Marvel Studios has long been preparing for the arrival of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Since Disney acquired Fox, the groundwork has been laid for mutants to reshape the Marvel universe. While details remain scarce, one significant announcement has already been made: Thunderbolts* filmmaker Jake Schreier will direct the highly anticipated X-Men feature.
Speaking with Empire, Schreier expressed his belief that his experience with Thunderbolts* will help guide his approach to Marvel’s ensemble of mutants. “There are so many things that I didn’t know about before I started [Thunderbolts*],” he admitted, reflecting on the challenges of orchestrating a large-scale team movie.
“The biggest learning curve for me was the proportion of the action to the more emotional, character-driven scenes, and how, even though it’s more shooting days than I’ve ever had, they get eaten up quite quickly by the action stuff. By the time we got to the end of it, it felt like, ‘Oh, now I feel like we get how to do this a little bit better.’”
For Schreier, the balance of spectacle and heart is central to the Marvel formula, and his time directing massive set pieces for Thunderbolts* has been invaluable. “Look, who gets to do that?” he said of the blockbuster-scale shoots. “[On Thunderbolts*] we’re in the middle of nowhere in Utah, in a gorgeous location, owning a road, and filming in 100-degree heat, or finding yourself on the second-tallest building in the world. These are very special experiences.”
Schreier also revealed that early work on the project is already underway. “I can’t say anything about it, but we’ve started work on X-Men, and that’s obviously very, very exciting,” he confirmed.
Armed with those lessons and opportunities, Schreier is now turning his attention to one of Marvel’s most beloved properties. While secrecy surrounds the project, his excitement is clear, and fans can only hope his ensemble expertise helps deliver an X-Men film worthy of the wait.
Conversation with Ting Wei is like chatting with a weird AI bot programmed only with One Piece lore and theories, sitcom quotes and other miscellaneous pop culture references. When he’s not sleeping, he’s highly likely reading manga. In fact, the only thing he reads more than manga is the Bible, and it’s honestly pretty close.
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