Ok folks. I'm not real sure what draft of the X-MEN script, but it from the date he describes being on the outside of the script I can say this is a draft prior to the participation of Ed Solomon and Bryan Singer, so the film this fella describes could be drastically different from the script as it exists today, but at least this gives us a photo of where they were headed once, a long time ago, with a draft long since forgotten. I have to believe that Bryan is playing this one as smart as he can. This is THE movie for him, and hopefully he'll get exactly what he needs to get on the screen. I've edited the finale out, so if this is close... well, it won't give it all away. Also, I'm going to put a big SPOILER WARNING. A countdown from 20. Just remember as you begin scanning down the 20, that each number brings you closer to the possible truth. Do you really want to know? If it isn't right, perhaps you'll get your heart set on this version, or perhaps your brain will begin shaking and twitching, overloading, till finally as if Michael Ironside willed it, your head will explode. Tread softy... And take the warning seriously.
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MASSIVE SPOILERS FOLLOW
Dear Harry:
My code name is the Laughing Man (I'm a fan of J.D. Salinger) - as a true-blue movie geek, I have been a fan of your web-site for awhile, waiting patiently for something meaningful to provide you in compensation for the intelligence and entertainment you have provided me ("quid pro quo, Clarice"). I recently visited a friend of mine in LA, and he/she knows that I am a HUGE fan of the X-men. He/she was able to provide me a wonderful gift - a draft of a script of an X-men movie. It was dated July 1997, and had a lot of distinguishing features inked out (like page numbers), plus it was a crappy Xerox copy. NOTE: I said that it was A script. I have no idea if it was THE script, or even an evolutionary antecedent. However, I felt like I was holding gold. He/she wouldn't let me keep it or copy it, but I did get a chance to read it, and it blew me away, so I wanted to share it with you and the other true believers. I don't know if it is an incarnation of the one that is actually in development now with Brian Singer, but it was the perfect dream script of an X-men movie.
The script really captured the essence of the X-men as a group of people trying to hold the center against, the one extreme of human supremacists, and on the other hand 'evil' mutants who were out to rule the world. Here is a synopsis of the script as I remember it (it's burned on my brain). By the way, one cool thing about the script was that it referenced various actual old issues of the comic book for what something would look like visually. As soon as I got back from LA, I searched through my collection to pull out these issues. Here goes:
The script opens with a televised rally led by Larry Trask, warning of the mutant menace. In the middle of the rally, one of the walls buckles and Magneto floats in. He issues a warning to Trask, and someone at the rally pulls a gun and shoots at Magneto. He stops the bullet, and then twists the gun around his assailant's hand, crushing the hand. Magneto then leaves.
The scene then cuts to being viewed from a television screen in the danger room. We see Professor X viewing the TV, and then turn to a screen showing a tree standing alone on the top of the hill. - It's the Danger Room.
In the Danger Room, three men ride up to the hill on horseback, and out of the shadow of the tree comes Nightcrawler, who proceeds to fight his three opponents (made to look like the three musketeers) and defeats them. As he laughs over his victory, Wolverine appears out of the trees and ambushes him. (it is described like one of the short stories in Classic X-Men) Conceding defeat, the room fades to neutral and Prof. X critiques Nightcrawler for letting his grandstanding get the better of him in a combat situation. Then he tells them to clean up and get ready to meet a new student. Wolverine mentions that Nightcrawler owes him another case of beer. Nightcrawler warns that the stuff will, "kill him."
Enter Kitty Pryde at the front of Xavier's school. She meets the teachers at the school, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus and a senior student, Rogue. We are told that all the other students are away on break, and Kitty has been asked to come early for orientation prior to the new semester.
Nightcrawler and Wolverine show up late from training and Kitty is so frightened by Nightcrawler that she exhibits her power by phasing through Cyclops and Storm. The dialogue here sort of relates to using Kitty's fear of Nightcrawler as a parable of humanity's fear of mutants. Prof. X. explains that the school trains mutants in the use of the power and tries to let them learn to fit into human society.
Kitty is then taken for a danger room orientation where her powers are tested. It gives a good showcase of everyone's abilities plus the danger room. We learn a lot about Cyclop's inability to control his eye blasts, and Rogue's inability to touch.
Then Magneto, along with a number of mutants, attacks a nuclear missile facility in America and takes control. Magneto announces an ultimatum to the world, which states that for every mutant killed, he will launch a nuclear missile and destroy one human city.
The X-men try to sneak into the base, sans Pryde and Prof. X. They are ambushed by members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Harry, the best way to check out these villains is simply to check out back issues.
Pyro and Forearm and Blob take on Colossus and Wolverine and Rogue. It starts with Blob squashing Wolverine, while Forearm and Pyro take on Colossus and Rogue. Rogue absorbs forearm's power of strength and grows, well, four arms. Then Wolverine pops his claws and Blob jumps off of him. Before Wolverine can take off after him, Sabretooth enters the scene and they start fighting. After Pyro shreds Rogue's costume, she accidentally absorbs the Blob's powers and becomes, well, a blob. Meanwhile, Colossus takes out Pyro and is beating Forearm, when Magneto show up (off camera) and takes control of his metal form.
The next team to fight is Riptide and Catseye taking on Cyclops and Nightcrawler. Vertigo attacks Storm. All three defeat their opponents and make it into the control room, where they confront Magneto who still has control of Colossus.
They launch into a debate right out of X-men issues 150. Magneto is not portrayed as inherently evil, but as man willing to protect his own. Supposedly he is about 65, and was a child in a concentration camp in WWII because of his gypsy heritage. In the middle of the discourse, Wolverine and Sabretooth show up still fighting. Magneto takes control of Wolverine and round two is about to start between the X-men and the Brotherhood when someone blows in one of the walls of the building (conveniently built with a forty story clearance) and in marches a bunch of Sentinels.
Magneto uses his power to let all the members of the Brotherhood escape (but Vertigo) and they flee, but not before Magneto points out to the X-men what the Sentinels represent. The X-men fight the sentinels, who quickly learn their powers and overpower all of them but Nightcrawler, who flees. The Sentinels take the other X-men prisoner, and kill Vertigo, who is too badly wounded to be taken, " for use as a specimen." Nightcrawler returns to the site (having teleported away while being shot at) and grabs the head of one of the destroyed Sentinels, and teleports away with it, despite the strain of carrying something so large.
The next scene is in the X-mansion, with Prof. X and Kitty Pryde discussing the concept of, "with great power comes great responsibility," along with a demonstration of his power for Kitty. Harry, the dialogue was made for Capt. Picard, err, I mean Patrick Stewart. Suddenly Nightcrawler teleports into the room a bloody mess with the Sentinel head, and informs Prof. X that they have a big problem.
Prof. X and Nightcrawler decide to enlist the help of three former students. Prof. X. visits Thunderbird and Angel. Angel is a wealthy stock trader in the Rockies who works by phone, while Thunderbird is a recluse in Arizona. Both agree to come back to rescue their former comrades.
Meanwhile, Nightcrawler goes down to New Orleans (in the middle of Mardi Gras) and recruits Gambit, even though he is an "irresponsible thief." The scene is written so that Nightcrawler can walk down the street and into a bar, and everyone thinks he is in costume. Seemed like a cool concept. Gambit's dialogue is written to sound like Dennis Quaid in the BIG EASY, and they make some allusion to a past with Rogue. We also learned that Prof.X expelled him from the team for stealing. He was caught because Rogue betrayed him after absorbing his memories. However, Nightcrawler convinces him to come because Rogue is in danger.
They learn the location of the Sentinel base by plugging into the Sentinel's head, which of course also then attacks them, but is defeated. They know where the X-men are being held, but don't have a plan until Kitty volunteers to sneak in using her power. Prof. X. opposes her involvement but gives in.
We then see the X-men being held captive by Trask and his Sentinels. Trask rants and raves, presenting the other side of the coin from Magneto's earlier preaching. Outside this mountain base stands one Sentinel, who guards the entrance. High above, Angel drops Thunderbird, who slams into the Sentinel, destroying his power supply and rendering him inert. However, they capture the attention of the base personnel and Trask, who don't notice Kitty phasing Nightcrawler, herself and Gambit into the base. They proceed to free the X-men, who then reek havok (who does no appear in the script) on the Sentinels. Cyclops realizes that the only way to defeat the Sentinels and their human supporters is to keep changing tactics.
Wolverine and Colossus demonstrate their "cannonball special", with Colossus throwing Wolverine at a Sentinel. Rogue absorb's Colossus's power when he is knocked out of the fight by a Sentinel. Mayhem insues, and all the Sentinels are destroyed. In the fighting, all the humans flee and Trask is mortally wounded. Before he dies, he hits a button activating something called "Nimrod."
The X-men are heading out of the entrance of the base, escaping, when Nimrod, the next step in Sentinels, appears. Unnamed X-Men thinks Nimrod is just another Sentinel, and when he rushes at Nimrod, he/she is killed. The rest of the X-men fight Nimrod, and eventually defeat him, with Nightcrawler teleporting one of his arms (see X-men issue 194), which then almost independently kills Nightcrawler, while Kitty phases with Colossus up from underneath Nimrod (see X-men issue 209). They eventually defeat Nimrod, leaving him buried and presumed destroyed, but pay a terrible price - Unnamed X-Men's death.
Next scene is a funeral at the X-mansion.
Then we see Magneto hijack a nuclear submarine, pulling it out of the water and dumping its crew into the ocean before carrying it off. He then announces from his own island to the world that if it does not surrender to him, he will again start nuking cities.
The X-men learn of this, and learn that the Russians fire missiles on the island, which are stopped and then added to Magneto's stock pile. The X-men debate what to do, with Nightcrawler voicing doubts about their mission after what humans did to the unnamed X-Man. Wolverine is all for killing, which Prof. X and Cyclops oppose, even though Wolverine note that neither of the other sides are opposed to it. Gambit and Rogue reconcile, Kitty convinces Nightcrawler to not abandon hope, noting how she was able to overcome her initial fear of him and that such things are possible. She also demands to go, and insists on getting a code name: Shadowcat. ( This whole part actually plays out pretty well, despite my inadequate description.)
Cyclops, Angel, Shadowcat, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Colossus Wolverine and Professor X fly to the island,
