X-Men 3 To Shoot In 2005

[moe.ron]

X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner told SCI FI Wire that a third movie in the Marvel Comics franchise is slated to begin filming in Vancouver, B.C., in June 2005, with a release date of May 2, 2006. "I just had a conversation with [director] Bryan [Singer] today," Shuler Donner said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles on May 5. "We just started to talk about what the possibilities are. We're pretty sure Wolverine's going to come back."

Shuler Donner added that she's going to push to add the new mutants Gambit and Beast this time around. "I'm dying to put Beast in," Shuler Donner said. "I tried to get Beast in the first one and the second one, but it was always too expensive. So, yeah, I'm really dying to get Beast in, and I'd love to get Gambit in, because he's such a cool guy. And there's some really good casting ideas for Gambit." She declined to say who was up for the role.

As for Halle Berry—the Oscar-winning actress who has said she's reluctant to return unless her character, Storm, has a lot more to do—Shuler Donner said, "I certainly hope so, because I love working with her. ... We would only write a big huge role for her, so she's right in that respect, and we would make sure that that would happen."

And Shuler Donner confirmed that the third movie will deal, at least in part, with the Dark Phoenix storyline that was planted in the second X-Men movie, X2. "We will follow it through in some respect, absolutely, yes," she said. "And we love Famke [Janssen] anyway, so, yeah. Well, she's Dark Phoenix. She's Jean Grey." The producer added that Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, who wrote the second film, will pen the third installment.

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