You've played the role of a hero several times throughout your acting career, but who would you say are your real-life heroes?
Halle: Well, of course, my mother will always be heroic in my eyes. She was a single mom bringing up two little kids in the '50s and she happened to be white, so she was often an outcast. But she did it with such strength and grace and managed to make sense of it all for me as a kid. My fifth-grade teacher is another one; she's still one of my very best friends. When I think of modern-day heroes, I picture someone that stands up for what they believe in. The American feminist Gloria Steinem is somebody that's been heroic. US Senator Barack Obama has been, too. People who can stand up for their beliefs and articulate their position and feelings in a beautiful way that people can understand are heroes in my mind.
Is it true that there's a Wolverine movie in the pipeline?
Hugh: I hope so. I'm actually developing it with Fox at the moment. I love playing that character and in terms of action movies, it's certainly the greatest role I've ever had. I think many of the roles in 'X-Men' are great for the actors because there's a little meat on the bone. I've read a lot of the comic books and now I know how rich they are and how much there is about that character we still haven't explored. I think there genuinely is enough reason to make a movie for Wolverine. It's not just because I'm afraid of not working or anything like that - I just love playing him and for me as an actor you just have to go on your gut instinct. I'll know when it's time to hang up my claws, but at the moment I still feel like slicing and dicing a little more.
You started this project with one director and you're now on your third; would you say that has worked in a positive or a negative way for your characters and the films in general?
Hugh: I don't think any of us wanted to just play the same role the characters had in the previous movies. For both Halle and me in particular, you see an evolution in our characters and that's something that we want. But I suppose if I was writing the story of how movies get made and this was a case history - it wouldn't be the ideal way to do it. However, it seems to me, that there's been a little bit of chaos to all of these movies and somehow it seems to be a winning formula.
I don't think you can underestimate the job Bryan Singer [director of 'X-Men 1&2'] did in creating a world that people believed in and characters that people cared about. Matthew Vaughn should be given credit. I was involved with him when he was in the early stages [of 'X-Men 3'], and I think he developed the script that Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn wrote into the best one so far. And when Brett Ratner [eventual director of 'The Last Stand'] came in, he very smartly said to me early on that he had a pad on which he'd written all the things that he liked about the script, and about 'X-Men' as a series. On the flip-side he had written three things that he wanted to change. They were that he wanted to make it funnier, sexier and more emotional. I'm not going to comment on the sexier part, but I think the other two things he's done. So, funnily enough, it kind of ended up being a situation where everyone gave the best that they had and I think ultimately the movie has been better for it.
Did you feel, as a cast, that you had a responsibility to step up to the director's chair during the development stage, because you knew the characters better than the man who ended up directing it?
Halle: I think I felt great responsibility to have Storm evolve. In the second movie, the day after it opened I ran into some fans and they accosted me on the street because they were angry that Storm didn't step up, that she had somehow dwindled into the background. In the original series she was an African goddess, she was revered, she ruled the country, and they wanted to see that side of her. In that moment I thought, 'You know what? If I come back, I'm going to make it my mission and my responsibility to have her evolve and satisfy these fans a little bit more'. So I was focused on that as an individual this time, and I appealed to Brett very early on that he needed to make that happen. I felt a lot of pressure as a senior member to make sure the comic-book fans were satisfied this time around with my character.
What was it like working with Vinnie Jones again? Does he live up to his reputation?
Halle: Oh yeah, Hugh and I both did a movie with Vinnie called 'Swordfish' a few years ago… Oh yeah, I know all about Vinnie.
Did he ever treat you to some of his singing?
Halle: He treated me to lots of things…
Hugh: I remember when we were working on 'Swordfish', Vinnie had found a blow-up doll of Wolverine and when I got to work one day, he'd erected it with a noose around its neck above his trailer and he'd kick it around. When I turned up on the set of 'X-Men', Vinnie, who's never watched a game of cricket in his life, suddenly became a mad cricket fan, and he erected this tent, complete with a Union Jack, an urn with some ashes inside. When I ran into him I said, 'You've been busy, mate, since 'Swordfish',' which was five years ago now. And he said, 'Yeah, I've done 27 films.' I said, '27 films? I think I've done maybe five or six!' and he goes, 'Yeah, and you've made more in one f*****g movie than I've made in all 27.' Oh and by the way, no matter what he tells you, those muscles he has in the film – they're all fake. Computer generated.
Both the 'X-Men' comics and the movies have become a parable for any member of a minority group in the world, and we wondered if either of you felt you connected with any of the themes from 'X-Men' on a personal level?
Halle: Well, I certainly felt it, being a woman of colour. I've often felt like an outcast and like an outsider. I've felt discriminated against because of my gender or because of nationality or the colour of my skin, so of course I can relate to it, but the beauty of 'X-Men' is that everyone can. All people have been discriminated against in some way. We all struggle with something - are we too thin, are we too fat, is our nose too big or our boobs too small, should I cover the grey hair or not? We all struggle throughout life to make these decisions, and the question we are always asking ourselves is, are we OK exactly the way we are? I think everybody relates to 'X-Men' because we've all asked ourselves those tough questions.
Hugh: I like the large themes that are in these films, which had been in the comic books. They were originally an analogy for the Malcolm X/Martin Luther King debate. At 37 I feel fairly OK with the cards I've been dealt in life, but now I'm a parent I'm watching my children grow up and I'm going to see them go through all these struggles to find out who they are.
As far as this movie's concerned, I think it's the clearest crystallisation of what the X-Men are about. The idea of 'the cure' is just so relevant for every character and also, in a large sense, there's a resonance with genetic engineering, which is going on now politically, so really you can get a lot out of it. You should know that on the set there were raging arguments about each character. I don't want to give it away, but the scene with Rogue at the end was shot both ways because right up until then there was a huge debate as to whether she would take the cure or not.
