James Cameron is considered one of the most visionary directors who is known for his extraordinary filmmaking techniques. He is the creator of some of the most iconic franchises like Terminator and Avatar and movies like Titanic, and Cameron’s excellence in filmmaking is evident throughout his filmography. Interestingly, he also contributed his skills to other franchises, most notably the X-Men franchise, when he requested a key change in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Universe had a huge fan following and spanned across several films before dying down due to numerous issues on the business end. X-Men: Days of Future Past was a significant movie in the franchise after it turned out to be successful both critically and commercially. James Cameron also had a major role in shaping the story.
How did James Cameron change X-Men: Days of Future Past?
When X-Men: Days of Future Past was being planned, the director of the first two movies, Bryan Singer was brought on board for the seventh X-Men movie. Time travel formed a crucial part of the Hugh Jackman film as the story followed the character of Logan aka Wolverine traveling back in time to change the course of history and prevent a disaster for the mutant community.
It feels like Bryan Singer wanted some expert supervision of the movie and someone who has handled the genre of time traveling before. James Cameron‘s Terminator was already a big hit that used this trope and as a result, Singer sent a rough cut to the Titanic director for some advice. Cameron requested a small yet key change to the ending of the film where Wolverine wakes up to a happy ending. According to IGN, Bryan Singer stated:
“I sent the film to Jim, and at the end of that movie, it was very interesting; when Wolverine woke up, originally, my editor was obsessed with this visual blurriness, so when Wolverine’s walking around he’s seeing things in kind of a blur. So I sent that to Jim, and Jim called me and goes, ‘Bryan, that blurry thing made me think that the wool was going to be pulled out from under me, and I was not satisfied. I thought it was lie and that it would fail, and it would all be dark. Then suddenly it was okay.’”
Singer implemented the change as per James Cameron’s advice and he also added how the director praised the Marvel movie.
“So I pulled the effect, and it was the only note Jim gave me. He gave me no other note. He said, ‘Oh, I love the movie. It’s going to be great, but please let the audience enjoy the fact that it all turned out okay… in that future.’”
Thus it can be concluded that the Cameron effect played a big role in the ending of the Hugh Jackman movie that we saw. It is interesting for Marvel lovers that the True Lies director even wanted to make an X-Men movie as well which never came to fruition.
The story behind James Cameron’s canceled X-Men movie
James Cameron’s involvement in the Marvel Universe is not only limited to a scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past, but the filmmaker also wanted to create a whole movie on the mutants. Long ago, before the MCU or 20th Century Fox’s Universe existed, the Avatar creator wanted to enter the superhero genre through the mutants. However, Stan Lee’s involvement in the narrative is one of the main reasons why we are deprived of a Cameron superhero flick to date.
According to comic book writer Chris Claremont’s interview with Flickering Myth, Cameron’s ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow was set to direct the movie with the former set to produce- “Just think about this for a minute: James Cameron’s X-Men. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. That’s what we were playing.” However, it was the late Stan Lee who talked Cameron out of the X-Men movie under the latter’s Lightstorm Entertainment.
“So we’re chatting. And at one point Stan Lee looks at Cameron and says, ‘I hear you like Spider-Man.’ Cameron’s eyes lit up. And they start talking. And talking. And talking. About 20 minutes later all the Lightstorm guys and I are looking at each other, and we all know the X-Men deal has just evaporated.”
But the 69-year-old filmmaker didn’t get the chance to do any Spider-Man project. On the other hand, his ex-wife and Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow pitched her X-Men project that eventually landed nowhere as well.
X-Men: Days of Future Past can be streamed on Max.
Source: IGN / Flickering Myth
