X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy (Video 2006)

A behind the scenes look at the making of the X-Men trilogy made up out of interviews shot during the production of all three films.

Stars:

Avi Arad, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry

Cast

Credited cast:
Avi Arad	...	Himself
Shawn Ashmore	...	Himself
Halle Berry	...	Herself
Brian Cox	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Cumming	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tom DeSanto	...	Himself
Ben Foster	...	Himself
Kelsey Grammer	...	Himself
Kelly Hu	...	Herself (archive footage)
Hugh Jackman	...	Himself
Famke Janssen	...	Herself
Vinnie Jones	...	Himself
James Marsden	...	Himself
Ian McKellen	...	Himself
Ellen Page	...	Herself

Storyline

A behind the scenes look at the making of the X-Men trilogy made up out of interviews shot during the production of all three films.

---

Genres:

Documentary | Short

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 October 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

X-Men: Evolución de una trilogía

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This documentary is featured on disc 2 of the Region 2 X-Men: The Last Stand 2-Disc Special Edition DVD release.

---

Connections

References Spider-Man (2002)

User Reviews

A look back at previous X-documentaries

This X-tra special documentary only available on Region 2 DVD's is really nothing more than a lot of footage from various featurettes produced for all three X-men movies spliced together. One notable omission are the interviews Bryan Singer, director of the first two installments, though he is seen on set (sitting in a second Prof X wheelchair next to Pat Stewart) and people talk about him very fondly. In fact, replacement director Brett Ratner seems to be so in awe of Singer's work that he does a very poor job of selling himself. Not only does he praise his predecessor and say he wouldn't have been able to do as good a job had he done the first two parts, he also belittles himself by telling how the actors 'helped' him (read: corrected him) because they knew more about the characters they were playing than he did.

So, the first 11 minutes are all about movie no 1: X-men (2000). Notice that everybody looks a teeny bit younger and there is a much greater emphasis on Patrick Stewart as Professor X than there is on newcomer Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The next 15 minutes focus on X2: X-men United (2002). Everybody looks basically the same only with different clothes. By this time, Hughie is obviously the star of the show. Producer Tom DeSanto mentions that the opening action sequence in oval office will probably go down as one of the greatest openers in movie history. But of course it was a bit too much of a Matrix homage to do that. As the second movie goes more into Wolverine's past, Producer Ralph Winter mentions he would like to explore the beginnings of a lot of different mutant characters in the future. So it seems he was thinking about doing a series of 'Origin' prequels during the making of X2 already.

The rest of the documentary, all 17 minutes of it, cover X3: the Last Stand. Of course there is a bit of overlap with the other documentary (The Excitement Continues)made at the same time, but the editors still managed to come up with different snippets to show in both documentaries. Once more the new characters are introduced, including Kelsey Grammar as Beast. According to Brett, Kelsey embodies the character better than anybody he has ever seen in his life. This makes one wonder how many blue Beasts Ratner has worked with in the past. Actually, Grammar does look a bit like Disney's Beast, only bluer.

Halle Berry is happy to finally have a bigger part, lead the the team and to do some flying action on wires. She claims that she hasn't done any flying in the first two films, but seems to have forgotten her elevator trick in part one. Its funny how we see in the behind the scenes clips that she trips a lot and all she's really good at is her party trick: the jump in the air heel click. Famke Janssen says it was extremely challenging to play both Jean Grey and Phoenix but really, we all know the reason she was cast in the first place was because of her bitchy bitch look. Brett talks about working with some of the most beautiful women in the world and yet he oozes gayness with his silly mo-hawk hair cut. Patrick Stewart then almost spoils the movie (for those who few who watch the DVD documentaries first) but catches himself just in time to say 'people die in this picture' instead of being more specific.

No doubt these pictures will be re-released with updated special features many times in the years to come. It will be interesting to see these same people reminisce in 20 years or so. Maybe they're insights will be less gushing and more revealing about the behind the scenes going on instead of being contractually obliged to sell their latest project.

8 out of 10