his Gambit movie introduces him. I really don’t know the answer. I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule which way is better. I think both ways have worked and I think actually the real question will be is there a role that is strong and specific enough for Gambit in a mainline X-MEN movie whether it be APOCALYPSE or future X-MEN movie that would be the right way to introduce the character. You don’t want to stick characters in these movies and manufacture something for them to do. You want the movie to tell you that it needs another character or ideally it needs this specific character.

We’ve all heard that Hugh Jackman’s tenure as Wolverine may come to an end sooner rather than later. On that Kinberg said:

Simon Kinberg: I really haven’t had that conversation. That may be a conversation Lauren Shuler Donner has had. She’s always been more involved in the WOLVERINE movies and she really is the creator of the entire franchise going back to 1999 or 2000, whenever it began. I know from Hugh who is just become a friend and I’ve actually made another movie with Hugh this year, a Neill Blomkamp movie, so I’ve made a lot of films with Hugh now. I think as long as the stories are compelling and the scripts are good, until he is in a wheelchair himself, you will get Hugh Jackman to come back and play WOLVERINE. So I don’t personally have a contingency plan for him leaving the franchise because I can’t imagine him leaving the franchise. I’m building these movies just as I assume I have Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy – I have Hugh Jackman as well. So until he literally calls me from the hospital and says ‘I can’t do it anymore’ I will continue to put him in these movies. Having spoken with him about it I do think it is the quality of the material and filmmakers. If there are filmmakers he wants work with and its something interesting and new for him to do with the character I think we’ll get him to come back.

And of course, the one X-Man we’ve all been dying to see make his film comeback, will Nighcrawler appear in Apocalypse?:

Is there any chance? There is always a chance.

So there it is folks. I for one am quite pleased that the comics will play a big part in determining who the Four Horsemen will be. I know that a lot of flack has been caught over choosing to have Kitty Pryde send Wolverine back in time in DOFP, though it never bothered me. Maybe some of those fanboys who decried Kitty’s role in DOFP will rest a bit easier knowing the Horsemen will be characters familiar to the role. Persoanlly though, FOX, you had me at Apocalypse.