X-Men

A Wolverine cast three weeks into the shoot

Filming had been under way in Toronto for three weeks when Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine after a successful audition. Dougray Scott, signed for the role in a multi-film deal, had withdrawn because of a schedule clash with Mission: Impossible 2 and injuries from a motorbike accident. The film was Jackman's first American role, and it won him the Saturn Award for Best Actor.

20th Century Fox had bought the rights in 1994 and commissioned several scripts, and Bryan Singer signed to direct in 1996; the screenplay is credited to David Hayter. The studio then moved the release from December to 14 July 2000, and Singer had to finish the film six months ahead of schedule. The bright comic-book costumes gave way to black leather, and Singer added a line in which Cyclops asks Wolverine whether he would prefer yellow spandex.

The Story

In 1944, the young Erik Lehnsherr is separated from his parents at Auschwitz and makes the camp's metal gates bend toward him. Decades later, while Senator Robert Kelly tries to pass a Mutant Registration Act in Congress, the teenage Rogue (Anna Paquin), who absorbs the life force and powers of anyone she touches, runs away from home. In Alberta she meets Logan, known as Wolverine, and both are taken in by Charles Xavier's school for mutants.

Xavier (Patrick Stewart) leads the X-Men, while Lehnsherr, now called Magneto (Ian McKellen), leads the Brotherhood of Mutants. Magneto has built a machine that turns ordinary humans into mutants, and his Brotherhood abducts Senator Kelly to test it.

The Ideal Audience

The film runs 104 minutes and is rated PG-13 in the United States, FSK 12 in Germany and suitable for all audiences in France. Common Sense Media recommends it from age 11, describing largely bloodless violence, a girl accidentally stabbed by metal claws who heals, and a man who turns to liquid. It earned 296.3 million dollars worldwide on a 75 million budget, and it was followed by a series of films that ran for two decades.