Joss Whedon

Alan Cumming surprised journalists when he answered the simple question of, "Are you disappointed Bryan Singer won’t be directing X-Men 3?" with a resounding, "No." He would not give details about the feud, but made it clear he’s looking forward to a new boss on the third film.

"I’m not disappointed, I can’t deny it," Cumming said. "I think he’s really talented. I’m very proud of the film. I think it’s a great film. I didn’t enjoy working with him on the film."

Cumming was also indifferent to suggesting a replacement director. "My mom. I don’t know. I mean, that’s a really hard act to follow. It’s quite a specific thing to direct a movie like that that’s so huge and you have to really know your stuff about actual comic books and that’s what Bryan was. He’s a big comic geek so he was perfect in a way. And he’s also visually very clever."

Regarding the much touted Joss Whedon rumors, Cumming speculated that they were false. "I don’t think he is though. I heard that too last year, but I don’t know. I don’t think that’s happening. Maybe it is. It certainly seems to be that was around, but I don’t know. I mean, I think he’d be great."

Cumming is definitely signed on, and he’s just waiting for the script and director to fall in place so he’ll at least know his schedule for the next year. "I signed for two films so I’m going to. The last I heard is that we’re starting on the 20th of June, but I don’t think that’s going to because they don’t have a script or a director yet. But apparently they have to release it in May of 2006 for some reason, so it’s going to be shot in the summer. But it’s one of these things that I just want to know what I’m going to do because it affects your whole life. You can’t do other things because you know that’s quite a large lump of time. I’m going to do this show on Broadway which I’ve moved until January of next year just to make sure that I’m finished X-Men 3. Stuff like that."

Under the contract, even if he takes another film, it has to come second to his X-Men commitment. "You’re under this option. Every film you do, you have to tell them, just in case they’re going to get it together really fast. You’re under some option to them. It’s quite weird."

He is dreading the Nightcrawler makeup again and hopes to circumvent it. "I’ve actually got an idea that this fabulous crazy terrible thing happened to Nightcrawler. He’s in some chemical accident and his face turns white. He dies, I don’t know."

Cumming has no speculation on where the story would go, as he’s not familiar with the comic books. "I don’t know the comic books and I haven’t seen the scripts. I know I’ve got to go and do the movie though. I’ve signed to do two movies."