Director Josh Boone is aiming for “Stephen King meets John Hughes.”
An upcoming X-Men spinoff film is apparently unlike any movie before in the franchise. It’s going to be scary. And no, not scary bad like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Actually scary.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, New Mutants director Josh Boone talked about the tone and style of his movie, and what fans can expect.
“We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe,” explained Boone. “There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”
In the comics, New Mutants focuses on a group of young heroes learning to control their mutant powers, usually under the teachings of Professor Charles Xavier. Usually, this series isn’t a part of the horror genre, but in 1984, there was a run of the comic that Boone was inspired by, citing its visuals and tone as “a darker and more surreal and impressionistic X-Men series than we’d ever seen before. It felt like Stephen King meets John Hughes.”
We don’t know much about New Mutants plot wise, but a source close to EW revealed a brief synopsis of the plot below:
“Held in a secret facility against their will, five new mutants have to battle the dangers of their powers, as well as the sins of their past. They aren’t out to save the world — they’re just trying to save themselves.”
We do know who two of those mutants mentioned above are. Maisie Williams (Arya from Game of Thrones) is playing Wolfsbane, who can transform into a wolf, and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch and Split) is Magik, a teleporting sorceress. We don’t know for sure if James McAvoy is returning as young Charles Xavier, but apparently Rosario Dawson is currently in-talks for a role in the film.
Boone’s horror-approach to the New Mutants could be really interesting and exciting. Logan and Deadpool proved successful experiments in taking X-Men movie characters in different and more mature directions, so hopefully Boone’s film is another positive example.
New Mutants hits theaters on April 13, 2018.
