FAMKE JANSSEN & JAMES MARSDEN on 'X-MEN: THE LAST STAND' Edited by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for Radio Free Entertainment
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
May 2006
In the third installment of the blockbuster X-Men franchise, Famke Janssen reprises her role as telekinetic telepath Jean Grey, who is resurrected as the Phoenix, an all-powerful force that threatens to destroy everything in its wake.
X-Men: The Last Stand features a giant ensemble cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, and Rebecca Romijn.
In this interview, Famke and co-star James Marsden, who portrays X-leader and love interest Scott Summers, talk about returning to work on the action-packed project, adjusting to a new director mid-franchise, and considering the idea of mutant show tunes.
The Interview
MEDIA: With the way X-Men 2 ended, was there ever any doubt that Jean Grey would be back as the Phoenix?
FAMKE: Yes. At the very end of X2, there's a Phoenix over the lake and my voiceover talking about evolution and how it takes a leap every so many hundred years...So that was definitely the foreshadowing of the Phoenix rising. But they could have chosen not to take that path, and they could have done a whole different [story]. The comics have been around for 40 years or so, so there were many storylines to choose from. But I'm excited they chose this one.
So how did you like being the evil one this time around?
FAMKE: I've done it before. [laughs] And I seem to have been cast several times to do it. But I think that Phoenix is not just purely evil. She was in the comic books at some point, but the way the writers created her and how we all sort of talked about her was that she was torn with her powers taking over and trying to control them at the same time, so it was a little bit more schizophrenic in that. It was just challenging to play, which made it interesting for me to play this third installment.
What was it like working with director Brett Ratner on X-Men: The Last Stand as opposed to Bryan Singer on the first two installments?
JAMES: Brett's got a different energy...Bryan is very measured, very calculated, and Brett is too, but Brett gets in there, and he's got this energy, and he just drives the day, and you shoot and you shoot and you shoot. And you might do something ten, fifteen takes, you might do something a couple takes, but he just always is going...And you can see it in the movie. I think his energy translates to the screen. I think the third film, as much as it feels like it's still in that X-Men universe that Bryan created, feels a little different. It almost feels like he's opening the floodgates in this third film and just letting it all go. And for the fans that have been wanting [something] more visceral, more sex, more special effects...It's like he's giving them that. And so that was a different feeling than what it was to work on the film when Bryan was directing.
FAMKE: This one was certainly a different experience from Bryan's. I think during the making of X-Men 1 and 2, I feel that we talked a lot more.
JAMES: There was time to sort of find things, find moments.
FAMKE: Yeah. This one was much quicker.
JAMES: And Brett, I think, had six weeks of prep or something.
FAMKE: He had six weeks of prep, and we just had to shoot this movie. We had to shoot it by a certain date to make this release date, and so there was no time to chat. [laughs]
JAMES: But it's weird...From the first couple of films going into this, there are plenty of elements that haven't changed. Obviously, there's new members of the cast and everything...But I feel lucky to have a real bond with the rest of the cast members. And so there's a lot of elements that felt similar and comfortable and familiar. And then Brett comes in, and we welcomed him, because obviously he has this fervor for the X-Men universe and wants to do a great film.
James, were you hoping for more of a resolution of the love triangle between Scott, Jean, and Wolverine?
JAMES: Or at least like a threeway.
FAMKE: [laughs] Yeah.
JAMES: [laughs] You know, [Scott's] feelings for Jean is really what drives a lot of his character, so I would have welcomed any more scenes and things that would get into our relationship more. I mean, it's almost a bit of a mystery when you look back at the first two.
FAMKE: Well, I think that it was clear from all the movies that the love between our characters [gushes with mock sentimentality] "was very strong." [laughs]
JAMES: Very, very strong. But not strong enough to [get rid of] the other guy!
FAMKE: Well, Jean Grey just had a wandering eye. What can I say? [laughs]
Was there a lot of working out involved in your roles?
FAMKE: Not at all...No, this is the wonderful thing about Jean Grey, or Phoenix...I don't have to be in any decent shape. Because she can cause mass destruction by doing nothing--by giving you a little wink, and it happens. [laughs]
JAMES: They [built the musculature] into the costumes, thank God. I mean, [for] the guys at least. It's like a Da Vinci drawing. You see all of the anatomy and the muscles and everything. So it's great. You just have to stay thin to fit into it.
FAMKE: Other than Hugh [Jackman], nobody really needed to be in any particular shape because he's the only one who's naked in the movie.
JAMES: Runs around showing skin...
Many of you become close friends off the set as well, yes?
FAMKE: That's the nice thing about having worked on three movies with the same cast. I've never had that experience because I've never been on a TV show for any length of time or whatever. It's such a great group of people. And yes, some of us have become very close. Jimmy and I, very close.
JAMES: [melodramatically] Too close. Too close.
FAMKE: [laughs] Yeah...It's great. It's fantastic. It's a really good group of people to do three movies with.
JAMES: And I don't even think that just because you've done three films, [you automatically bond]. That obviously fuels it, but there is something still really unique and special about this group. I don't want to sound corny, but from the first film, it was some of the greatest, [most] wonderful human beings I've ever met. We would do long, 15 hour days, and then on the weekends, we'd go to Ian [McKellen]'s house and he'd cook dinner for us. We would all sing at the piano and be silly and have fun. And it's rare that you work on a film where the cast really gets along so well. And I think one of the main reasons is because there's just no egos.
It seems surreal to think of the X-Men cast singing together...
JAMES: Yeah, some people might not want to see it.
FAMKE: Show tunes is what it mostly comes down to.
JAMES: At one point, in the first film or the second film, we were talking about the third film [being] a musical.
FAMKE: Yeah.
JAMES: Because Famke has a voice like an angel.
Can you sing something now?
FAMKE: [to James] Come on, Jimmy, you can. [laughs] Jimmy can sing really well.
JAMES: But Hugh...And Halle, I think, sings. And Patrick...
FAMKE: And we all like to dance.
JAMES: And we all like to dance. We all like to watch Famke dance.
FAMKE: I like to dance.
JAMES: Did you see [Famke in] Made?
FAMKE: [laughs] That was called lap dancing. That's a whole other thing...
JAMES: [fakes surprise] Oh, I didn't know that was the name. I just like that kind of dancing.
Did you feel any pressure because of the huge expectations for this movie?
FAMKE: Well, I think one of the biggest things is the budget. It really became the biggest budget of the three. So just that alone, for a studio, becomes a very big challenge to make sure that this movie will work even better on every level. As an actor, I don't think in those terms when I make a movie.
JAMES: You just want it to work.
FAMKE: And it's not as if you can "act bigger" to fit the surroundings or the budget more.
What were some of the goals in regards to keeping the fanbase happy?
FAMKE: You want to make sure that you stay true to what the comic lovers are expecting of you...In this one, because we take a lot of liberties, and my character changes a lot, we go out on a limb and we hope that this is something that the fans will still like and look forward to.
Jean has several scenes in which her emotions are conveyed by a look rather than dialogue...
JAMES: That's what I love about her. I just saw the movie last night, and it was great watching Famke, because there are moments where you just see her, and you don't know if it's Phoenix or Jean Grey. [laughs] And it's like there's this mystery behind [her] eyes. It's like I don't know if I'm going to get murdered right now, or if I'm going to get embraced, or what. [laughs] [melodramatically] "That's the genius of Famke Janssen!"
FAMKE: [laughs]
What's going through your head during those charged, wordless moments? Was it difficult to maintain that intensity throughout the filming?
FAMKE: It would have been a challenge on any movie, but specifically given the circumstances of shooting these big budget films that take six months to shoot (and worse, a scene that generally would take a day to shoot all of a sudden takes a week or two to shoot), it just becomes a challenge to keep the emotional intensity. And I talked to the writers a lot about the ending of the film, wanting to make sure that it was clear that [Jean] wasn't taking a side between Magneto or the X-Men, and that it was a constant struggle in her head. But you know, if this had been a movie just about the Phoenix, we would have had a lot more time to explore all the different avenues that you can explore for that. But given the fact that there are so many characters in the X-Men, and we have to do justice to every single one of their storylines, we have to use broader strokes in that case, and you have to hope that it's clear.
Have you ever let your guard down and been betrayed by someone you trusted, as Jean feels she is?
FAMKE: Wow! [laughs] That is one personal question! I think I'm just going to be very vague about that answer. I don't like to talk about my private life a whole lot, but everything that I use in every film is real--every emotion I ever use. So what you look at is years of being betrayed by people, and being stabbed in the back! [laughs] No, I'm just kidding. It is real, though. Those are things that I use from real life. It's the only way I can act. I don't know how else to do it. I'm probably not a good enough actress to just pull it out of my pocket.
