Collider.com
by Christina Radish
Posted:January 21st, 2011 at 10:56 pm

What’s been the best part of this gig?

McAVOY: The best part about it, for me so far, is that I really love the cast. The cast has just been incredible. We’ve had a lot of fun, actually. I’ve loved working with [Michael] Fassbender. I think he’s great. I’m so glad that we got to collaborate on something. But, just from top to bottom, the cast is amazing. Having Kevin Bacon play your baddie is great. It’s a great, slightly left-field piece of casting as well. I don’t think anybody expected that. Hopefully, that’s a clue as to what the movie will be.

http://collider.com/james-mcavoy-interview-x-men-first-class-gnomeo-julie/71964/

Latimes.com
Geoff Boucher
Jan. 19, 2011 | 2:47 p.m.

“It is an excellent cast,” Singer said. He added that no one is more aware of the high-bar set by McKellen and Stewart. “I’m very sensitive to it. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are two of the best actors working today and that was needed to fill those shoes. Short of digitally recreating Patrick and Ian in their 20s I cant think of anyone who would be more equipped for this than these two guys. The challenge of that is what attracted James, I’m sure of it. That’s why the guy who starred in ‘Atonement’ would want to play a comic-book character in the first place because it was a role established by a really fine actor.”

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/01/19/x-menfirst-class-three-exclusive-photos-and-a-report-from-the-stressed-out-set/

Insidesmovies.ew.com
X-Men: First Class’ scoop: Director Matthew Vaughn says ‘imagine Bond’…and ‘Twilight’
by John Young

How did you settle on James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto, respectively?

Professor X is a very hard character to cast. Out of all the characters, he’s the dullest if you really think about it. He’ll be in a wheelchair eventually, and he’s sort of a sanctimonious preacher half of the time. Patrick Stewart brought so much to that role, and I needed to get an actor who could do the same — who could give him a fourth dimension that’d make him sparkle. James was literally at the top of the list, and he said yes, so I got my first actor very quickly.

Magneto was a juicier role. I’ve been watching Fassbender for a long time, and I knew the guy was going to pop as a movie star. He read it and knocked it out of the park, and the rest of the cast just fell in around them. What makes me laugh is, by this time next year, half of my cast is going to be extremely popular and famous.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/01/22/x-men-first-class-matthew-vaughn/..