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WELL , AFTER MANY ups and downs,
20th Century Fox has finally confirmed that
The New Mutants will reach cinemas on 3
April 2020, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Based on the 1982 Marvel graphic novel
written by Chris Claremont and illustrated
by Bob McLeod, The New Mutants follows
five mutants: Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane
(played in the movie by Maisie Williams),
Illyana Rasputin/Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy),
Sam Guthrie/Cannonball (Charlie Heaton),
Danielle Moonstar/Mirage (Blu Hunt) and
Roberto da Costa/Sunspot (Henry Zaga).
The movie, directed by The Fault In Our
Stars’ Josh Boone (who also wrote the film
alongside Knate Lee) is set to take place
in an isolated hospital where the group of
young mutants is being held for psychiatric
monitoring and to learn to control their
powers. However, when strange occurrences
begin to take place, both their new mutant
abilities and their friendships will be tested
as they try to make it out alive.
Boone’s film has been in limbo since it
originally finished shooting back in 2017. Its
initial 2018 release date has been delayed a
number of times due to reported clashes with
other movies in the X-Men universe, as well
re-shoots being ordered to reportedly change
the tone of the movie, with test audiences
apparently reacting favourably to the horror
vibe of the film. But that’s all in the pastJust when we were about to give up all hope on The New
Mutants, along comes the exciting news that the film has
a new release date. We speak to production designer, Molly
Hughes, to find out what we can expect from the X-Men
universe’s newest addition...
WORDS RACHAEL HARPER INTERVIEWS ADAM TANSWELLnow, so what can we expect from The New
Mutants when it’s released?
“Well, much of the movie takes place
within the confines of Milbury State Hospital,
where the kids are confined,” explains
production designer, Molly Hughes. “But we
do have moments where we get a little bit
of each characters’ back story, because it is
an origin film. So, we’re being introduced to
these new mutants and how they got here.
“We knew from the get-go that we were
trying something new, and that’s what Josh
sold to the studio, something unexpected, as
you introduce a new generation [to] X-Men.
Appealing to the audience who will be the
age of these kids in a different way than,
I would say, the kids of today are not the
Twilight generation, for example. There’s an
interest in organic reality mixed into Stranger
Things, for example. So, our film is very
grounded in reality.”
As for the widely-reported horror elements,
will the movie have a dark tone? “Josh is a
big horror buff and he’s a big Stephen King
[fan]. He’s attached to a number of Stephen
King projects and he really brought the
horror element to it,” says Hughes. “And that
comes through in the location that we chose.
So, we decided to put them in this hospital as
a way of adding a level to it where, as soon
as the kids are here and we’re brought into
the story, things start to happen here and we
don’t know what’s causing them.”
Hughes also confirms that the movie will
strive to stand out from the other X-Men
movies: “We’re trying to be our own [thing],
I think the studio would like it to be its own
new idea moving forward. I am sure they
often connect in the future somewhere, but
for the moment, The New Mutants are their
own thing.”The New Mutants is due to be in cinemas
on 3 April.THE M UTANT
CHRONICLES
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