Jean Grey on Dark Phoenix

Janssen Misses Singer on X-Men 3

from Sci Fi Wire

Famke Janssen, who played the telekinetic Jean Grey in the two X-Men films, told SCI FI Wire that she'll miss the guiding hand of Bryan Singer, who directed the first two installments but passed on the third in favor of Superman Returns. "I will be very sad that Bryan is not coming back, because I really feel that he set the tone for the first two movies, and I think he did an incredible job on both of them," Janssen said in an interview while promoting her latest film, the upcoming thriller Hide and Seek. "He really elevated them from what that genre has sometimes been in the past. So he'll be greatly missed by me, but it'll be interesting to see how someone else imagines the characters and the franchise."

Janssen added that X-Men 3 will likely go before the cameras in June or July and that she expects to return to the fold, even though she's not yet contracted to do so. If she returns, she'll likely do so as Dark Phoenix, as was hinted at by the ominous shadow in the water at the very end of X2, following Jean Grey's demise.

"I'm just excited that, if I come back, I'll be playing a totally different character," Janssen said. "Dark Phoenix will be more dark and complex and twisted than Jean Grey, and that's always fun to play. I don't think she'll be more twisted than Ava Moore [her character on the F/X TV series Nip/Tuck]. That's just not possible. But she'll definitely be more twisted than Jean Grey."

Even so, Janssen acknowledged that Dark Phoenix will likely only be a part of the proposed third movie. "I'm realistic about knowing that they're going to have to give a bunch of people a good chunk of the movie for them to want to come back," she said. "There's going to be new characters introduced, so it's always a little tricky, [but] if it's anybody's movie ever, it's going to be Wolverine's movie, because that's the number-one X-Men character. But from what I've heard, yes, she's big part of it."

Janssen said that she'd have difficulty seeing another actress play Jean Grey. "I would have a hard time giving it up to someone else. I'm too much of a control freak, so I don't think I could handle having seeing somebody else playing her."