While attending the Fox panel at this year’s CCXP (Comic-Con Experience) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, The New Mutants director Josh Boone, Alice Braga (Dr. Cecilia Reyes), writer Knate Lee, Henry Zaga (Sunspot), and artist Bill Sienkiewicz shared some new information about the much-anticipated movie during their Q&A with Erico Borgo from Omelete.

As you’ve now seen in the great-looking first trailer, New Mutants is a completely different kind of X-Men movie, and it’s certainly following the path Fox set up with Deadpool and Logan in that it breaks the mold. But unlike the films I just mentioned and all the other comic book movies that have come before, New Mutants is a horror movie that happens to star mutants. Which is why I’m so excited for this movie.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Previously Boone offered up some details about New Mutants including how he pitched it as a trilogy:

“We brought it to Fox as a trilogy of films, really all based on that long run by [Bill] Sienkiewicz, and kind of incorporates some stuff from later issues in the ’80s. These are all going to be horror movies, and they’re all be their own distinct kind of horror movies. This is certainly the ‘rubber-reality’ supernatural horror movie. The next one will be a completely different kind of horror movie. Our take was just go examine the horror genre through comic book movies and make each one its own distinct sort of horror film. Drawing from the big events that we love in the comics.”

Boone says he was inspired by films, books, and a very specific run of the New Mutants comics:

 “Our whole pitch for this series was based on Bill Sienkiewicz run with Chris Claremont [The New Mutants vol. 1 #18–31, 35–38], so it’s very much when New Mutants became dark and surreal and more horror driven. We were incredibly inspired by the Demon Bear story which is probably the best, well-known New Mutants story. We also drew on movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Stephen King stuff, and even Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.”

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Also, Stacey Snider, chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, has previously talked about New Mutants and what fans can expect:

New Mutants is about these teenagers who are just coming into their powers. It’s like watching mutants go through adolescence and they have no impulse control, so they’re dangerous. The only solution is to put them in a Breakfast Club detention/Cuckoo’s Nest institutional setting. It protects the people on the outside, but it’s strange and combustible inside. The genre is like a haunted-house movie with a bunch of hormonal teenagers. We haven’t seen it as a superhero movie whose genre is more like The Shining than “we’re teenagers let’s save the world.”

During the panel at CCXP, Boone and the rest of the panelists revealed a bit more about the movie, including how they are thinking about filming the sequel in Brazil and wanting the film to be grounded and realistic. Check out some of the highlights below.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

New Mutants opens in theaters on April 13, 2018 and also stars Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) as Magik, Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) as Cannonball, and Blu Hunt as Mirage.

  • Boone talked about how the comics dictated the movie. The film had to be a horror movie that happened to have superheroes inside of it.
  • Boone said New Mutants absolutely takes place in the same universe as X-Men, Logan and Deadpool and we’d know a lot more after we see the movie.
  • Co-writer Knate Lee said they drew real inspiration from the Demon Bear saga by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz.
  • When picking the characters that would appear in the first film, Boone said they picked the characters that meant the most to them. But fans can look forward to Warlock in the sequel.
  • When talking about the film they joked around by calling it New Mutants Begins.
  • The group talked about how they didn’t change the DNA of the characters. They are true to the comics and the powers are the same.
  • Boone and Lee revealed they are thinking about filming the sequel in Brazil.
  • Boone went on to say Sunspot’s dad will play a role in the franchise. If you’re not familiar with his dad, his name is Emmanuel da Costa and in the comics is in bed with the Hellfire Club.
  • Boone stressed how important it was to them to find a Brazilian actor to play the Brazilian role (Sunspot). If you’re not familiar with his powers, Sunspot has the ability to absorb and channel solar power.
  • The movie isn’t about the end of the world and the New Mutants having to save everyone. It’s about trying to save your friends and is performance-driven.
  • The film follows the characters as they are just discovering their powers while also dealing with hormonal changes from just being a teenager.
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    Image via 20th Century Fox
    When Boone was writing the first draft of the script, he sent Sienkiewicz the draft and ideas for what he wanted to do. After he read it, he told Boone they had it figured out. But he also stressed the movie is not an exact copy of the comic. They used what was done before as inspiration and created their own thing.
  • The group talked about how the reason the mutants are locked up is due to the powers being terrifying and not awesome. While people might think having mutant powers would be the best thing that could ever happen to them, what about the time before you know what your powers are and how to control them? Before you even know who you are because you’re still growing up. New Mutants explores these themes.
  • Boone talked about the importance of the actors felling comfortable around one another because he believes it helps the performances. To make that happen they rehearsed for three weeks and lived at the same hotel together for four months.
  • They all talked about making sure the comics were always around on set for inspiration.

With New Mutants set for release in April, I’m sure we’re going to learn a lot more about the film in the coming months. Keep checking back for more CCXP coverage as it happens.

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