X-Men 3's Kitty Pryde, FX Gurus Talk
Heres excerpts from recent interviews with Ellen Page and the crew behind X3's creature effects.
Ellen Page talked with Canada's The Coast about being cast as Kitty Pryde in the upcoming X-Men 3 as she was leaving for Vancouver to start filming.
"It's just so huge," she says. "It just blows my mind. I'm so used to doing tough, intense material in like 18 days or 24 days, for not much money. It's truly the complete opposite of anything I've ever done."
Known for independent films such as Marion Bridge and Hard Candy, Page is making the leap to the widely popular blockbuster world of super-hero films.
Regarding playing the young mutant, formerly played by Katie Stuart in the first two films: "She can run through walls, and grab people and pull them through walls," says Page. "Not very flashy—it's kind of the humble defensive power."
Like many of X3's stars, Page had little prior knowledge of the comic book source material, but she's been reading up. She knows "people will just kill you if you don't do it to justice. People are like, 'Are you doing lots of research and heavy training?'" she says. "I've been reading the comics, and I'm not a crazy boozehound. And I'm relatively"—she pumps her arms, mock-running—"athletic. Really I'd like to be like"—her voice drops an octave into a smooth, upper-crust accent—"'Yes, I'm up at six every morning, drinking protein shakes and working for seven hours every day on a new voice, which sounds like this.'" She laughs, slipping back into her own speech pattern. "No, that's not what's going on. Part of me's really excited and part of me is deathly nervous. So I'm in a liminal phase, I guess."
Page says she'll probably go back to indy films even though X-Men 3 will likely make her famous.
"I'm not selling out," she maintains. "It's give and take. You can go from doing Titanic, to doing Hideous Kinky, just like Kate Winslet, and then have an unbelievable performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have no idea. I could do X-Men and never work again. I could fail miserably."
Meanwhile, Spectral Motion, the FX house behind X3's creatures as well as Hellboy, Blade: Trinity and Fantastic Four, talked with Development Hell. Here's an excerpt:
Spectral Motion President Mike Elizalde: It's progressing at an alarming rate…We already have our team in place in Vancouver. Bart Mixon is heading the make-up applications department again, as he did on Fantastic Four. Jayne Dancose, who is a Canadian artist, is with us again to apply make-up. And a lot of the people that we worked with previously in Canada are returning for this job. And actually I'm traveling up there this Sunday, and will be starting some of our stuff this Monday, and for the rest of the schedule…
DV-H!: That must be exciting!
Mike Elizalde: It is! It's a different experience than working with Tim Story. Brett Ratner is a very passionate and driven guy, he is very demanding, which again puts us back in that situation where we’re reaching a *little* bit further [laughs], 'ok, you’re gonna get out of your comfort zone again, and you're gonna come up with something really, really amazing.' It's very stimulating to be in that position. I think it's a good way to really end up with something at the end of the show that is a signature piece for the company that will be remembered, like Abe Sapien was, that was a real crowning moment for us when we achieved that design. And now we're going after this, with the Beast design, and the other characters that we're dealing with, it's a golden opportunity for something really special to happen.
DV-H!: It's been pretty much officially confirmed at this point that the major new characters in the film visually will be Angel, Beast, and Juggernaut – are you working on all three of these characters?
Mike Elizalde: We are, yes.
DV-H!: Personally, I'm really excited to see Beast, cause I've been waiting for him to show up since the first movie…
Mike Elizalde: Yeah, we're very excited to see him come together, too.
Read the entire interview, in which Elizalde talks about his experience on Hellboy, Blade: Trinity and Fantastic Four here.
Finally, X-Men Films.net is reporting that X3 will film in Washington, D.C., possibly near a major monument and have been in touch with the District of Columbia Film Office.