Anya Taylor-Joy says The New Mutants' final cut is done and director Josh Boone is happy with how the X-Men movie spinoff turned out. After more than two years of delays (though it feels even longer), Fox's final X-Men film will finally open in theaters this spring. Co-written by Boone and Knate Lee, The New Mutants comic book movie revolves around a group of five troubled mutants who find themselves trapped in a secret facility against their will. Taylor-Joy costars as Magik opposite Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane, Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, Blu Hunt as Mirage, and Henry Zaga as Sunspot.
Originally scheduled to open in Spring 2018, The New Mutants was delayed by Fox to allow for reshoots that were - reportedly - meant to bring the film closer to Boone's Nightmare on Elm Street-inspired horror vision. However, Disney's subsequent purchase of Fox's movie and TV IPs led to New Mutants being pushed further and further back until its reshoots were cancelled and it landed on an April 2020 date instead. But at the end of the day, it appears Boone and his cast have made their peace with the way things worked out.
Speaking with Collider Video to promote Autumn de Wilde's Jane Austen adaptation Emma (which she stars in), Taylor-Joy confirmed The New Mutants is all done now. She went on to say Boone is pleased with the final cut before adding that she and the rest of the film's cast are just happy they can finally prove to the world The New Mutants is an actual movie that exists:
I have seen the final cut of the movie, which is really nice 'cause Josh [Boone] is really happy with it, and it was just nice to get the gang all together again... It felt like this imaginary friend that you keep telling people is real, but other people haven't seen it yet. Now I'm like 'I told you! It's a real thing'.
Back in December, Boone confirmed Disney would be releasing his original version of The New Mutants, saying he "wouldn't be promoting it" on his social media accounts if that wasn't the case. He showed the movie to Taylor-Joy and the rest of his cast late last month, and it sounds like they all walked away pretty pleased (if only because they finally got to watch the movie for themselves). In a way, the delays have even been a boon to The New Mutants and provided the film with a whole lot more in the way of pre-release buzz. That in no way guarantees the movie will perform well at the box office (especially since that added buzz is a bit of a doubled-edged sword), but it has allowed Disney to step in and do a better job of marketing The New Mutants than Fox did.
It must've been particularly rewarding for Taylor-Joy to finally get to watch The New Mutants, considering she and Williams have been attached to the film even longer than the rest of the cast. Even after all the delays, the movie is still an unusual addition to the current superhero movie landscape, between its horror-inspired approach and heavily-rumored queer romance between two main characters. The New Mutants is all the more intriguing for that reason, regardless of its ultimate legacy. Like Taylor-Joy said: for now, it's just nice to know the final entry in Fox's X-Men universe is a real thing.
Source: Collider Video
