James Marsden, Hugh Jackman’s X-Men co-star, has played Cyclops for the majority of his career in the X-Men film series. In The Notebook, Rachel McAdams ditched him in favor of Ryan Gosling because he was a nice guy.
Well, the Superman Returns (2006) actor, who has appeared in numerous successful movies, is one of the underappreciated actors of the last two decades. But Marsden is getting some well-deserved attention now that Sonic the Hedgehog has him listed as the main star.
Marsden’s breakthrough performance as Scott Summers/Cyclops in X-Men is arguably where his Superhero film journey began.
In the superhero team led by Professor Xavier from the Marvel comic books, Cyclops had a big part to play, but his main rivalry was with Wolverine for Jean Grey’s affection. He appeared to be so unimportant that X-Men: The Last Stand, the third movie in the series, might have skipped him entirely.
Hugh Jackman’s X-Men Co-star Almost Quit Superman Returns?
Hugh Jackman‘s co-star, James Marsden discussed his career in depth in 2020 for Vanity Fair. He recalled how he nearly had to choose between Superman Returns and X-Men: The Last Stand. After Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to helm Superman Returns, he reportedly contacted Marsden for a role in his 2006 superhero film.
Marsden accepted the offer without hesitation since X-Men: The Last Stand was still up in the air at the time, only to find himself in a difficult situation later. To quote the actor:
“There was a moment where it felt like it might’ve been an either/or. Like, make a choice. It turned out that we were able to work out the schedules. And then when I finished actually shooting ‘Superman Returns,’ I was able to go back and do a couple of weeks on, about a week and a half, on ‘X-Men 3,’ where Cyclops meets his end.”
Marsden, 48, was questioned by Screen Rant during an interview at the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 premiere about his thoughts on making a comeback as Cyclops:
“I have been too! I have seen it too. I’m watching those headlines as a fan as well. That’d be fun. I’ve been doing it for almost 30 years and it’s very rare to say that you’ve had experiences like the first X-Men. We did three of them, I was part of three of them, and you become a family. You really do love these characters, the cast, the crew, everybody — and the same thing’s happening on this film, which is kind of bringing back memories of that experience. So I would always be open to that, revisiting that world.”
Discussing A Tale of Two Franchises
Directed by Brett Ratner, X-Men: The Last Stand, the third X-Men film, had an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Famke Janssen, among others.
The 2006 superhero Brett Ratner’s movie earned around $460.4 million worldwide, ranking it as the seventh-highest-grossing movie of the year. Critics gave it a mixed bag of praise, but it was at the time the series’ highest-grossing movie.
Meanwhile, Superman Returns, directed by Bryan Singer, was generally well received by critics, who praised its visual effects, plot, and directing, but faulted its screenplay and length. With James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey filling out the supporting cast, the movie also starred Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey.
The movie was one of the biggest of the year, bringing in over $391.1 million on a $204–223 million budget to rank as the ninth highest-grossing movie of 2006.
Well, Marsden can currently be seen in Jury Duty, a reality-hoax sitcom TV series, created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. It is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Meanwhile, you can stream Superman Returns on Max and X-Men film series on Disney Plus.
Source- Vanity Fair
