X-Cited

Berry Sunny About X3's Storm

from Sci-Fi Wire

Halle Berry, the Oscar winner who reprises the role of Storm in the upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand, told SCI FI Wire that she's happy with the way her character comes into her own in the franchise's third installment — and even gets to fly!

Berry played Storm in both previous X-Men movies, but admitted that she wasn't entirely satisfied with the character. Responding to a question about changes to the character's personality, Berry quipped: "Storm has one now." In an interview on Last Stand's Vancouver, Canada, set last December, she added: "Now she has a definite point of view, and that's been really wonderful for me."

Berry credited Last Stand director Brett Ratner with helping bring out Storm's emotional potential. "I know Brett was really instrumental in making that happen," she said. "He's really been a supporter of finding a voice for the character."

For his part, Ratner recalled a conversation with Berry soon after he came on board to direct the third X-Men movie last summer. "When we first talked, she said, 'Look, I don't care about giving me a lot of dialogue,'" Ratner said. "'But when I'm onscreen, I want it to matter. I don't want to just be there.' So I kind of went through the script and looked at the opportunity of enhancing her character and giving her more of a point of view and a perspective and a purpose."

Berry said that she has struggled with the character over the years. "Very much a part of it, but not really sure myself what voice Storm was taking from the comic books, because it didn't always materialize in the script," she said. "And this time it does. And I get to fly this time!"

Indeed, flying was a huge plus for Berry this time out. "I know it seems like a little thing, but I've been saying it since I started on this movie: 'I just want to fly!'" Berry said. "Storm flies in the comic book, and I've worn this cape for two movies now and never used it."

Berry relished the demanding wirework of flight scenes, even though one intense "tornado spin" sequence caused her to vomit afterwards, during her walk back to her trailer. She said that she eventually took Dramamine to cope with the vertiginous wirework.

"I don't know why Halle does it," Ratner said. "They're not going to believe it's really her anyway." But he added: "When they say Jackie Chan does his own stunts, Halle Berry does her own stunts in this movie!"




X3's Ratner True to Singer

from Sci-Fi Wire

Ratner told SCI FI Wire that he feels a responsibility to maintain the tone and the story arcs of the first two X-Men films as he takes over directing the series from Bryan Singer.

"It's been very important to me to stick to the tone that Bryan and the actors created, and my input has been trying to make a more emotional film," Ratner (Rush Hour) said from the film's Vancouver, Canada, set. "A film with more heart and more pathos. I wanted to try to act as though this is the third in a series, not go in there and reinvent it and make it a 'Brett Ratner film,' but stay with the formula that's worked in the past and just add more heart. I'm a very emotional guy, and I like feeling something in a movie. And the audiences care about these characters so much that it was very important to me to stay true to who they were."

Singer, who directed the original X-Men and X2, was lured away from the third installment by the chance to direct Superman Returns. British director Matthew Vaughn was briefly on board to replace Singer, but dropped out, and Ratner came to the film not long before actual shooting commenced last summer.

The main cast from the first two films has returned for the third X-Men movie, joined by new cast members including Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Ben Foster as Angel, and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. In casting the new actors, Ratner said that he tried to remain true to Singer's vision. "I thought, 'If Bryan was directing this movie, who would he hire?'" he said. "I was very careful, not because I want to make sure he's happy with the movie — although I care what he thinks and I respect his work — but I didn't want to have fans saying, 'Where did that come from?'"

Ratner said that the third X-Men film will pay off elements that were set up in both of the earlier films. "I feel so reverential towards the first two," he said. "I'm not reinventing anything that's already been done, but I am informing some backstory that maybe you hadn't really seen, but [which] makes total sense from the first two. And we are paying off some of the characters and resolving some of their arcs."

X-Men: The Last Stand opens May 26.