Vaughn Talks Leaked X-Men Photo, Releases More First Class Stills

 

The saga of that X-Men: First Class cast photo — y’know, the one that appeared online Tuesday only to be yanked by the studio, then released again on Wednesday? — continues, this time starring director Matthew Vaughn.

The image, obviously cobbled together in Photoshop by someone (presumably at 20th Century Fox), drew quick criticism from fans, many of whom expressed doubts about the quality of prequel. But an annoyed Vaughn wants to assure them the photo wasn’t pre-approved and, more importantly, doesn’t reflect X-Men: First Class.

“I freaked out on them yesterday,” Vaughn tells Slashfilm. “I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad Photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’ [...] I’m a fan of X-Men. We’re not bastardizing X-Men, I’m trying to get them back to being whole again.”

Better still, the director released two more stills: Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, wearing his Magneto helmet; and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, apparently employing telepathy.

But wait, there’s more: Ain’t It Cool News has debuted the teaser poster for the movie, which opens on June 3.

Add these two new stills to the ones that debuted yesterday at Hero Complex, and we begin to get an idea of the look of the film, which is set during the early 1960s ( “Imagine the Cuban Missile crisis and discovering that mutants exist, both at the same time,” Vaughn says):