The first casting news for X-Men: First Class has arrived, with THR reporting that director Matthew Vaughn has signed up James McAvoy to play Charles Xavier, better known as Professor X. Although McAvoy may not be the first person you’d think of to play a younger version of Patrick Stewart, he’s certainly not a bad choice, and it’ll be interesting to see whether they try and keep the continuity by shaving his head and making him put on a very British actorly voice.
It’s little surprise the casting news has come so soon after Vaughn signed to direct, as Fox has set a release date of June 3rd, 2011, meaning they’ve only got 12 months to get the film in the can and into theatres, which for this sort of big budget operation is a very tight schedule.
According to Fox, X-Men: First Class follows the classic Marvel mythology, and charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.
Of course this means we also need a Magento, and while there’s no news on who that might be yet, expect to hear very soon.