Development Producer
Lauren Shuler Donner stated in August 2006 that a continuation of the
X-Men main film series would require a renegotiation. New cast members of
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) were signed, while the older cast members were not. Donner said, "There is forty years worth of stories. I've always wanted to do
Days of Future Past and there are just really a lot of stories yet to be told". She later
pitched the idea of a fourth installment of the
X-Men franchise to director
Bryan Singer, following the completion of the
prequel X-Men: First Class (2011). In March 2011, Donner said the film was in "active development at Fox"; she said, "We took the treatment to Fox and they love it ... And
X4 leads into
X5".
20th Century Fox saw
X-Men: First Class as the first film of a new
X-Men trilogy. Early reports said
Matthew Vaughn and Singer were returning to direct and produce the sequel, respectively. While still attached to the project as a director, Vaughn said, "
First Class is similar to
Batman Begins (2005), where you have the fun of introducing the characters and getting to know them, but that takes time. But with the second one, you can just get on with it and have a rollicking good time. That's the main difference between
Batman Begins and
The Dark Knight (2008)". Describing the possible beginning of the film, Vaughn said, "I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto". Singer said the film could be set around the
civil rights movement or the
Vietnam War, and that Wolverine could once again be featured. Singer also talked about "changing history" in an interview with
Empire magazine. He said he does not want people to panic about events in the past "erasing" the storylines of the previous X-Men films, as he believes in
multiverses, explaining the possibility of certain events can exist equally in the histories of alternate universes. In 2019, Vaughn revealed that
Days of Future Past was originally planned to be the third installment in the trilogy but the studio decided otherwise which contributed to his decision to leave the project. Speaking with ComingSoon.net he said "That’s one of the reasons I didn’t continue, because they didn’t listen to me. My plan was '
First Class,' then second film was new young Wolverine in the 70’s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be '
Days of Future Past.' That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what’s bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together? When I finished the
Days of Future Past script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, 'I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end.' Fox read
Days of Future Past and went 'Oh, this is too good! We’re doing it now!'". He further commented "Hollywood doesn’t understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash."
Writing Kinberg said the main focus of this film was the future of the
X-Men film series. With the use of cast members from the original trilogy and from
First Class, they needed to decide the sequels' destination. According to Kinberg, as they were writing the script, they thought it was more sensible for Wolverine to travel between time periods instead of Kitty Pryde, because of his ageless look and ability to heal rapidly. Kinberg and Vaughn considered Bishop and
Cable candidates for the role of time traveler.
Angel Salvadore,
Juggernaut,
Jubilee,
Nightcrawler and
Psylocke were also considered for the film. Singer was asked how the film integrates the themes of the earlier
X-Men films; he said, "It establishes that some villain characters may have been right with their fears. It confronts the notions of hope and second chances. Its characters that are lost trying to find themselves. In
X-Men 1 and
2, the characters had come into their own and knew who they were. In this one, they're all lost and they're trying to keep it together".
Pre-production In November 2011,
Simon Kinberg—co-writer of
X-Men: The Last Stand and co-producer of
X-Men: First Class—was hired to write the film's screenplay. In May 2012, 20th Century Fox announced the film would be released on July 18, 2014. The release was later moved forward to May 23, 2014. In August 2012, the title for the film was confirmed to be
X-Men: Days of Future Past. The film is inspired by Chris Claremont and
John Byrne's X-Men comic book storyline, "Days of Future Past", which introduced the idea of an alternate future for mutants that grew from the
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants' killing of Senator
Robert Kelly, leading to a future in which mutants are hunted by Sentinels. In October 2012, Vaughn left the role of director to focus on
Mark Millar's
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). He originally wanted a different
First Class sequel helmed by another director with a young Wolverine possibly played by
Tom Hardy, before returning to direct
Days of Future Past (set in the 1980s) himself. Singer was later announced as the film's director; it was his third directorial role in the
X-Men film series. In preparation for the film, Singer approached
James Cameron to discuss
time travel,
string theory and multiverses. In the same month,
Richard Stammers was approached to be the visual effects supervisor, as Singer liked his work in the 2012 film
Prometheus. In February 2013,
John Ottman—who aside from
X-Men, collaborated on all of Singer's works since
The Usual Suspects (1995)—was confirmed to work on the
music and the
editing of the film.
Casting Singer used the online social networking service
Twitter to announce casting of the film. In December, Singer announced that Hugh Jackman would reprise his role as Wolverine. In January 2013, Singer announced that Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, and Elliot Page would reprise their roles of Rogue, Iceman, and Kitty Pryde. In March, Singer announced that French actor
Omar Sy had joined the cast. Singer tweeted a picture of the cast, which confirmed that Daniel Cudmore would return as Colossus and that Fan Bingbing and Booboo Stewart had joined the cast. but it was later revealed as an
April Fools' Day prank. In May, Singer announced that Evan Peters had been cast as Quicksilver. In June, Australian actor Josh Helman was cast in a role. In July, Singer tweeted a picture of actor Lucas Till on the set of the film, which confirmed that he was returning as Havok. In January 2014, Evan Jonigkeit had been cast as the younger version of Toad.
Stan Lee, co-creator of the X-Men, was scheduled to shoot a
cameo appearance in late August 2013 at
Montreal, Canada, but ultimately chose to attend the Fan Expo in
Toronto instead.
Filming X-Men: Days of Future Past had a production budget of $205 million.
Principal photography began on April 15, 2013, at Mel's Cité du Cinema in Montreal, Canada, and ended on August 17, 2013. Filming had to begin in April 2013 to accommodate the cast's individual schedules. An aerial plate unit was sent to film in Washington, D.C. According to the
Calgary Herald, the film is the second most expensive produced by 20th Century Fox after
Avatar (2009). Comic book writer Chris Claremont said in an interview that he was consulted for the film.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is the first
X-Men film to be filmed in native
3D; it was shot using
Arri Alexa-M cameras with Leica Prime lenses and Fujinon Zoom lenses, along with
3ality Technica TS-35 camera rigs and Stereo Image Processor (SIP) technology systems. Director of photography
Newton Thomas Sigel was asked about using Arri Alexa-M cameras; he said, "For Bryan and myself, the Alexa has been almost the gateway to getting the look we like in film". Sigel added that the Arri Alexa-M camera's small size was a big advantage to the film's main unit, which carried three 3D rigs. The film also used the Alexa XTs for the production's 2D work. Production designer John Myhre said his work load was "six months squeeze[d] down in to 3-4 months", given the sets were massive but he did not have the usual time to design and build before principal photography began. The lue underground hallways and Cerebro sets were faithful recreations of the sets seen in the first
X-Men, albeit ransacked and damaged to imply the government had raided the mansion. For the future period of the film, Mingenbach wanted a darker, slightly futuristic and tactical look for the characters. This included changing the suit Patrick Stewart had previously worn as Xavier to battle fatigues. Singer described the 1973 version as "a little fun and stylish but also a little retro", with a key element being that they are made of plastic to be unaffected by Magneto's powers. Myhre used styles from molded plastics from the 1970s to design Sentinels from that period, The robots' ability to fly was compared to a
Harrier jump jet, as the Sentinels had
vertical takeoff and could glide. Life-sized Sentinels were built by
Legacy Effects to be featured on the set, and had articulated joints to be fully poseable. The sound effects averted metallic noises, while adding
woof effects on the Sentinels' footsteps to display its weight on the ground.
Rising Sun Pictures created a sequence considered by many reviewers the centerpiece of the film's effects, where Quicksilver uses his super speed in the Pentagon kitchen. Depicting how, to a speedster, actions in real time come down to a virtual standstill, objects float around in
slow-motion. After doing a
LIDAR scan of the kitchen set, the digital recreation added many
computer-generated props—cooking gear, cutlery, vegetables and water released by a
fire sprinkler system—rendered in near microscopic detail regarding placement and lighting, particularly because the footage had to work in 3D. To simulate Quicksilver running on the walls, Evan Peters and a stunt double were filmed in both the set being suspended by a harness and on a treadmill that stood in front of a
chroma key green screen. Only Peters' legs were digitally replaced. Despite the sequence only having 29 effects shots,
Rhythm and Hues Studios worked on Beast's transformations, the creation of Xavier's plane, and speed effects for Quicksilver. They also worked with Digital Domain on the sequence featuring the inside of the 1973 Sentinel. Mokko Studio worked on Mystique's eyes and costume fixes.
Cinesite worked on the future New York City in the opening prologue along with clean-ups, wire removals, and production fixes. Fuel VFX worked on holographic effects and Havok's mutant powers. Vision Globale worked on visual effects relating to a dream and flashback sequence.
Hydraulx, Lola and
Method Studios handled a number of compositions and production fixes. The Third Floor worked on extensive story-boarding and visualisation. ==Music==