Latest news with #Nightcrawler
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alan Cumming hints at fight scene with Pedro Pascal in 'Avengers: Doomsday'
It's been over two decades since Alan Cumming last played the teleporting Marvel mutant Nightcrawler. Now he's back for Avengers: Doomsday and facing even more formidable foes, like —Mister Fantastic? "I'm playing Nightcrawler again now. I was learning stunts yesterday for the fight, some fight scene, and I just think, 'I'm 60 years old!'" Cumming recently told BuzzFeed UK. "Twenty-three years ago I played that superhero, I was kind of old for a superhero even then, and now I'm back doing it. That to me is hilarious, so learning these fights, I'm like, 'What? Who am I fighting with?' They said, 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,' or something." Cumming explained that he "can't quite believe" he's back in blue in the MCU, "especially because it was such a long time ago." "But that is quite a nice thing, I think, about life as you get older," The Traitors' Emmy-winning reality TV host reflected, "is that things come back, they always do. And people do. It's a really nice thing about getting older." Other X-Men actors returning include Patrick Stewart, who plays X-Men leader Dr. Charles Xavier; Ian McKellen, who plays Xavier's former friend turned formidable adversary, Magneto; James Marsden, who plays the laser-eyed Cyclops; and Rebecca Romijn, who plays shapeshifter Mystique. All of these characters appeared in 2003's X2: X-Men United, the film that marked the only appearance of Cummings' Nightcrawler (a.k.a. Kurt Wagner).Pascal, meanwhile, remains on the rarefied list of Hollywood stars who haven't appeared in the MCU. Only for a limited time, however, as he's slated to appear in new MCU film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, releasing July 25, 2025. Avengers: Doomsday, the first new Avengers film since the blockbuster 2019 release of Avengers: Endgame, is set to follow on May 1, 2026. The Last of Us actor is no stranger to high-budget, high-visibility projects, having the lead role in Star Wars series The Mandalorian and as a major plot-driving character in Game of Thrones. He got his start, however, in guest roles on series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Law & Order. He told Entertainment Weekly in April that being cast at the head of Marvel's super-powered new family was "a big ,strange thing that I hadn't planned on happening. It changed the course of my life in a very sudden way, so I really had to process." Cumming, meanwhile, is more granular in his appraisal of entering back into the MCU machine. Discussing the laborious makeup procedure that transforms him into Nightcrawler in April, Cumming enthused, "Actually, what's great about it — it was four-and-a-half to five hours before, and now it's 90 minutes... before, all the tattoos were done by hand, because they hadn't decided on them before we started filming. And now, they're on these little things and they stick on. It's a game-changer." Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Geek Tyrant
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Star Alan Cumming Confirms a Character That Nightcrawler Will Fight in the MCU — GeekTyrant
Alan Cumming, who first wowed X-Men fans with his turn as the teleporting, blue-skinned mutant Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United , will return for Avengers: Doomsday , and in it, he'll be facing off with another major character in the film. In a recent interview, Cumming casually dropped a major detail about his character's upcoming MCU clash and it guess this could be considered a spoiiler, so proceed at your own risk: "Right now, I'm doing it again. I'm playing Nightcrawler again and was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene. 'I'm sort of learning these fights and I'm like, 'What, who am I fighting with?' [They're like,] 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head.' I can't quite believe [that]." So, Nightcrawler is going toe-to-toe with Pedro Pascal's Mister Fantastic. Cumming didn't seem entirely sure what the fight was about, but it was enough to light up fan speculation. Is this an all-out X-Men vs. Fantastic Four battle? A classic superhero misunderstanding brawl? Or something much deeper like a Multiversal Incursion tearing two worlds into conflict? If the comics are anything to go by, a looming Incursion would make a lot of sense. The idea of the X-Men clashing with Marvel's First Family isn't exactly new. Fans have been speculating that Avengers: Doomsday is acting as a stealth Avengers vs. X-Men movie. Cumming's little spoiler just gave that theory some weight. The confirmed cast already includes heavy hitters like Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), and even Channing Tatum as Gambit, carried over from Deadpool & Wolverine . Notably absent are characters like Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, but we are waiting for more casting announcements. And while the X-Men reunion is exciting, Cumming himself seems delighted about suiting up again. "Isn't it nuts? I'm excited and amazed. It's been 23 years since I was a superhero. I've had some makeup tests already for the role, but what's great about it was that before it was about 4 and a half hours to apply it, but now it's only 90 minutes." Even the makeup and tattoos got a tech upgrade: "Before, all of the tattoos were done by hand. They hadn't decided on them before we started filming. Now, they just stick onto my face. It's a game changer. I'm going back to being a 60-year-old superhero, and everyone seems really lovely." Nightcrawler's iconic White House sequence in X2 is still considered one of the most visually stunning moments in any superhero film. If the Russo Brothers are looking to top that, throwing him into a high-speed showdown with Reed Richards might just do the trick.
Express Tribune
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Alan Cumming may have teased major Avengers: Doomsday twist involving Pedro Pascal
Alan Cumming may have just dropped a major hint about the plot of Avengers: Doomsday, possibly confirming a fan-favorite theory about a multiversal clash between Marvel's biggest teams. In a recent interview with BuzzFeed UK, the actor—reprising his iconic role as Nightcrawler from 2003's X2: X-Men United—teased a potential fight scene involving Pedro Pascal's Mister Fantastic. While reflecting on his return to superhero cinema after more than two decades, Cumming joked, 'I was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene and I'm thinking, 'I'm 60 years old… And now I'm back doing it. That, to me, is hilarious.'' He continued, 'I'm like, 'Who am I fighting with?' And they said, 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,' or something." Though his comment was delivered in a lighthearted tone, fans are speculating that it confirms a pivotal Avengers: Doomsday twist—pitting the Fox X-Men universe against the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and possibly more Marvel characters from different timelines. Cumming's return as Nightcrawler adds to growing rumors that Avengers: Doomsday will explore a multiverse conflict before uniting its heroes to face a common enemy—likely Robert Downey Jr.'s rumored return as Doctor Doom. While Marvel Studios has not confirmed plot specifics, Cumming's casual comment adds weight to theories about inter-franchise battles. Still, fans should take the statement with a grain of salt until official details emerge. Avengers: Doomsday is set to hit theaters on May 1, 2026.
Buzz Feed
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
"Avengers: Doomsday": Alan Cumming Just Let Slip Some Detaiils About A Fight Scene, And Now We're Even
Alan Cumming is coming back as Nightcrawler in Marvel's upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, and he just dropped huge hint about one of the fight scenes. Alan joined us on CelebriTea, and during the chat, he reflected on returning as the iconic character years later, saying, "I'm 60 years old. 23 years ago, I played that superhero. I was kind of old for a superhero even then, and now I'm back doing it. That, to me, is hilarious." He revealed he's been rehearsing for the film, and seemingly let slip a huge clue about the much anticipated fight scenes: "I'm sort of learning these fights, I'm like, 'What? Who am I fighting with?' They said, 'You're you're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head or something." Pedro Pascal is set to play Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will be in cinemas this July. While Marvel hasn't confirmed the details of any such battle, Alan's comments suggest that we might see a clash between Nightcrawler and Mr. Fantastic in Avengers: Doomsday.
Los Angeles Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Genevieve O'Reilly on Mon Mothma's pivotal 'Andor' speech: ‘Her only weapon is her voice'
This story contains spoilers for 'Andor' Season 2, Episode 9. Senator Mon Mothma is finally, openly, part of the rebellion. In the ninth episode of 'Andor' Season 2, the senator from Chandrila, played by Genevieve O'Reilly, publicly denounces the Empire in a speech from her pod in the Imperial Senate. 'The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil,' says Mothma as she challenges the official narrative spun to cover up the 'unprovoked genocide' on Ghorman. 'When truth leaves us … when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to … whatever monsters scream the loudest.' She then declares Emperor Palpatine is a monster and becomes the Empire's most prominent public enemy. In established 'Star Wars' lore, this is a moment that will directly lead to the formal declaration of the Rebel Alliance. It's also one, according to O'Reilly, that Mothma has always been ready for. 'That's the fulcrum of who the woman is,' says O'Reilly while seated in a Beverly Hills hotel bar last month. With branches of flowers hanging from the ceiling, the room's decor is almost reminiscent of that of the Chandrilan wedding seen in earlier 'Andor' episodes this season. 'Underneath everything, [Mothma is] a woman who was always ready to set fire to her life. To step out of the shadows and to risk it all on behalf of others, to stand up and use her voice against oppression.' 'This is a woman who doesn't ever pick up a blaster,' she adds. 'Her only weapon is her voice, and it's really amazing to get an opportunity to see her use it and to be impactful.' Genevieve O'Reilly says Mon Mothma has always been ready to 'to stand up and use her voice against oppression.' O'Reilly shares that when she first read the script for the episode — written by 'Nightcrawler' filmmaker Dan Gilroy, who also wrote Episodes 7 and 8 — it only included bits and pieces of the speech. 'Andor' is a show about ordinary people living through (and fighting against) an increasingly oppressive regime, and it's not uncommon for sequences to jump between multiple storylines at the same time. Mothma's speech was intended to be interwoven with other scenes, so the script just featured the key lines that would be highlighted. But showrunner Tony Gilroy understood the actor and her process enough to know that O'Reilly would want to see more. Even before she had a chance to bring it up on her own, he asked her if she wanted the whole speech written out. He returned with the entirety of the speech within a day of her responding, 'Yes, please.' 'That was everything for me because there is such a musicality to that speech,' O'Reilly says. 'It starts off and talks about her history. It talks about this holy place that she has grown up in. What she believes the Senate to be. And then it ends with her calling him [out].' And when the episode's director, Janus Metz, one of the few who had also been given the full text of the speech, asked if she would want to film the whole thing, her response was 'of course.' 'I went back and I worked on it,' O'Reilly says. 'You carve it, and you create specific moments. As an actor, you're part of the musicality of the piece. And then they used it, so that felt really special.' For O'Reilly, the structure of 'Andor's' second season helped build toward Mothma's moment with the speech. During the season's first three-episode arc, audiences see Mothma, wife and mother, navigating deeply personal moments and the strains in her relationships at her daughter Leida's (Bronte Carmichael) traditional, extravagant, marathon wedding in her homeland. 'The most unexpected, dramatic, sometimes messy things happen at weddings,' she says, pointing to the conversation Mothma has with Leida just before the wedding ceremony about her mother at her own wedding. 'It felt deeply personal … Mon Mothma, in that very moment, she's just opened herself completely and Leida just kind of sticks the knife in. So she has to button herself back up, figuratively put the mask back on, and go back outside … There's no tricks. It's really about relationship. It was really special.' Leida (Bronte Carmichael), left, and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) share a moment at the former's wedding. The next arc, which spans from Episodes 4 to 6, shows Senator Mothma in action as she tries to build a coalition to fight problematic policy as well as maintain her mask while unexpectedly having to interact with Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), a man who represents everything she is fighting against. 'I could certainly feel it in every fiber of my body that she really wants to take him down,' says O'Reilly of Mothma's mindset during their exchange. 'It's all she wants, but she can't. She must stand there and spar a tiny bit, but in the end, she has to swallow what he's serving because of the power he wields. And if she is exposed there, it's all for nothing.' She explains that 'there is great danger' for Mothma as she manages the many masks she has to live behind while in the public eye. 'She's stuck, but I think what the speech reveals in Episode 9 was that all of that was worth it,' O'Reilly says. 'You could see what she had been holding all that time. You can feel it fly from her body.' Mothma is a character O'Reilly has been playing on and off in various 'Star Wars' installments for 20 years. Originally cast to play the younger version of the Rebellion leader portrayed by Caroline Blakiston in the 1983 film 'Return of the Jedi,' O'Reilly first stepped into the galaxy far, far away for 2005's prequel film 'Revenge of the Sith' — though most of her scenes landed on the cutting room floor. She was then brought back to reprise the character in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,' the 2016 spinoff film that takes place directly after the events of 'Andor.' She's since portrayed the character in 'Ahsoka' as well as the animated 'Star Wars Rebels' (the latter of which is set during the same years as 'Andor'). 'I could never have expected that 20 years later I would be here playing the most fleshed out, dexterous, rich, enriched version of this woman,' says O'Reilly. In addition to Gilroy and his writing team, O'Reilly credits 'Andor's' hair and makeup designer Emma Scott and costume designer Michael Wilkinson for helping bring Mothma to life, especially this season. With Mothma being someone that is very deliberate in her wardrobe, O'Reilly says Wilkinson has 'revealed character within the armor she chooses to wear each day.' Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) in 'Andor.' While Blakiston's Mothma did not have much screen time, O'Reilly says what audiences do see is 'a woman who has a weight, a gravitas, but also who has a deep empathy' and, just as significantly, was a female leader of a rebellion in a movie filmed in the 1980s. And she has always understood Mothma to be deeply socially conscious — whether that was what drove her to join the Galactic Senate or if it was her work representing people for so many years that awakened her social consciousness. 'I don't know which way that happened, but I definitely feel that in her bones,' O'Reilly says. 'I think the window into her history, into that orthodox culture that she has grown up in, probably helps you see what motivated that drive.' And in the two seasons of 'Andor,' O'Reilly — as well as the audience — has finally been able to see a fuller picture of Mothma and her backstory, as well as some of the pain the character endured to become the Rebel Alliance leader 'Star Wars' fans know. 'To have had the opportunity to come back and to really play, discover, and put flesh and blood and sinew and heartbeat into this woman, to really fill her out,' O'Reilly says. 'She feels so beautifully human and complicated, and it's really a version of her that I could have only hoped for.'
