The New Mutants are finally coming to theaters after years of delays, and star Anya Taylor-Joy claims the movie’s tone is “unlike any” she’s seen on film. It’s a promising tease for a movie that’s seen no less than three separate release dates since its first trailer premiered all the way back in October of 2017. Having survived multiple delays and a major studio merger, the latest installment in the X-Men franchise is now slated for an April 3rd theatrical release.
Based on the Marvel Comic of the same name, The New Mutants was written and directed by The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone, and is loosely based on a run of the print series by comic legends Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. The movie stars Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why), and Glass actress Anya Taylor-Joy as a group of teenage mutants, still learning to control their unique abilities, trapped in a sinister-looking asylum and fighting for their freedom as they atone for past sins.
Taylor-Joy, who plays Illyana Rasputin/Magik (known to comic readers as the younger sister of X-Men staple Colossus), spoke to Digital Spy on the film’s set way back in 2017, saying, “I think this is unlike any tone I’ve seen before on film in the sense that you’ve got a lot of things playing where, of course, we’re superheroes, but Josh (Boone) is treating us very much like people.” Examining the heroes in a grounded light isn’t the only original touch Boone’s bringing to the long-running mutant franchise, as early reports claim the film straddles the line between the classic superhero genre and, somewhat unexpectedly, a horror film. “It very much has the feel of a coming-of-age story and then you have the darkness that comes with that, moments of levity and then, of course, we all have powers,” Taylor-Joy said, “It’s very unique.”
The most recent trailer offers fans the best glimpse yet at the film’s darker take on Marvel’s mutants, giving off a vibe much closer to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (also set in a mental hospital and following a group of dream-powered teens trapped there) than to 2019’s Dark Phoenix, the final entry in Fox’s take on the X-Men. The trailer (and it seems the film itself) employs flashbacks to show each of the characters’ initial experience with their powers, but also presents a relentless sense of foreboding suspense as the characters explore their confined surroundings.
The film’s initial delays raised concerns that Boone’s vision for the project would be lost in a shuffle of studio-mandated reshoots, but the second delay quelled those concerns with rumors that the additional photography was happening to ensure the director’s darker take on the superhero genre remained intact. “I don’t find [the delay] frustrating because when the film comes out, we want it to be something that will make fans truly happy,” Taylor-Joy told Collider in September 2018. The actress went on to assure fans that while the delays might be “a little bit frustrating,” it was all in service of “making the movie that we set out to make, in the beginning.”
It remains to be seen how much of the final movie aligns with Boone’s original take on the project, but Boone promised fans on his Instagram account that he “wouldn’t be promoting” the final film if it wasn’t his version. Thankfully the three year wait is almost over, and on April 3rd 2020 audiences will finally see Josh Boone’s “unique” take on the mutant teens when The New Mutants hits theaters.
More: New Mutants Trailer Accidentally Reveals X-Men’s Pet Dragon’s Role
Source: Digital Spy
- New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28
