As Marvel Studios begins putting together its new “X-Men” movie and Comic-Con nears, the online casting rumor mill has naturally gone into a frothing overdrive. Two names recently caught up in the speculation are Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton (as well as Adam Driver, Cooper Hoffman, and Bill Skarsgård), but despite the whispers that are sometimes no more than fan casting turned rumor, neither actor is confirming that anything is actually happening.
Speaking to The Playlist during interviews for Nicolas Winding Refn’s upcoming surrealist sci-fi opera “Her Private Hell” (read our review, more on that film soon), Thatcher said she hadn’t heard the rumors connecting her to the “X-Men” franchise.
“I haven’t heard that,” Thatcher said. “I’m open. I’m open to anything. I don’t really know that universe.”
Even though her sensibilities are decidedly in an arthouse indie wheelhouse—namechecking artists she loves like Claire Denis, Jim Jarmusch and her love of the artrock band Blonde Redhead— Thatcher said she would consider an expansive, big-budget studio project if she connected with the material and believed there was something meaningful beneath the spectacle.
“If I connect with the script and if it’s something—because it’s on such a large scale—if it’s a story that can help us and, like, help an audience, inform an audience, if there’s empathy there, then I’m open,” she explained. “It’s just about, you know, the collaborator and the script.”
Thatcher also stressed that she isn’t interested in drawing rigid lines between independent and commercial work. “I’m not ridding myself of ‘Well, I can’t do commercial. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.’ I’m incredibly open,” she added.
Melton, meanwhile, played things a little more coy when asked about rumors that he could play Beast in Marvel’s reboot. “Wow. Who’s directing?” he asked slyly.
That question is somewhat amusing given that the director is Jake Schreier, who recently worked with Melton on the second season of “Beef.” Melton certainly knows Schreier is directing “X-Men,” so his response could suggest there have been conversations—or that he simply didn’t want to engage directly with an unconfirmed rumor. Either way, he sounded more than interested in the idea.
“Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely,” Melton said, smiling. “It does interest me for sure. Oh, yeah. That would be cool. What a dream. What a dream.”
Schreier is also bringing several of his regular collaborators along for the “X-Men” ride. Michael Lesslie, the screenwriter behind “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” worked on the original screenplay, but Schreier recently revealed that “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin and writer-producer Joanna Calo, who also worked on the series, had joined the project and were working on a new draft.
Both actors emphasized throughout their respective interviews that filmmakers and scripts ultimately determine their choices. Whether Marvel can offer the kind of material they’re looking for is another question, but neither is closing the door on joining the mutant universe.
More from our “Her Private Hell” interviews with Thatcher and Melton soon.
Born in Chile, raised in Canada, now living in Brooklyn, NY, Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2007. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, MuchMusic, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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