X-Men

X-Men (2000)

Timing: 1:44 (104 min)

7.009/10
11983

7.676/10
277627

7.3/10
689000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 137

Actors and characters

Release date

2000-07-13

Country

United States

Production

20th Century Fox, The Donners' Company, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Marvel Entertainment Group

Genre

Adventure, Action, Science Fiction

Budget

$75 000 000

Revenue

$296 339 528

Website

https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/x-men

Director

Bryan Singer

Actors

Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Rebecca Romijn
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Ralph Winter, Lauren Shuler Donner, Richard Donner, Stan Lee, Avi Arad, Tom DeSanto

Operator

Newton Thomas Sigel

Composer

Michael Kamen

Artist

Rando Schmook

Audition

Roger Mussenden

Editing

Steven Rosenblum, John Wright, Kevin Stitt
All team (268)

• Originally, Dougray Scott was cast as Wolverine. However, he had to leave the project due to the prolonged filming of "Mission: Impossible 2" (2000).
• Three types of Wolverine's claws were created: plastic, wooden, and steel.
• Most of the effects related to changing the eye color of various characters were created using contact lenses. Rebecca Romijn could wear the lenses for no more than an hour, during which her vision deteriorated by 90%. On one of the shooting days, Tyler Mane did not remove his lenses for too long, which led to temporary vision loss.
• Ten Wolverine costumes were made from thick leather and polyvinyl chloride. All of them became unusable during filming.
• Hugh Jackman underwent a special course of hand-to-hand combat training to learn how to handle Wolverine's claws.
• The controls for piloting the X-Men's aircraft are a "Flightstick Pro" computer joystick.
• James Marsden wore special platform shoes to be taller than Hugh Jackman.
• Many characters from the X-Men universe appeared in this film in cameo roles: for example, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Iceman, and Pyro.
• George Buza, who played the truck driver, voiced Beast in the animated series "X-Men" (1992).
• When Wolverine complains about his uncomfortable costume, Cyclops asks him if he would have preferred yellow spandex. In the comics on which the film is based, Wolverine is actually clad in yellow spandex.
• Upon seeing Storm, Toad exclaims: «When will you die?» It is noteworthy that practically all the characters in this film «died» at least once, but then returned to the pages of the comics.
• John Byrne, a comic book artist, named Kitty Pryde after a girl he knew in Calgary, Canada.
• Stan Lee, the creator of the X-Men comics, can be spotted near a hot dog stand on the beach when Senator Kelly emerges from the water.
• Michael Chabon was offered to write the screenplay for the film.
• Senator Kelly's speech at the beginning of the film about creating a list of mutants living among people is reminiscent of the famous speech by Senator Joseph McCarthy about creating a list of communists working in the US.
• With the consent of the "Screen Writers Guild", several authors decided not to have their names listed in the credits, so only David Hayter is credited as the screenwriter. The other authors who participated in writing the screenplay include: Ed Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie, Joss Whedon, James Shea, and John Logan.
• The role of Sabretooth was offered to Kevin Nash, but he declined to participate in the film due to commitments to other projects.
• After filming was completed, Professor X's chair was sold at auction to Patrick Stewart's lawyer.
• Wolverine's line, "What's your name, Wheels?" was an improvisation by Hugh Jackman. The script originally called for him to say, "What's your name, Baldy?"
• James Marsden turned down the role in "Immortals" (2001) in order to star in this film.
• The bar scenes were filmed at the same brewery as the scenes in the concentration camp.
• Neither Patrick Stewart nor Ian McKellen knows how to play chess.
• Angela Bassett turned down an offer to play Storm.
• Aaron Eckhart and Viggo Mortensen were considered for the role of Wolverine.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar was considered for the role of Rogue.
• Bryan Singer specifically included a dialogue between Wolverine and Cyclops about yellow spandex in the film to tease fans who had complained about the changes to the original X-Men costumes.
• During the filming of the scenes at the train station, security mistook Bryan Singer for one of the spectators and didn't allow him onto the set for a certain amount of time.
• The mansion used for Xavier’s School can also be seen in “Billy Madison” (1995).
• Joss Whedon wrote one of the screenplay versions for the film.
• Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Edward Norton, and Keanu Reeves were considered for the role of Wolverine.
• During the conversation between Rogue and Bobby, it can be noticed that Iceman is breathing visible vapor. Comic book fans noticed this detail and praised Bryan Singer for the authenticity in portraying the character. However, in reality, this was a simple coincidence and was never intentionally included in the film.
• The first scene filmed for the movie was at a world summit where the heads of state greet each other.
• A keen-eyed viewer may notice that Hugh Jackman is in different physical shape in various scenes of the film. He was cast as Wolverine after filming had already been underway for a month and a half. Therefore, he continued to work out intensely during filming.
• Patrick Stewart was the first actor cast in a mutant role.
• The film was supposed to include scenes telling the stories of Storm and Cyclops' childhoods. Storyboards were already prepared for them, but they were never filmed. During the filming of 'X2', the creators wanted to film these scenes and include them in a special edition of 'X-Men' on DVD, but the idea was never realized.
• In the early 1990s, the project was developed at Carolco Pictures. James Cameron was supposed to produce the film. However, after James switched to Spider-Man, and Carolco went bankrupt, the rights to the adaptation were bought by 20th Century Fox.
• Natalie Portman turned down an offer to play Rogue.
• Bruce Davison was the first actor to be cast in the film.
• The teaser trailer features the song "Chinese Burn" by Curve.
• In the first film, Halle Berry has an African accent, but in the second film she decided to abandon it.
• James Caviezel was originally supposed to play Cyclops, but he turned down the role at the very last moment.
• 28 draft versions of the script were written, with the screenwriters rewriting the plot almost every time.
• Jeri Ryan could have played Mystique.
• Maria Bello was considered for the role of Jean Grey.
• According to Bryan Singer, John Williams was initially supposed to compose the music for the film, but he was unable to do so due to commitments to other projects.
• The scene at the train station where the boy smiles while looking at Cyclops was not in the script. The boy was a big fan of the X-Men comics, and Cyclops was his favorite character. Originally, in this scene, Cyclops was supposed to be looking at the train schedule. However, according to Bryan Singer, the boy was staring at James Marsden, who played Cyclops. Eventually, during one of the takes, James looked at the boy and smiled. Bryan liked the scene so much that he decided to leave it in the film.
• Being unsure of the financial success of the first film in the potential franchise, the bosses at '20th Century Fox' allocated $75 million for the film's production, which was much less than the budget of an average summer blockbuster, which in most cases significantly exceeded the $100 million mark.
• During production, Hugh Jackman used approximately 700 blades in various stunts, which were made of plastic, wood, and steel.
• While writing the Ultimate X-men comic (a modern version of the X-Men), Mark Millar was inspired by this film. The author repeatedly refused to work on the comic, considering the X-Men to be too childish material, but after watching this film on the advice of the editor-in-chief, he changed his mind. Following the example of the film, Millar decided in his comic to abandon the classic colorful superhero costumes and introduce a leather uniform for the team, brought the conflict of interests between Professor X and Magneto to the forefront, and made the problem of mutants and humans more modern and relevant. In 2012, Millar was appointed creative consultant to Fox for comic book films.
• Knocking Storm into the elevator shaft, Toad (Ray Park) knocks down the bar that holds the elevator doors, grabs it, spins it above his head, and then holds it in exactly the same pose as Darth Maul in 'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999).
• The final scenes filmed for the movie show Senator Kelly emerging from the water. The scenes were filmed in early May, and the film was released at the end of July.
• Senator Kelly asks Magneto what he did to Henry, to which Magneto replies: “Mr. Gyrich has been dead for a long time.” In the animated series and comics, Henry Gyrich is a member of several national security agencies and is also responsible for Storm losing her powers. He also ordered the development of one of the Sentinel models.
• At the very beginning of the film, in the concentration camp, the yellow star on Erik’s (Magneto’s) father’s jacket shifts from the left side of the jacket to the right in different scenes.
• During the accident where Wolverine is thrown from the van, the windshield first shatters, then we see a neat hole in it, and in the very next scene, from inside the van, the glass is completely intact.
• Doug Scott was initially cast as Wolverine. However, he had to leave the project due to the prolonged filming of 'Mission: Impossible 2' (2000).
• George Buza, who played the truck driver, voiced Beast in the animated series 'X-Men' (1992).
• Upon seeing Storm, Toad exclaims, “When are you going to die?” Notably, almost all of the characters in this film 'died' at least once, but then returned to the pages of the comics.
• With the consent of the "Screen Writers Guild", several authors decided not to have their names appear in the credits, so only David Hayter is listed in the "Screenplay" section. The other authors who participated in writing the screenplay are: Ed Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie, Joss Whedon, James Shamus, and John Logan.
• Wolverine's line, "What's your name, Wheels?" was an improvisation by Hugh Jackman. The script originally had him say: "What's your name, Baldy?"
• James Marsden turned down a role in "Immortals" (2001) in order to appear in this film.
• The mansion used for Xavier's School can also be seen in "Billy Madison" (1995).