I know The Dark Phoenix story in 'The Last Stand' meant a lot to you.
Yes, yes it did. And, I mean, we dismantled some stuff from 'X1' and 'X2' as well. It was interesting. There are a lot of things about 'X3' that I love and there are a lot of things that I regret.
What do you regret?
I regret that The Dark Phoenix story wasn't the primary story of the movie.
But that wasn't your choice.
It wasn't my choice.
You wanted that to be the main story.
I wanted The Dark Phoenix story, but I regret where the movie ended up. And so, weirdly, this was sort of my opportunity, a little like the characters in 'Days of Future Past' going back and improving their younger selves with the lessons they've learned as wiser men. It's sort of a chance for me to go back and do differently what I did ten years ago on 'X3.'
Knowing it wouldn't be the main storyline, would you have not fought as hard for The Dark Phoenix?
No, I would have fought harder for The Dark Phoenix. Listen, I think if we made that movie today, there are a lot of things that would be different. The universe today, culturally, is more open to a darker superhero film. And the darkness of her story was a little bit daunting on a huge $200 million studio movie. And, it would be less daunting today.