Evan Peters Discusses Quicksilver in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
This weekend, X-Men: Days of Future Past hit theaters with a boom! By far the character that stole the show was Evan Peters’ Quicksilver. THR was able to interview Peters and ask him about his experience making the film. Here are some segments from their interview, but be warned there are spoilers in the interview. If you haven’t seen the movie, do not read on:
When you were cast, did you know Quicksilver would become a breakout character?
No, not at all. I knew the character was cool and what they had written was great. But I didn't now any of the special effects they had planned. I had never done anything like this before. They were filming it and said it would look really cool. I'm super happy with it and pleasantly surprised by how awesome it turned out
You stole scenes from huge characters such as Wolverine and Magneto. What was that like?
It was pretty intimidating. I had grown up watching all of the X-Men films and then there's Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in front of me. I was really nervous. They were great and really funny and nice guys — Hugh and James [McAvoy] and Nicholas [Hoult]. They were awesome.
You didn't have to audition for this role. What was getting that offer call like?
Bryan Singer called me and said he's a fan of American Horror Story and he wanted me for the role. I was blown away because I audition for things all the time and I don't get things – and here I get a role in the new X-Men movie as Quicksilver. I was going "what the hell is going on? This is awesome!"
What was shooting the kitchen scene like?
It was really cool because in the elevator me and Fassbender got to improvise a lot and just play around, which is so much fun. He's such a cool guy. Then we get upstairs to the kitchen and it's all very technical. There are a lot of motion capture camera moves and you are shooting with a phantom camera, which shoots in super slow motion – and the room is brighter than any sunny day. And there are these four guys keeping their eyes open and pretending to be frozen. And I'm just running around pretending to move them.
There's a section of the scene where I'm moving the arms of two cops, so their guns will move. Then I'm supposed to sprint to the other end of the room to prevent the bullets from hitting my friends –- but there's water all over the floor and I slip and fall – I just eat shit (laughs).
That stuff looks incredibly physical.
They tried to teach me some parkour. They tried to teach me some jumping over shit and that was funny too.
Did you get good at it?
Not really – it's very hard!
I can’t wait for the next installment in the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse, which is being prepped for a 2016 release. Quicksilver has been confirmed for that film, I just hope he will have a bigger role.