Bryan Singer says leaving X-Men was traumatising

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And admits Superman Returns was “too reverential”

Ever since taking over from Matthew Vaughn as director of X-Men: Days Of Future Past , Bryan Singer has thrown himself back into the world of mutants with real gusto, an attitude that is at least partly motivated by the way he left the franchise previously.

According to Singer, leaving the characters he had helped steer onto the big screen was a real wrench, and letting go of the series was no easy task.

“I’ve never told anybody this,” he begins, “but I found the whole letting go of the characters for X-Men 3 so traumatising that a friend, who shall remain nameless, had to take me to a secret location and show me the reels so far, just so I could make my peace with it.”

His departure had come about as a result of the chance to direct Superman Returns , a film he goes on to describe as “too reverential”.

“I really loved the old Richard Donner film and I was too reverential with the material,” admits Singer. “That, and I tried to put too much in. There wasn’t just a love triangle, there was a love quadrilogy.”

X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens in the UK on 18 July 2014.

George Wales
George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.