Matthew Vaughn has revealed that he and James McAvoy have clashed over the closing of the UK Film Council.

The X-Men: First Class director admitted that McAvoy became annoyed upon hearing of his support for the axing, which he believed would help the industry develop a better organisation.

However, he insisted that it has not affected the actor’s role in the film.

“James and I have discussed this. He’s still in the movie… just,” Vaughn told the Daily Mail.

“James is an actor and actors don’t necessarily know what’s best for them. That’s on the record.”

He added: “But he’s a brilliant actor and he’ll be great in this film.”

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During an interview with Ain’t It Cool News, Singer confirmed that the film will be set in the 1960s — with John F. Kennedy as the President and Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights movement — and that “First Class” will invoke the Silver Age of Marvel Comics in terms of the costumes worn by the heroes and the “James Bond” tech of the time period.

Singer also confirmed that Kevin Bacon’s mystery villain will be none other than Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club.

Shaw will be operating alongside the newly cast January Jones as Emma Frost, with both characters wearing costumes inspired by their classic Hellfire Club appearances in “Uncanny X-Men.”

Regarding the relationship between Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), Singer reiterated that both characters would be in their 20′s when they meet for the first time and that the film will establish what they attempted to accomplish by forming the X-Men. Singer also stated that McAvoy’s Xavier would not be bald or wheelchair bound, but the events of the film will show how Xavier lost his ability to walk.

While some fans have speculated that Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey would have a role in the story as they did in the original “X-Men: First Class” comics, Singer indicated that neither of them will appear in the movie. Instead, Havoc (Lucas Till) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) will be the only Silver Age “X-Men” characters to be on the team, alongside Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).

According to Singer, there are also some additional characters in the film yet to be revealed, in addition to the currently announced cast of Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggart, Jason Flemyng as Azazel and Oliver Platt as the mysterious Man in Black.

“X-Men: First Class” will hit theaters on June 3, 2011.

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As you probably noticed, there is a new gallery layout up. Check it out Image Gallery

I have added more pics of James The Last Station Press Conference last year and two new photoshoots.

Watch Justin Long talk about working with James McAvoy on The Conspirator during his Going The Distance press junket here

Wanted 2. “We are discussing Wanted 2 every month. We are working on it now, but I think it will be after Lincoln because James (McAvoy) is working on the X-Men: First Class… It’s why I decided to develop Lincoln without a studio, to keep control. It’s a big movie but independent too.”

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“Damages” star Rose Byrne is in negotiations to join the cast of Fox’s “X-Men First Class,” being directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Fox is gearing up for a London shoot at the end of this month and zeroing on the last key pieces of its important franchise.

The movie, whose story line remains under wraps, focuses on Marvel’s superpowered X-Men team in a younger incarnation than seen in the previous trilogy.

Byrne will play Moira MacTaggert, a scientist and an authority on genetic mutation. She’ll be the love interest of James McAvoy, who plays mutant telepath Charles Xavier.

Among the cast are Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Alice Eve.

Byrne, repped by CAA and Australia’s RGM Artist Group, recently received her second Emmy nomination for her work opposite Glenn Close in “Damages.” She is shooting Universal comedy “Bridesmaids” with Kristen Wiig and appeared in this summer’s “Get Him to the Greek.” Also among her film credits are “28 Weeks Later” and “Troy.”

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Angelina Jolie has revealed that she accepted a role in the 2008 action movie Wanted because she wanted to act alongside James McAvoy.

The actress, who played assassin Fox in the film, insisted that she thought that it would be an interesting concept to have the two of them starring in a movie together, reports STV.

Jolie said: “I was itching to do something that was physical because I had done some emotional films and I had been at home with the kids. I didn’t know that there was anything original out there until I came across this script.

“Then I heard they were casting James McAvoy and I thought, ‘That sounds really unusual’. Everyone thinks of him as this sweet, fun guy – which he is – but he’s also from Scotland, and that’s a tough place.”

She added: “Fox is not easy to be around. She was interesting to me because she isn’t the love interest and she isn’t having fun. She’s darker.”

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TV, film and theatre stars last night demanded the Tories scrap plans to ditch the UK Film Council.

More than 50 household names including Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and Bill Nighy warned it would not just harm the economy but the “whole British film industry”.

In a joint letter, they wrote that David Cameron’s decision to axe the council as part of his savage costcutting drive threatened a “British success story”.

They said the expertise of camera crews, lighting experts and set builders was the reason so many top Hollywood directors chose to make films here.

And they pointed out the industry made money for Britain, bringing in £5 for every £1 invested.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/05/emily-blunt-james-mcavoy-and-bill-nighy-tell-government-don-t-scrap-uk-film-council-115875-22465793/#ixzz0vkhnL77t
Go Camping for 95p! Vouchers collectable in the Daily and Sunday Mirror until 11th August . Click here for more information

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IGN had an opportunity to speak with director Matthew Vaughn about this week’s DVD and Blu-ray release of Kick-Ass, but of course we couldn’t resist getting in some questions about his next project, X-Men: First Class.

Vaughn, speaking on the phone from Pinewood Studios in London, where he’s in pre-production on the film, said that he hopes to follow the model of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, paying homage to the original source material, while taking it in a new direction with a fresh, young cast.

“Obviously [Abrams] couldn’t make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job,” Vaughn said. “He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It’s very similar, in a way. But we’re doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven’t seen before.”

While Vaughn was guarded about revealing any details of the story, as conceived by former X-Men director Bryan Singer, it does sound as though it might play a bit with the canon timeline, just as Star Trek did.

“The story that Bryan Singer came up with is very, very smart,” Vaughn said. “It’s very clever when you see how he has integrated the characters into the time period where the film is set. I’ll put it that way. I just don’t want to give it away. … It’s a very clever way of getting these characters involved in recent history, in recent world events.”

Vaughn wouldn’t go so far as to say that the story is completely original and not based on the comics, but he doesn’t worry about criticism from die-hard fans about the faithfulness of the adaptation. “There’s always that risk, but I think that when they see the film they will be very excited about the direction that we’ve chosen.”

The director also talked about the preparation the cast members are doing to get ready for filming, which begins later this month.

“The quality of the actors that we’ve got in these roles is truly world class,” Vaughn said. “James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are really working well together. We’re about to start a rehearsal period before the shoot and they are coming up with some great ideas. They really care very deeply about their characters and how they interact in the film. And the younger cast members as well, the other mutants, they’re really incredibly talented. And it’s going to be a pleasure to work with them. It really is. They’re all very, very committed as well. They’re training every day for several hours. Literally, right now they’re training with the stunt teams and they’re all taking their diets very seriously and exercising a lot and working very, very hard. It’s very exciting to see it come together.”

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