IGN interviews Edi Gathegi

IGN: You must be used to big movies with Twilight – how has it been to step into the X-Men universe?

Edi Gathegi: Well the two are different and similar in many ways, but in terms of scale, Twilight wasn't really a massive movie before it was released. It ended up making a lot of money and becoming big, and the others had more of a budget but they were still moderately budgeted. We didn't know what to expect on that. But with this one you're stepping into an already existing franchise. This is the fifth instalment of the X-Men franchise. There's a lot of pressure. But I look at it with the perspective that I'm just here to do a job, and I'm going to do the best job I can and everybody has that responsibility. Hopefully we'll put it out there and the audience will enjoy it.

IGN: Who do you play?

Gathegi: My character's name is Armando Muñoz, otherwise known as Darwin, and he gets his nickname from Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution. My character is in a constant state of evolution. It's called reactive adaptation - so whatever environment he's in, in order to survive he will mutate, basically. If he gets thrown in water, all of a sudden he might have gills. The lights go out, he'll have 20-20 vision in the pitch black. He's the coolest one! What I like about my character's powers is that a lot of the X-Men have very cool powers, but with this one you actually see it happening and you see why it's happening. In the right circumstances you see the thought behind the character and the need to create that evolution. There's a logic to it. And the possibilities are endless with good writing.

IGN: How does Darwin react to his powers?

Gathegi: Everybody has their own unique set of circumstances, but I think every mutant probably goes through the phase where they hate themselves because they're different. They're terrified of their own mutant abilities. And then they come to a place where they can see the beauty in it and they accept themselves. I think my character had it really, really tough, because he was constantly in situations where his body would start to mutate and he didn't understand why it was happening. He was suicidal because of it and he couldn't even kill himself, because his body would protect him. He jumped off a building and his bones turned to rubber. So he was stuck in this life of feeling different - sort of indestructible. And I think in this movie, he's finally found a calling. He's finally found people like him. And he finally gets to be the person he was meant to be. He comes out of his shell. He's a good guy.

IGN: It's a whole new world of fans - have you heard from them yet?

Gathegi: You know what, I'm so excited to show this movie to the fans, because I myself am the audience. I remember my experience watching the X-Men films and I think hopefully we're doing something that's exciting and a good addition to the series.

IGN: Are they less intense than the Twilight fans?

Gathegi: It depends. I would say that Twilight fans are more forgiving. They're more opinionated in the beginning, but if things don't go entirely according to their imagination - which they never will - they'll be upset but then they'll forgive that and come back with so much love. I don't know what it is about those fans. But the X-Men fans aren't so forgiving! By the same token, you can't satisfy everybody. We're making this for the fans and I don't necessarily think it'll appeal to the fanatics, because we've drawn from many different elements of the comics to make this work as a movie, because it is a movie and not a 20-page comic book. So it's going to be different. In the attempt to make a movie of the comic, you're pissing off fanatics.

IGN: How are you finding Matthew Vaughn as a director?

Gathegi: This is my first time on a movie this big, but from my perspective I think Matthew's doing a bang-up job. I know he's a very capable director. Kick-Ass was an experience, a good time. I think all the elements are in place for this type of movie: there's a bit of fantasy, sci-fi, action and comic-book retelling that I would like to see. I'm actually very excited to be a part of this cast, the director, the subject matter, the script - I think all the elements are in place for it to be a good film.

IGN: If X-Men: First Class is a hit, would you return for sequels?

Gathegi: You know, the honest answer is I guess it depends on what's going on in my life at that time and who comes back and who's involved in it. But the stock answer is I'm an X-Men fan, so absolutely. Bring me back, I'll put on the suit.  




http://ie.movies.ign.com/articles/117/1170254p1.html

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Yahoo Movies Interview Cast

From Yahoo's Movie Blog:

James McAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X) – "Erik’s is such a good power, but at the same time I’m not that impressed with a man that can bend metal. It doesn’t speak to me of drama. I’d love, love, love anything that was to do with flying. There’s not much else you can wish for in life if you can pop down to the shops and not get stopped by the traffic. And I’d quite like to be able to heal people as well, like Elixir. We nearly had Elixir in this film, but ultimately we chose not to. I think it made everything quite hard to have real drama and sense of impending fatality if somebody could just heal people."


Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto) – "I think the power to speak different languages. Is that a superpower? A tail would be kind of cool. You can balance and stuff with a tail. Be like a monkey. Or just for climbing, you know. Flying’s pretty amazing, but you could fly with a tail… From tree to tree, like spider monkeys. Tail Man. Tail-linguist. Flying’s the obvious one - it’s like that thing of what animal you’d be if you could be any animal. It would be a bird, because flight is the one thing we can't do."

Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggart) – "I’d like a combination. I’d like Charles's power to read and to block people’s minds, but then I’d also love Angel Salvadore’s power to acid vomit! I think that’d be useful. You’re saying to the AD, "Where’s my cup of tea?" Boom! Your reputation might be a bit ruined. You might burn a few bridges. Literally. Maybe just the threat of it – just a side spew so they could see what you’ve got… But yeah, I think a combination of a few of them would be really cool."

Jason Flemyng (Azazel) – "It would be Maestro – which means I can charge up anyone’s credit card with the power of my mind. Or Oystro, for the tube. Or Alphabetico, which means it could be books or DVDs or music libraries, and I can just alphabetize them like that. Oystro – the lamest X-Men of all time. I just love the idea of lame superpowers. People can do amazing things like teleport and stuff, but with something like this it’s still a power, it’s just rubbish."


Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast) – "The one I have in the film's pretty cool. Even just to be able to have an opposable big toe and to be able to do things with your feet would be great. But this is a really difficult question. Obviously being invisible would be great. Flying would be great. But there are better ones, probably, than that. I’d like to be able to control people’s destinies… That kind of sounds like I want to be God, doesn’t it? I want to be God! There we go. I just spit that out and realised in hindsight that was a ridiculous thing to say! I’d quite like morphing – Mystique’s one – actually. That’s quite cool."


Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme/Mystique) - "Don’t I have to say shape shifting? I would love to be able to run up stairs without falling, but I don’t think that’s a superhero power. Every time I run up stairs I fall, it’s the weirdest thing ever. Basic human balance. Well, Zoe can fly. Flying would be awesome. But it has to be cooler than flying… Well, if I could fly it would solve my running up the stairs and tripping problem, because I could just fly up the stairs… So I’m sticking with that. And sharpening pencils with my eyes."


Edi Gathegi (Armando Muñoz/Darwin) – "I’ll tell you a story – I was an 'X-Men' fan growing up. I woke up every Saturday morning and I was glued to the TV when the 'X-Men' cartoon was on. And when the movie came out I loved it. It was the best superhero reimagining that I’d ever seen. I loved the 'X-Men' series. But Wolverine was the guy I loved when I was a kid. For some reason – the adamantium, the swagger, it was all about Wolverine. My character’s relatively new – he was created maybe five years ago – and if my character were around when I was a kid, he’d definitely be my favourite character. I tell you what the powers are and you go, ‘Wait a minute, that’s awesome.’ He wasn’t around when I was a kid, but if he were it’d be all about Darwin."

Zoe Kravitz (Angel Salvadore/Tempest) – "I think it’d be flying. I really think I have the best power. Doesn’t everyone want to fly? It’s like the coolest thing ever. And I projectile vomit acid!"


Lucas Till (Alex Summers/Havok) – "It’s a tossup. I think you would want something like Shaw’s power, where he can absorb kinetic energy and throw it back at something. That’s all-powerful. But you also want a little style with it, like Magneto. It’s not just all-powerful - he can bend metal and that’s it - but there’s a lot of things you can manipulate with that. I’ve always loved Magneto’s power."

Caleb Landry Jones (Sean Cassidy/Banshee) – "I wonder how many people have said teleportation… That’s probably the best, I think. I’d be rich; I’d have travelled the world, possibly space. I could do all sorts of things with it."

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/article/177226/the-x-men-speak-out-which-mutant-power-would-you-have.html

Edi Gathegi And Caleb Landry Jones on Facebook

Edi Gathegi And Caleb Landry Jones on Facebook:

Jones admitted that he thought his audition was “absolutely terrible,” though others must not have thought so.

When asked what makes Banshee such a cool character, he replied, “His naively destructive personality sprinkled with wit.”

Over in his interview, Gathegi was asked if he had more freedom to portray his character because Darwin is relatively new. “I think everyone in the cast has a certain responsibility to maintain the integrity of the characters they are portraying as seen in the comics,” he answered. “With that said, we are actors, human beings, portraying these characters, so inevitably we have to make the characters our own. Bring them to life in our own unique way. Hopefully we strike a happy medium of what's expected, and a surprise unique personal take to really make our characters come to life on the screen as live action.”

Gathegi also joked about wanting to date Mystique and have “blue reactive adaptive rug rats.” Asked if he was a fan of Darwin since a young age, Gathegi said, “D-money wasn't around when I was a young buck. But if he were you better believe he would have been my favorite. It was all about Wolverine when I was younger. I'm totally on the Darwin bandwagon now. His possibilities are literally endless. Limitless.”

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2011/04/06/edi-gathegi-and-caleb-landry-jones-answer-x-men-first-class-questions-from-fans/

Spoiler Filled Character Bios

Charles Xavier: The young Oxford graduate, a powerful telepath who can read and control minds, had long wondered if there were others out there like him. When Charles finally meets some fellow mutants, he recruits them and harnesses their unique abilities to try and stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.

Magneto: As a young man, Lehnsherr discovered, under horrific circumstances, his power to control magnetism. Now, he is determined to exact revenge on the monstrous evil who 'created' him. Erik and Charles form a fast and fateful friendship, which is tested in a battle upon which rests the fate of mankind.

Mystique: A close friend to Charles Xavier, Raven is a metamorph or shape-shifter who can assume the form of any humanoid creature she chooses. The mutant teen works hard to lead a 'normal' life and hide her gifts, but the battle between Xavier's mutants and Shaw's forces leads her on a different path.

Beast: Hank is a brilliant scientist with only a few mutant features until a serum unexpectedly unlocks the superhuman Beast within.

Darwin: Through 'reactive evolution,' Darwin can adapt to any situation or environment. Plunged underwater, he grows gills; in the dead of night, he gains night vision.

Banshee: Banshee's unique sonic blasts carry him into flight. Like other young mutants, Banshee's powers reach their full potential only under Charles Xavier's patient tutelage, and in a battle that will have global consequences.

Azazel: A demonic figure, Azazel can teleport by opening a portal into another dimension. He is a key player in Sebastian Shaw's plans to make sure that mutants inherit the planet.

Riptide: Never far from the side of his leader, Sebastian Shaw, Riptide creates powerful whirlwinds that can demolish buildings and challenge even the most powerful mutants.

Havok: Alex can emit concentric rings of super-heated energy waves, causing his targets to burst into flame. The handsome, athletic mutant has difficulty with his impressive powers, until Charles Xavier teaches him how to harness them.

Angel Salvadore: The beautiful ex-dancer possesses a stunning tattoo of insect-like wings, which become actual wings growing from her back, giving her the gift of flight. Her arsenal is a deadly acid, which she projectile vomits in combat.

The Man In Black: The Man in Black, as his mysterious moniker suggests, works for a covert government agency whose mission is to guard, and when appropriate, exploit our most explosive secrets. He enlists the assistance of mutants - and finds himself at the vortex of a battle that will determine the fate of humankind.

Moira MacTaggert: A female CIA agent in the 1960s - a time when female operatives were very few in number. After Moira becomes among the first humans to witness the powers of mutants, she tracks down Charles Xavier, who helps Moira convince her superiors of the existence of mutants and the notion of working with them for the greater good.

Sebastian Shaw: Shaw, a force of incalculable evil, was a Nazi collaborator whose early research forever altered the life of a young Erik Lensherr. Shaw can absorb energy and re-channel it, and he will stop at nothing to start a war to ensure that mutants inherit the earth.

Emma Frost: Emma, a platinum haired beauty and close ally of Sebastian Shaw, is a telepath who possess a diamond-like skin that is indestructible. Like Charles Xavier, she can project her thoughts and will into another's mind.

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Edi Gathegi Talks Darwin

Could you talk about the character of Darwin, from a dispositional angle?

My character’s mutant ability is reactive adaptation. For instance if I fall from a building my bones turn to rubber. Or if the lights go out I have perfect vision in the pitch black. Or if I happen to get catapulted into outer space, my body no longer requires oxygen. That sort of thing. And the list is as extensive as the need to survive.   

You passed from a "franchise" as Twilight to another one, even more famous, as X-Men. What's your impression about it?

Well those who know me know that I was a major X-Men fan as a youth. I'd wake up every Saturday morning with my bowl of cereal glued to the tv screen enjoying my favorite comic brought to life as a cartoon. So you can imagine my sense of joy when I was asked to be apart of the live action version. Really it’s just living out a childhood dream. Not to mention it’s a super cool movie.

Is there any difference between the movie character of Darwin and that one we knew in the comics?

You'll just have to wait and see.

Did you make massive use of visual effects and CGI as far as Darwin's powers?
And what about his make-up? Is it on the same level as the make-up of characters like Mystique and the Beast or pretty less?

Darwin is more or less a regular guy. And by that I mean he isn't painted blue or anything. So visual effects are specifically relegated to my use of powers not for my overall look. Makeup was virtually non-existent.

Which are the main differences for you about the story's tone, the characters portrait, etc., by comparing this movie to the previous X-Men trilogy and the other prequel about Wolverine?

You trying to get me killed? Let's just say I think the fans have been waiting for this film even if they don't know it yet. It’s being handled well by the creative powers that be. For instance it’s a dope script. And Vaughn is not a joke - he got game. And McAvoy ... He's on some next level acting. He's a beast. No pun intended.

How has been working with director Matthew Vaughn? What was your impression during the production?

Up against the ropes time wise Vaughn had his work cut out for him. But he knows what he wants. He has a good eye. And he's got a very interesting competitive spirit. I don't think he would even allow himself to not make a great movie. And personally, he is a hilarious guy. I like him.

What can you say about the other members of the cast?

Great cast all the way around. Lucinda, Zoe, Roger and Jeremy did a fantastic job casting this project. Kudos to them. And I'm probably the most excited to see Kevin Bacon in action. He's really cool in this film. Really cool.

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