The X-Men Once Held An Intervention For Bryan Singer In Full Make Up/Costumes That Ended In Halle Berry Telling Him To "Kiss Her Black Ass"
In honor of Hugh Jackman (and presumably the rest of the 20th Century Fox X-Men) officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe this Summer in ‘Deadpool 3’, Clem and I are going back and rewatching the whole franchise on the road to get there.
We started with ‘X-MEN’ (2000), one of the most important and innovative comic book movies ever made….
….and followed it right up with ‘X2’ (2003), which I still believe to be one of the best comic book movies ever made….
From the opening scene, featuring Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler in the White House - attempting an assassination on the President - to the performances of Brian Cox as General Stryker, Ian McKellen as Magneto, and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, to the ensemble cast’s chemistry just perfecting meshing (and the technological advancements made since the first ‘X-MEN’) - there’s very little about ‘X2’ that doesn’t hold up super well to this day.
It wasn’t an easy production process to get to that end result, however.
In researching ‘X2’ for this podcast, we found an excerpt from Alan Cumming’s book that shares details of an on-set intervention for director (and all time scumbag) Bryan Singer, who was allegedly suffering from a painkiller addiction while filming….
PageSix- Cumming writes in his upcoming book, “Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life,” that Singer “has himself admitted he was using painkillers at the time” and exhibited troubling behaviors including mood swings, paranoia and tantrums in addition to disappearing from set for hours on end.
As a result, Cumming, Berry, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, James Marsden and Famke Janssen — while in full costume and makeup — gathered in the Tony winner’s trailer one day to confront Singer. (Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn weren’t working that day.) Cumming recalls that Berry “spoke movingly of people she had known with drug issues,” while the “Good Wife” alum discussed how the cast had been worried about their well-being on set.
Cumming writes that there was a pause in the room before Singer lifted his head and intoned: “You people … are full of f–king s–t!” The “Valkyrie” director allegedly continued berating the venerated group of actors, telling them that “none of us had ever made a decent film” and “were lucky to be working with him,” the book claims.
“I’ve heard enough,” Berry replied as she exited, according to Cumming’s account. “You can kiss my black ass.”
The author notes that production was subsequently halted and flurries of phone calls between the studio and lawyers ensued.
While drug addiction and those suffering from such a thing is never funny - the visual of Bryan Singer walking into his trailer, only to be ambushed by the X-Men IN FULL COSTUME AND MAKEUP for a painkiller intervention is fucking hysterical.
Imagine trying to take Nightcrawler seriously as he's trying to help you?
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Good on Halle Berry for hitting Singer with an all time line and "storming" out of the trailer after he flipped a lid on them, though.
That lowlife douchebag telling the recently Oscar nominated Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and the others that they never made a good movie without him is fucking lunacy. Thank god his creepiness/evilness is now known publicly and he's not getting work anymore. Fuck you, Bryan Singer!
Check out our full 'X2' rewatch/recap podcast below….