20 Facts You Didn’t Know About Bryan Singer’s First “X-Men” Movie [List]

X-Men (2000) – Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)

Find out some amazing facts about Bryan Singer’s first X-Men movie that you probably didn’t know. The X-Men: Days of Future Past trailers have been blowing us away, but it was 14 years ago that director Bryan Singer first blew us away with a radically different look for a superhero film.

Here are some amazing things about the film that make it a classic.

1. Jackman didn’t realize wolverines were real animals and studied wolf behavior to
prepare for his role. Singer had to explain to him it was metaphorical
and that there’s no point in studying real wolverines.

2. In the film Xavier says they named themselves “X-Men” after him, but in
the comics the “X” stood for the “extra” power which “ordinary”
humans lacked.

3. Hugh Jackman accidentally took a cold shower and it started his habit of taking an ice cold shower in the morning
“because it really pisses me off, and that’s pretty much where Logan
lives, like he’s forced to take a cold shower all the time.”

4. Wolverine was almost played by Edward Norton.

5. Joss Whedon wrote a draft of the script that was rejected.  They left in the infamous joke about what happens when a toad is hit by lightning.

6. The majority of the movie was filmed in Canada including the scenes on Ellis Island.

7. When Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart sat down to film the chess scene Singer told them to
ad-lib some chess moves. Both had to admit they didn’t know how to play
chess.

8. The Nazi concentration camp scene was filmed at the old Gooderham & Worts Distillery in Canada.

9. In the comics Wolverine is short at 5′ 3″. Hugh Jackman is 6′
2″. So, in order for James Marsden, who’s 5′ 10″, to look taller than
him he had to wear platform shoes.

10. Applying the full body makeup and 100 prosthetic pieces to turn Rebecca Romjin into the blue-skinned Mystique took almost nine hours.

11. During a celebratory party after shooting Romjin had too many shots of tequila and vomited. Because of the make-up, it came out blue.

12. Roger Ebert gave X-Men a thumbs down.

13. Singer had never heard of the comic books until he was offered the movie.

14. To stay under the $75 million dollar budget they cut Pyro, Beast
and the Danger Room training scene. All three ended up in the sequels.

15. Beast’s blue fur and makeup was a major reason he was cut to
save costs.  His role as a scientist and a political activist were
given to Jean Grey.

16. Ex-wrestler Tyler Mane was originally approached to do stunt work but Bryan Singer immediately decided he had the perfect look for Sabretooth.

17 In the original script Magneto wasn’t hunting Rogue to put her in the machine. He wanted Wolverine.

18. During the airplane scene with Senator Kelly, Rebecca Romjin accidentally kicked Bruce Davidson in the face.  He said he didn’t mind being kicked by a naked supermodel.

19. In order to keep the realistic feel of the film he banned comic books from the set. The crew smuggled them on anyway.

20. While Wolverine has his trademark cigar in several scenes, it’s never lit.

21. Hugh Jackman was a last minute casting after actor Dougray Scott pulled out to film Mission Impossible II. Jackman only had three months to get in shape.

Which is your favorite trivia fact? Did you learn anything new? What was your favorite scene in X-Men?

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