The director of New Mutants reveals that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was almost cast as X-Men character Warlock. After many delays, the long-awaited X-Men spinoff film following a group of young mutant would-be superheroes is finally ready to arrive in theaters (though fans can be forgiven if they still harbor a small fear that something else will happen between now and then to once again put off the release).
Directed by Josh Boone, New Mutants is expected to take the superhero franchise into the horror realm, with a plot that revolves around a terrifying demon invasion (and a poster that indeed pays homage to ‘90s horror in a very obvious way). Of course, though the film may skew more toward horror than previous X-Men movies, there will still be plenty of elements familiar to fans of the franchise, including conflicted heroes endowed with super powers and references to classic characters like Professor X. With a young cast headlined by Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Henry Zaga, New Mutants will try to renew the X-Men brand after the debacle that was Dark Phoenix, and hopefully convince Disney to produce more movies based on the classic comic series.
Indeed, writer-director Boone seems to have a lot of interesting ideas when it comes to New Mutants (he started working on the movie way back in 2014 so he had plenty of time to brainstorm). But one idea that didn’t make it into the film is actually the most bizarre and interesting of all. As Boone revealed to Nerdist, he originally wanted Cohen to appear in New Mutants as the character Warlock, with the idea that Cohen would give an Andy Serkis-like motion-capture performance. Indeed, Boone envisioned Cohen’s Warlock as a character much like Gollum, whom Serkis of course memorably embodied in the Lord of the Rings movies. However, budgetary restrictions prevented Boone from carrying out his idea, and he ultimately chose to include Demon Bear instead of Warlock. Boone did say if New Mutants gets a sequel, he could include Warlock.
In the comics, Warlock is a member of the alien race Technarchy, biomechanical organisms who use a virus to drain living beings of their life energy. After first being an enemy, the shape-shifting Warlock eventually becomes a member of the New Mutants after he demonstrates a level of compassion, and like so many X-Men characters, has to learn how to use his powers in non-destructive and morally responsible ways. Clearly though, the alien look of Warlock would have been too expensive for the New Mutants movie to realize, so the character was not included in the film.
As disappointing as it may be for Warlock to be excluded from New Mutants, it’s that much more disappointing to realize that Cohen could have played the character. Cohen of course is a well-known chameleon whose various characters like Borat and Ali G help him to pull off daring and hilarious pranks, usually with a satirical purpose. That chameleon quality would’ve no doubt come into play amazingly as Cohen portrayed Warlock, who often disguises himself as human in order to blend in on Earth.
That being said, it might actually have been jarring to see Cohen do his own shape-shifting shtick in New Mutants, so who knows if his depiction of Warlock would’ve really paid off either comedically or otherwise. If nothing else, Boone’s idea to cast Cohen as Warlock proves he’s willing to go to some strange places, and indeed that sort of outside-the-box thinking is exactly what the X-Men franchise needs after the way it fizzled out in its final years before Disney absorbed the property in the Fox merger.
Source: Nerdist
