How Dark Phoenix Was Influenced By Logan and Star Wars

CBR

By Tom Chapman

Published Sep 30, 2018

Director Simon Kinberg explains how movies like Star Wars and Logan helped influence Dark Phoenix.

Director Simon Kinberg has revealed how George Lucas' Star Wars and James Mangold's Logan influenced the upcoming Dark Phoenix movie.

Speaking to Empire, Kinberg explained how the work of Lucas and Mangold will be homaged in Dark Phoenix. He told the site, "I wanted [Dark Phoenix] to feel edgier, more handmade, more real. I was very inspired by what James Mangold did with Logan, and I felt like if I could bring a measure of that aesthetic in the film that all of the intergalactic and larger-scale things that happen in the movie would feel more shocking, more realistic, more emotional. They’d be grounded in some reality."

As for the galaxy far, far away, Kinberg said, "And so, all of the movie – from the costumes, to the title card, to the set design, to the way the X-jet looks – all of that stuff is just more analogue in a way. More like, let’s say, the original Star Wars movies. Not that analogue, but the movies I grew up loving had this very gritty, edgy, cool, human feeling to them."

Following the first trailer, critics have accused Dark Phoenix of being a rehash of X-Men: The Last Stand, but Kinberg is promising here that the film is something different. The first Dark Phoenix trailer indicated that the film will be a darker X-Men installment.

Dark Phoenix may also end up being the last X-Men film before Disney finishes its acquisition of and possibly the last movie before Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Fans are currently waiting to hear how Disney plans on introducing mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says he isn't thinking about that just yet, stars like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Sophie Turner might not be moving with the franchise.

Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and Jessica Chastain. The film opens February 14, 2019.