Today's Double News: X-creed

Two bits of movie news I wrote for MS:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155455/justin_kurzel_gaat_assassins_creed_verfilmen

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155407/fox_overweegt_x-men_tv-serie

An X-Men TV-show, why the heck not? In fact, why not try this years ago? There's so many characters, locales, powers and motives in the many decades of X-comics, the movies have barely even scratched the surface. Plus, the film franchise insists on a small ensemble of characters as the core team, while most other mutants presented are relegated to bit parts instead. A TV-show would be able to flesh such underused characters out neatly, while also keeping the franchise from becoming overly convoluted to the general audience, as the film series tends to risk just that in the next few years due to Fox's insistence on copying Marvel proper via excessive crossovering. That said, I agree with Kinberg that a show revolving around superpowered individuals is in danger of breaching budget limitations which always plague the realm of television. But these powers don't have to be so in-your-face as seen in the source material. It's not the first superhuman TV-series after all. Just consider the likes of The 4400, Heroes and Alphas, who in many ways incorporated everything X-Men would have to do, except they were lacking the big X-Men name to draw audiences in initially. Granted, FX on these shows weren't always convincing (Heroes far from it in fact), but the technology keeps pushing the limits and grandiose effects are getting ever more affordable. Of course, at its heart, X-Men isn't at all about the superpowers and the cool visuals, it's about the characters and the social commentary. We are living in the golden age of television, where such ingredients are almost a given, so that also need not be an issue. However, as with Marvel's current series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., audience expectations in terms of characters might be an obstacle to overcome. These days, thanks to the X-movies, the term 'X-Men' will immediately bring to mind associations with a very select group of characters, including but not necessarily limited to Wolverine, Professor Xavier, Magneto and Mystique. Considering the high profile actors, if not outright Hollywood stars, playing these parts, it's not likely these hugely popular characters will make an appearance, unless recasting is in order (which won't sit well with many fans no doubt). To me, Xavier is the only true must-have, as he's the guy responsible for all the X-ing about. Other than that, there's plenty of personas, protagonists and antagonists alike, to pick from. You just need to convince the audience quickly of the quality of the show and the characters involved before they start to miss those X-characters they've come to love. Of course, if the TV-show is running alongside the movies, things are different, and probably only more difficult to pull off in terms of making the show stand on its own instead of being a mere appendix of the movies. As you can see, there's many elements to take into consideration in creating this show, which is undoubtedly why Fox hasn't greenlighted anything yet. I think it's harder to make a TV-show based off a film series work than the other way around. But then, if Fox had started the franchise on television instead of on the big screen in 2000, it's unlikely the superhero movie (especially those carrying the Marvel brand) would have been as popular as it is today.

As for Magneto, I highly doubt we'll see either Sir Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender in that role on telly. We will be seeing Fassbender in other capacities though, most notably as the popular titular assassin from Assassin's Creed, in the upcoming big budget movie adaptation of the video game. The project will reunite him with director Justin Kurzel, with whom he recently worked on an adaptation of that Scottish play, MacBeth. Considering Fassbender is also producing Assassin's Creed, he'll probably have had a hand in hiring his director. Such loyalty is a good sign the relationship between star and director is strong and effective and will likely spawn positive results for Assassin's Creed. Good thing too, as expectations for this video game movie are no doubt high considering its success on the game market and its recognizable name. Even though the "curse" on video game adaptations has softened somewhat over recent years, it sure as hell hasn't been lifted wholly, and any movie based on a game is still met with quite a lot of initial scepticism accordingly. At least the movie will star a solid actor we know can play any part including this one easily.