Soon after completing The Usual Suspects—at the tender age of 29—Bryan Singer directed the first two X-Men films, reviving the comic book movie and asserting himself as the possible heir to Steven Spielberg’s tentpole supremacy. (In recent years, J.J. Abrams has made a concerted effort to take over this role.) When Singer decided to follow X2 with Superman Returns, Fox refused to wait and continued the franchise in his absence. Since then, Singer has directed two more movies (Valkyrie, next month’s Jack the Giant Slayer) and Fox has produced four more X-Men movies (X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, and July’s The Wolverine), but their paths will once again converge for Singer’s next film, X-Men: Days of Future Past.
For his return to the franchise that made him one of Hollywood’s most powerful directors, Singer says he has ambitious plans. Speaking to Collider, he describes Days of Future Past as “the biggest movie I’ve ever made.” Singer says production gets underway on April 15th in Montreal and he confirms that it will be shot in 3D, but not in the 48 frames per second format of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, as some have suggested.
Most interestingly, Singer has confirmed that part of the film—which features time travel—is set in the ’70s. During these portions of the film, he promises the presence of at least one historic figure. “Richard Nixon’s in it,” he said. “That’ll be an interesting casting choice. There’ll also be some more science-fiction-type aspects to the story and, without giving it away, some technology that we haven’t seen yet in the X-Men universe.”
