Fans of the X-Men films will remember Alan Cumming’s performance as the mutant Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United. That film focused almost entirely on the devout, religious side of Kurt Wagner’s character, but fans know there’s more the him than just that.
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Kurt also has a side that looks at Errol Flynn as a role model, with a swashbuckler’s flair and a yearning for adventure. According to actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, who has been cast as young Kurt, this is the side of Nightcrawler we’ll see in X-Men: Apocalypse.
“I believe we kind of get to see the side of Nightcrawler that we love so much in the comics,” says Smit-McPhee during a set visit (via JoBlo). “The more vulnerable, swashbuckling, joyous, random, personality that we love, but also so grounded in his faith at a young age as well, as we went with the choice to still have the designs. So, it’s a mix of ideas, but uh, something that I believe is pretty faithful to what the fans enjoy and, um, something that I can kind of relate to as well, so…”
McPhee also said that he didn’t try to model his performance after what Cumming did in X2.
“A lot of people would ask if we looked to their performance for any inspiration,” he said, “but I think the beauty in it was being able to refer to the Marvel Universe itself and what fans love so much about the characters and being able to bring back the younger versions of them, I think it’s a great place to expand to and actually you’re going backwards, so that’s pretty cool.”
And finally, McPhee hinted that threat of Apocalypse will help young Kurt grow into the hero fans love.
“I’m sure Nightcrawler, he’s kind of scared of his own shadow at this point, so he’s probably pretty terrified. Through everything he does in this movie it’s kind of, as we say, the stepping-stones of becoming the brave hero he is.”
Check out when X-Men: Apocalypse and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.
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