Marsden praises Bryan Singer
Source: jam! Showbiz

By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun

PASADENA -- James Marsden has to keep reminding himself he is not Cyclops, the character he plays in X2: X-Men United.

That means he cannot wear Cyclops' glasses in public. Cyclops has to wear special glasses because, unshielded, his eyes release a ferocious optic blast. "I accompanied (director) Bryan Singer to a sci-fi convention so I brought along a pair of Cyclops' glasses. Bryan was horrified," recalls Marsden.

"He said that would be the equivalent of Leonard Nimoy turning up someplace wearing Spock's ears."

Cyclops' glasses have become such a trademark of the X-Men films that Oakley glasses have crafted a pair for their summer 2003 line. "They're a pretty good approximation, but Bryan insisted they could not be an exact replica. Cyclops' glasses are flush to my face; the Oakleys aren't. And the lens isn't as red as the ones I wear for the movies."

The actor says when the production moved from Vancouver to Kananaskis last fall, the company was in for a shock. "We relocated to Alberta to film the exterior winter scenes for the climactic battle that ends the movie. When we got to the Kananaskis, they had experienced a warm spell and there wasn't as much snow as Bryan wanted.

"The crew had to shovel snow off a lake and truck it up to our sets. We could have used some of that snow we had in Toronto back in 1999."

Marsden says the atmosphere on the set of X2 was far more relaxed than when they filmed X-Men in Toronto four years ago.

"We had the incredible advantage this time around of knowing there was an audience out there that loved us. We also knew we were working with about $50 million more on our budget.

"We were so excited because we'd seen what an amazing job Bryan had done with far less money the first time.

"Our expectations and excitement for this one were probably as great as those of the fans."