If you’re a fan of comic book movies, as we know that all Superhero Hype! readers are, you probably already know the name Zak Penn from his involvement with X2: X-Men United and the Elektra spin-off movie. You also probably already know that he wrote the screenplay for the upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand with Simon Kinberg. In between the two movies, he worked with long-time “X-Men” scribe Chris Claremont on Activision’s video game X-Men: The Official Game
, and word came out recently that Penn might stay involved with the movie mutants after the completion of the main trilogy.
“Actually, I am contracted to write and direct one of the spin-offs,” he told Superhero Hype! during a recent phone interview to talk about the video game. “One of the things about Hollywood is that it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to happen, but part of my deal was that I would get to direct one of the spin-offs. It’s not going to be ‘Wolverine’ or the ‘Magneto’ one that they’ve announced. It’s going to be one that I’m theoretically supposed to write. I just have to find the time to write it.”
Early rumors have mentioned that it might be a movie focusing on the next generation of mutants ala “The New Mutants,” so Superhero Hype! asked the writer whether he would be able to choose the character(s) he got to focus on for such a spin-off. “You never get a choice of anything, truthfully, because it’s all about actor availabilities and about Marvel and everyone else,” he told us. “The goal in the spin-off that I would do would be to use some of the preexisting characters, depending on actor availability, but ideally, to introduce the characters from the comic book world that haven’t gotten their fair shot on screen. That’s what I would shoot for. Every movie involves 50 other people’s decisions, other than the writers, so it’s always a battle.”
In the meantime, you can hear Zak’s words in X-Men: The Last Stand, opening on May 26, and Activision’s X-Men: The Official Game
, which comes out on May 16. Check back in a bit for a full interview with Zak on the direction of the video game and how it ties into the second and third movies.
Source: Edward Douglas
