Weeks after The New Mutants came to DVD and Blu-ray, Blu Hunt (who plays Dani Moonstar in the film) said in an interview that the pressure she felt doing such a major film at a young age, and with relatively little experience as a lead actress, that she was able to take all those feelings and translate it directly into her character, who similarly struggles with confidence and works hard to catch herself up with the frantic circumstances around her. During the course of the film, she said, she may have played Dani a little more “subdued” as a result of her youth and inexperience.
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Of course, being young is the kind of thing you have to worry a lot less about when the movie takes four years to finally get into theaters, of course. The film sat in development hell for what seemed like a lifetime between when production wrapped and when it finally reached the end of a long and much-delayed road to cinemas.
“While filming I definitely emotionally relied on Maisie and some of my friends on set because I was going through so much making my first movie,” Hunt told Collider. “And I was definitely drawing the comparison of, ‘Okay, I’m walking on a movie set. I’ve never been on a movie set. I don’t know these people. I’m out of my element. I’m facing all these things about myself,’ and Dani is technically doing the exact same things. And so I think my performance of Dani was a little more subdued and a little more cautious because I was afraid of feeling those feelings because I was so young.”
In The New Mutants, five young people who demonstrate special powers are brought to a secret institution to undergo treatments they are told will cure them of the dangers of their powers.
Included are Danielle Moonstar aka Mirage (Blu Hunt), who creates illusions from other people’s fears; Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), who transforms into the werewolf Wolfsbane; Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton), who, as Cannonball, can fly at jet speeds protected by a force field; Roberto da Costa aka Sunspot (Henry Zaga), who absorbs and channels solar power; and Illyana Rasputin aka Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy). The younger sister of Colossus, Magik becomes encased in armor at will and wields a soulsword that amplifies her multiple superhuman and psychic abilities.
Invited by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga) to share their stories about when their powers first manifested, the five “patients” come to understand that they are in a class of people called mutants, who have historically been marginalized and feared. As they relive their origin stories, their memories seem to turn into terrifying realities. Soon, they question what is real and what isn’t, and it becomes clear that the institution isn’t what it seems. Now the question is — why are they being held captive? And who is trying to destroy them?
The New Mutants is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming video on demand.
