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X-Men: 35 Things You Might Not Know About The X-Franchise

In 2000, Bryan Singer’s ‘X-Men’ was considered a risky venture in Hollywood, thanks to the critical and commercial drubbing ‘Batman & Robin’ received just three years previously.

But five films plus two spin-offs later, and with multiple new films in development, the X-Franchise has never been stronger.

[Watch The Wolverine On Sky Movies]

Here are some fun facts about the X-Men films to keep you ticking over while you wait for ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’.

‘X-Men’ - 2000

1 Despite their characters playing chess in the film, neither Sir Patrick Stewart of Sir Ian McKellen knew how to play the famous board game for real.

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2 The scene where a boy smiles at Cyclops in the train station was entirely improvised on the day when the young actor couldn’t stop staring at his favourite comic character in the flesh.

3 Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique make-up took nine hours to apply. She brought in a bottle of tequila to celebrate her last day on set, but ended up puking blue vomit when it reacted badly with the body paint.

4 Russell Crowe, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Keanu Reeves were all sought for the role of Wolverine, with Dougray Scott eventually landing the role. He had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and the little-known stage star Hugh Jackman got the part instead. He’s the only actor to appear in every X-Film.

5 The comic character of Wolverine is 5ft 3in, but Jackman is nearly a whole foot taller at 6ft 2in. 6ft tall James Marsden, who plays Cyclops, had to wear platform boots to make him appear taller next to Jackman.

6 Future ‘Avengers’ director Joss Whedon wrote an early draft of the script, but not much made it to the final film.

‘X2’ – 2003

7 Professor X’s wheelchair had been sold to an entertainment lawyer after the first film, so the studio had to rent it back off him for the sequel.

8 To save Rebecca Romijn the painful hassle of having to wear contact lenses every day, the film-makers added Mystique’s yellow lenses digitally this time around.

9 The exterior shots of Professor X’s mansion were shot at Hatley Castle in British Columbia, which coincidentally also doubled for Lex Luthor’s home in the TV show ‘Smallville’.

10 Halle Berry had a narrow escape appearing in ‘X-2’… she dropped out of ‘Gigli’, now considered to be one of the worst films ever made, to reprise her role as Storm in the X-Sequel.

‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ – 2006

11 The popular mutant Gambit was due to appear in the ‘The Last Stand’, with Channing Tatum in the running for the part. Fox decided to use him in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, and cast Taylor Kitsch instead as they didn’t want the same mutants to appear in both films.

12 Matthew Vaughn, who would later go on to direct ‘X-Men: First Class’, was brought in to replace Bryan Singer who had departed to make ‘Superman Returns’. He cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut before he left the film too, with Brett Ratner stepping in to finish the film.

13 Emma Frost was due to appear in ‘X-Men 3’, with Sigourney Weaver playing the role of the evil mutant, but she was cut from the final script.

14 Darren Aronofsky, Joss Whedon, and Zack Snyder were all approached to take over from Bryan Singer, but all had prior commitments.

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15 The final scene on the Golden Gate Bridge was originally meant to happen midway in the film and was set in Washington, but was moved to the end and the location switched as Ratner felt the sequence was too good to waste in the middle third.

16 ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ was the highest-grossing ‘X-Men’ film to date until ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ surpassed it earlier this year.

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ – 2009

17 Liev Schreiber gained 40lbs to play Sabretooth after feeling humiliated by the prosthetic muscle suit the filmmakers gave him for the part.

18 Director Edgar Wright was apparently offered the role of Chris Bradley, the mutant known as Bolt, eventually played by Dominic Monaghan in the final film.

19 David Ayer, the director of ‘Sabotage’ and ‘Fury’, wrote an early draft of the screenplay.

20 The character of Quicksilver, who would later appear in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, can be spotted in the scene where William Stryker has a load of captured mutants in cages.

‘X-Men: First Class’ - 2011

21 Colin Firth was originally considered for the role of Sebastian Shaw, but Kevin Bacon got the part instead. Firth eventually got to work with Vaughn on ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’, out next year.

22 The film started life as ‘X-Men Origins: Magneto’ before evolving into an origin tale for the X-Men themselves. Sheldon Turner, who wrote the screenplay for ‘Magneto’, gets a story credit even though none of his script was used.

23 This piece of trivia from the film’s IMDB page deserves to be included without further comment.

24 Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding auditioned three times to play Emma Frost.

‘The Wolverine’ – 2013

25 To achieve the veiny muscular look in his topless scenes, Hugh Jackman would dehydrate himself by not consuming any liquid for 36 hours before shooting. This is not to be tried at home.

26 Darren Aronofsky, who had previously worked with Hugh Jackman on ‘The Fountain’, was originally due to direct, before he departed after six months of pre-production.

27 Jessica Biel was slated to appear as Viper, but a deal could not be made, so the part went to Russian actress Svetlana Khodchenkova.

28 The film’s mid-credit sequence, which sees Professor X and Magneto contacting Wolverine in an airport, was shot on the set of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’.

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – 2014

29 Quicksilver, the lightning-fast mutant played by Evan Peters, will also appear in next year’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The complex rights issue surrounding the character makes him one of the only characters able to appear in both franchises.

30 This was the second X-Men film that Matthew Vaughn departed in pre-production. He left to work on ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ instead.

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31 Bryan Singer consulted ‘Terminator’ director James Cameron on the time-travel elements.

32 Although they’re supposed to be father and son, Michael Fassbender and Evan Peters are only 10 years apart in age.

33 Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen, and Michael Fassbender have all played Macbeth on film.

34 A romantic subplot between Storm and Wolverine was filmed but cut from the final film. You can catch a glimpse of it in this deleted scene from the Blu-ray release.

35 The script originally had a young Juggernaut helping Charles to spring Erik from prison, but this was changed to the much-cooler Quicksilver for the final shoot.

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Image credits: 20th Century Fox