It looks like Professor X is taking over a job originally set for Magneto. Variety reports that James McAvoy is in early discussions to join Danny Boyle’s Trance in a role for which Michael Fassbender was previously in talks. The film is a remake of Joe Ahearne’s 2003 TV movie of the same name and centers on an art heist gone wrong. The mastermind of the heist suffers a blow to the head during the operation, and subsequently suffers from amnesia. When his team questions the validity of his claims, and given that he’s the only one who knows where the painting is hidden, a female hypnotist is hired to get into his brain.
Boyle plans to start production in September, and after filming wraps he will immediately move on to directing the opening ceremony for London’s 2012 Summer Olympics. After the Olympics conclude in August, he’ll return to Trance to begin post-production, with a March 2013 release date being eyed. So all-in-all, Boyle has a very busy year coming up. While Fassbender’s a fantastic actor and it would’ve been nice to see him team up with Boyle, McAvoy is no slouch himself, so the casting change doesn’t seem too drastic.
[Update: Variety has updated their story to say that the role McAvoy is taking on is NOT the role that Fassbender had been in talks for. So he's not taking over Fassbender's role, but Fassbender is still out of the project]
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Fassbender is better…First Class was weak
Well well well. Isn’t this ironic?
http://www.youscreeniscreen.com
First Magneto gets Charles’s seconds with Mystique, now Charles gets Magneto’s seconds with Boyle.
Sounds like it could be a cool movie–I wouldn’t think to replace Fassbender with McAvoy though. They seem very different in stature and intensity. This is an entirely different movie with McAvoy.
McAvoy is very very talented. He is great, and so Fassbender…
http://michaelfassbenderwithpugs.tumblr.com/
NOOO! I think McAvoy is good but he and Michael Fassbender are two completely different actors and, come on, let’s face it: with this role the look of the actor has got to factor into it and McAvoy is a bit too sweet and clean cut for this