DARK PHOENIX VFX Supervisor Sheds Some Light On Original Plans For Jean Grey's Phoenix Powers

It's no secret that Dark Phoenix went through some extensive reshoots to reshape the entire final act, but the movie's VFX supervisor has now explained what was originally planned for the title character.

By JoshWilding - Aug 07, 2019 01:08 AM EST

Filed Under: Dark Phoenix

Source: io9

Dark Phoenix's entire final act was reshaped by reshoots, and it was evident from the trailers and early promo materials that Jean Grey was supposed to have a completely different appearance in that version of the movie. Now, MPC VFX Supervisor Greg Butler has shed some light on what they originally had planned for the iconic comic book character played by Sophie Turner.

"During production, we used the phrase 'going full Phoenix,' which was meant to be stage 12," Butler explains, "and at one point there was meant to be a scene of Jean rocketing through space and destroying a fleet of alien ships, the same aliens that ended up being on Earth in the film."

Asked whether he has any regrets about having to dial back those aspects of Dark Phoenix, Butler explained that he doesn't think there was any room for that version in the movie we ended up getting.

"All of the more over-the-top stuff wouldn’t have fit—it would have had to be a different movie on a conceptual level for the spectacular stakes to feel right here. If anything, that part of the Phoenix belongs in the second part of a two-film story. The idea of being the most powerful creature in the universe is interesting, but you need a really cosmic style story to explore that."

Bear in mind that the plan was for Dark Phoenix to be a two-part movie before Fox decided not to head in that direction. Had that been the case, the story would have been able to play out on a much grander scale. Now, though, the X-Men franchise is now back in the hands of Marvel Studios.

Hit the "View List" button to check out
some hi-res Dark Phoenix VFX images!

Jessica Chastain's forgettable shape-shifter tried to take the Phoenix Force for herself and here we get to see the power being transferred from Jean so the alien can use it to reshape Earth.

The visuals in Dark Phoenix were definitely impressive but this cloud of cosmic energy doesn't exactly resemble the Phoenix Force from the comics...perhaps it's somehow related to Galactus?

Special effects were used to enhance this sequence (which is understandable) but it's still surprising to see just how basic the set looked before it was added to and imrpoved with visual effects.

It's hardly a surprise that Cyclops' octip blasts were brought to life with VFX and here we get to see a before and after shot. These movies never fully explored the extent of his powers, though!

This is a very clever use of VFX as we see a practical helicopter which was then spruced up with VFX to make it appear as if Jean had used her powers to bring it to the ground and crash land.

The train sequence was the result of reshoots but actually the best sequence in the entire movie! Here, we see the impact Jean's incredible powers have had on her surroundings.

Storm didn't really get a huge amount to do in Dark Phoenix and is nowhere near as powerful as her comic book counterpart. However, it's great seeing her unleash the lightning in this shot.

It's hardly a surprise that this train sequence was shot with green screen as it's not like it could be done for real. Here, we see that both Storm and the helicopters were added after the fact.

The Cerebro effects in Dark Phoenix were pretty unique but it didn't really factor into the story all that much. Will Marvel Studios avoid using it? That definitely seems likely but time will tell.

It doesn't really make sense how the Phoenix Force came to Jean in outer space when she actually tapped into it to defeat Apocalypse around a decade ago but this is Fox we're talking about.

Jean's powers first showed themselves when she was a child and Kinberg certainly wasn't afraid to retread old ground after he had already delved into the character's history in X-Men: The Last Stand.

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16 Comments

dracula - 8/7/2019, 1:47 AM

Just

Kumkani - 8/7/2019, 2:03 AM

"and at one point there was meant to be a scene of Jean rocketing through space and destroying a fleet of alien ships, the same aliens that ended up being on Earth in the film."

I mean it just sounds like Captain Marvel.

Reeds2Much - 8/7/2019, 5:03 AM

The idea of being the most powerful creature in the universe is interesting, but you need a really cosmic style story to explore that.

Spock0Clock - 8/7/2019, 9:17 AM

"Look, we made a movie about Jean becoming Fire Bird Space Jesus, but we really didn't have time to explore what any of that means or why it's interesting. Instead, we had Magneto and Professor X argue about how they always end up arguing."

Spock0Clock - 8/7/2019, 9:26 AM

And by the way this is why I hope Feige puts Magneto on ice for a while. The Fox producers got it in their head that Magneto was obligatory for an X-Men movie. (Probably because when they bought the rights, Magneto was included in the marquee names as one of the Initial Characters, whereas other villains were available but largely unnamed. So they look at this sheet of two dozen names and think: "Magneto is a main character".)

Imagine if every James Bond movie had Dr. No in it. Always some reason to spend 30 minutes of every film on where Dr. No has been and what he's been up to just to have Dr. No betray James Bond again. It's [frick]ing madness. It's utter [frick]ing madness.

DARK PHOENIX VFX Supervisor Sheds Some Light On Original Plans For Jean Grey's Phoenix Powers

It's no secret that Dark Phoenix went through some extensive reshoots to reshape the entire final act, but the movie's VFX supervisor has now explained what was originally planned for the title character.

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