We had reported that Maggie Grace, of 'Lost' fame, was in talks to play Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3. Well, that was then and this is now, because Ellen Page has signed up instead to become the third actress to play the mutant onscreen days before shooting commences on Tuesday.
Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat, aka Sprite, aka Ariel, aka Choose-An-X-Name-And-Stick-To-It, is a young mutant who has the ability to phase through solid matter. When she's insubstantial, she can walk on air, and disrupt electrical machinery by phasing through it. Which is quite handy given that the X-team tend to get locked up on a regular basis.
She's appeared, in small cameos, in both previous X-Men movies, played by Sumela Kay and Katie Stuart. Page is almost totally unknown in this country, having appeared in Sundance entry Hard Candy (not yet released here), and such previous films as, er, I Downloaded A Ghost and Wilby Wonderful.
Presumably Kitty's role is going to be bumped up a little this time, but to what end, we don’t yet know. In the comics she has a, ahem, close friendship with Colossus, the steel-skinned mutant who appeared briefly but memorably during the school invasion scenes in X2, but we can't say for sure yet if that romantic subplot will get a look-in in the film.
However, Kitty isn't the only other addition to the mutant franchise. The filmmakers have one role left to cast; that of Warren "Angel" Worthington's (Ben Foster) father. Rumour has it that the enormously wealthy Worthington family are at the heart of this instalment, with Warren Senior the mutant-hating nemesis of our heroes, while Warren Junior is (presumably) a little less anti-mutant (what with having wings and all).
One thing's for sure – all these new additions suggest that this will be the biggest X-team to date. We'll keep you up to date with future X-news.
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