X-Men is a 2000 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the X-Men film series. The film directed by Bryan Singer and written by David Hayter features an ensemble cast that includes Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park and Anna Paquin. It depicts a world in which a small proportion of people are mutants, whose possession of superhuman powers makes them distrusted by normal humans. The film focuses on the mutants Wolverine and Rogue as they are brought into a conflict between two groups that have radically different approaches to bringing about the acceptance of mutantkind: Professor Xavier's X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto.
Development for X-Men began as far back as 1984 with Orion Pictures. At one point James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow were in discussions. The film rights went to 20th Century Fox in 1994 and various scripts and film treatments were commissioned from Andrew Kevin Walker, John Logan, Joss Whedon and Michael Chabon. Singer signed to direct in 1996, with further rewrites by Ed Solomon, Singer, Tom DeSanto, Christopher McQuarrie and David Hayter in which Beast and Nightcrawler were deleted over budget concerns from Fox. X-Men marks the Hollywood debut of actor Hugh Jackman, who was a last second choice for Wolverine, cast three weeks into filming. Filming took place from September 22, 1999 to March 3, 2000, primarily in Toronto. X-Men was released to positive reviews and was a financial success, starting the X-Men film franchise and spawning a reemergence of superhero films.
Cast:
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X
Founder of the X-Men and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Xavier hopes for peaceful coexistence between mutantkind and mankind and is regarded as an authority on genetic mutation. Although he is restricted to a wheelchair, he is a powerful mutant with vast telepathic abilities. Along with Magneto, he is the inventor of the Cerebro supercomputer, which further amplifies his abilities.
Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
A tough, rugged, belligerent loner who makes a living in cage fights. He has lived for fifteen years without memory of who he is, apart from his dog tags marked "Wolverine" and an adamantium-encased skeleton (as well as adamantium claws). He has enhanced, animal-like senses, enabling him to sense other people, and the ability to heal rapidly from numerous injuries, including the surgery that bonded the metal to his skeleton, which makes his age impossible to determine.
Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
A Holocaust survivor, he and Xavier were once friends, and they built Cerebro together. However, his belief that humans and mutants could never co-exist led to their separation. He has powerful magnetic abilities and a sophisticated knowledge in matters of genetic manipulation, which he uses to plan a mutation of the world leaders to allow mutant prosperity.
Brett Morris as Young Magneto
Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm
She works as a teacher at the X-Mansion and has the ability to manipulate the weather. Ororo has become bitter with other people's hatred for mutants, and while comforting a dying Senator Kelly says that she sometimes hates humans, but mostly because she is afraid of them.
Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey:
She is in a relationship with Cyclops and works as the doctor of the X-Mansion. She has the powers of telekinesis. She also has powers of telepathy like Xavier, although her powers are much less advanced than that of his, displayed when she is stunned by the usage of Cerebro.
James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops
He rescues Wolverine and Rogue from a truck explosion, taking them to safety to the X-Mansion, where they live. He is the second-in-command of the X-Men and is the team's field leader when they are out on missions as well as an instructor at the Institute. He is in love with Jean Grey and has a relationship with her. He produces a strong red beam of force from his eyes, which is only held in check by sunglasses. In combat, he uses a specialized ruby-quartz visor, which also enables him to control the strength of the beam to fire.
Bruce Davison as Sen. Robert Kelly
An anti-mutant politician that supports a Mutant Registration Act and wishes to ban mutant children from schools. He is kidnapped by Magneto in a test of his mutation machine, which causes his body to turn into a liquid-like substance.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Raven Darkholme / Mystique
Magneto's loyal second-in-command, her mutant ability to alter her shape and mimic any human being is almost secondary to her role as "the perfect soldier". She is an agile fighter, expert martial artist, and seems completely facile with respect to modern technology.
Ray Park as Mortimer Toynbee / Toad
A very agile fighter with a menacing streak and a long, prehensile tongue, who can also spit a slimy substance onto others. He also has quick, toad-like abilities to move.
Tyler Mane as Victor Creed / Sabretooth
A ferocious, feline-like fighter who attacks Wolverine and Rogue in Canada before being stopped by Storm and Cyclops. He is a brutal and sadistic henchman of Magneto, and wields claws extending past each finger. Sabretooth is also Wolverine's sworn enemy.
Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue
A seventeen-year-old girl forced to leave her home in Mississippi when she puts her boyfriend into a coma by kissing him. If she touches anyone she absorbs their memories and life force, and, in the case of mutants, absorbs their powers as well. While at the Xavier Academy she begins a romance with Bobby Drake.
Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman
A student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters who takes a liking to Rogue. He can change temperatures to subzero degrees and use the moisture in the air to create ice.
David Hayter, Stan Lee, and Tom DeSanto make cameo appearances.
George Buza, the voice of Beast in X-Men: The Animated Series, appeared as the truck driver who drops Rogue off at the bar at which Wolverine fights.Other cameo appearances include Sumela Kay as Kitty Pryde, Katrina Florece as Jubilee and Donald MacKinnon as a young Colossus sketching a picture in one scene.Gambit was considered for one of the students at the X-Mansion. Singer remembered, "We thought about Gambit as the young boy on the basketball field, but the feeling was that if he has the basketball and then releases it and it exploded, [then] people would be like 'What's wrong with those basketballs?'"The success of X-Men (alongside Blade) started a reemergence for the comic book and superhero film genre.
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