Next summer, audiences will get to see the latest entry in the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past.  In the upcoming sequel/prequel, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has his consciousness sent back to 1973 to help Professor X (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and the rest of the X-Men: First Class crew stop the rise of giant robots programmed to exterminate mutants, the Sentinels.  Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) is the creator of the Sentinels and ostensibly the villain of the movie, but Dinklage doesn’t see the character that way.

Hit the jump for more.  The film also stars Nicholas HoultJennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Omar Sy, and Halle BerryX-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23, 2014.

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Speaking to EW, Dinklage says he “didn’t want to play the villain,” going on to explain:

“He’s a man of science. He’s a man of invention. He actually sees what he’s doing as a good thing — [his ambition is] definitely blind and he’s quite arrogant. He’s strove all his life for a certain respect and attention.”

It’s a personality that easily lends itself to someone who would want to eliminate mutants.  These are naturally gifted people who are getting all of the attention, and Trask has the ability to not only wipe them out, but make himself look good in the process.

However, he may have the most unlikely of foes.  “He’s up against Richard Nixon,” Dinklage said with a wry smile. “He’s got some hurdles.”  If Richard Nixon is the last defense against giant killer robots wiping out mutantkind, then it’s no wonder that Wolverine has to go back in time to save the day.

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