X2 (film): Difference between revisions

* [[James Marsden]] as [[Cyclops (Marvel Comics)|Scott Summers / Cyclops]]: The field leader of the X-Men, and a teacher at Xavier's Institute, he shoots uncontrollable beams of concussive force from his eyes and wears a visor to control them. He is [[engaged]] to Jean. Cyclops is taken prisoner and brainwashed by Stryker.

* [[Anna Paquin]] as [[Rogue (Marvel Comics)|Marie / Rogue]]: A girl who can absorb any person's memories and abilities by touching them. As she cannot control this power, Rogue can easily kill anyone and thus is unable to be close to people.

* [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]] as [[William Stryker|William Stryker]]: A military scientist who plans a worldwide [[genocide]] of mutants using Xavier and Cerebro. Stryker has experimented on mutants in the past, including Wolverine, and uses a serum to control them—using his own son as the test subject. Singer opted to cast Cox in the role as he was a fan of his performance as [[Hannibal Lecter]] in ''[[Manhunter (film)|Manhunter]]''.<ref name="singeraudio">[[Bryan Singer|Singer, Bryan]], [[Newton Thomas Sigel|Sigel, Newton Thomas]], DVD [[audio commentary]], 2003, [[20th Century Fox]]</ref>

* [[Alan Cumming]] as [[Nightcrawler (comics)|Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler]]: A kindly German mutant with a strong [[Catholic]] faith, yet ironically he has the appearance of a blue demon. Nightcrawler was used by Stryker in an assassination attempt on the President of the United States and gives help to the X-Men. He is capable of teleporting himself (and others) instantly from one location to another. On his body are many tattoos, one for every sin. Cumming had always been Singer's choice for the role, but Cumming could not accept the part due to scheduling conflicts.<ref name="introducing" /> [[Ethan Embry]] had been reported to be in contention for the role,<ref>{{cite web |author=Stax |title=Nightcrawler Cumming This Way |website=[[IGN]] |date=May 30, 2002 |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/361/361096p1.html |access-date=March 9, 2008 |archive-date=December 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210013954/http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/05/30/nightcrawler-cumming-this-way |url-status=live}}</ref> but the film labored in development long enough for Cumming to accept the part.<ref name="introducing" /> Singer also felt comfortable in casting Cumming since he is fluent in [[German language|German]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Rob |last=Worley |title=That's Why They Call It The Blues: Stamos and Cumming Talk ''X2'' |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |date=April 23, 2003 |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=2147 |access-date=February 18, 2008 |archive-date=May 4, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030504232039/http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=2147 |url-status=live}}</ref> The drawings of [[Adam Kubert]] were used as inspiration for Nightcrawler's makeup design,<ref name="Legacy" /> which took four hours to apply.<ref name="X2" /> For the scene where Nightcrawler has his shirt off, Cumming went through nine hours.<ref name=introducing>[[Alan Cumming]], Introducing the Incredible Nightcrawler, 2003, [[20th Century Fox]]</ref> To best pose as Nightcrawler, Cumming studied comic books and illustrations of the character.<ref name="X2">{{cite web |first=Rob |last=Worley |title=''X-Men 2'' |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |date=October 30, 2002 |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=comics2film&article=1475 |access-date=February 18, 2008 |archive-date=January 21, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040121010054/http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=comics2film&article=1475 |url-status=live}}</ref>