Despite their iconic scene in "X-MEN" (2000), neither Sir Patrick Stewart nor Sir Ian McKellen knew how to play chess.♟️
Patrick Stewart: Yes, Bryan Singer [Director] set up a scene where Ian and I were playing chess. He said, “Ok, why don’t you all just make some moves.” I said, “Well, I don’t know how to play.” He said, “Ian?” Sir Ian said he didn’t know how to play either. Brian rolled his eyes and said, “Get someone on the set. We just need to believe that they are making the right moves.”
The next day we arrive on the set and yep, there’s someone there who knows chess. A Canadian Grandmaster. I told him, you are so overqualified for this job. He said, (whispering) “I’ve never been on a set before.” And he stayed all day.
Did you know, the only reason Hugh Jackman had his iconic Wolverine hair in X-Men (2000) was because a 26-year-old assistant wouldn't take no for an answer. ✂️🐺
That assistant was Kevin Feige.
Before he built the MCU, Feige was an assistant who got promoted to Associate Producer on the first X-Men simply because of his encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel comics. While the director actively tried to avoid the comic-book look - even banning comics on set - Feige secretly fought to keep the source material alive.
When it came to Logan's look, the hair stylists thought the comic-book hair was far too silly for live-action. Feige kept forcing the on-set stylist to tease and spray Jackman's hair higher and higher. The frustrated stylist eventually gave up and created a "ridiculous" massive hairdo just to spite him—which became the legendary Wolverine look we know today.
Feige’s reasoning? "Anything in a comic book has the potential to look silly. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to make it look cool."
Remember when Kevin Feige joked in July that Zooming with Adam Driver and watching him pass on Marvel roles had become a ‘long-lived tradition’?
Well, one of those Zooms finally landed.
Driver is officially playing Mr. Sinister in the MCU X-Men reboot (May 5, 2028).
He even appeared via video from Pinewood at D23 to announce it, jokingly saying Magneto before correcting to Nathaniel Milbury.
Full circle moment after years of rumours — including him being strongly linked to Mr. Fantastic / Reed Richards (the role that eventually went to Pedro Pascal).
Kevin Feige says Adam Driver has turned down multiple Marvel roles over the years.
“It’s no secret that we’d like to, but it’s a tradition to Zoom with him and then he passes.”
(Source: @joshuahorowitz)