Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past has been in production for months now - dating back to early April - so it was a pretty big surprise when it was announced in late May that the production wasn't actually done casting, adding Evan Peters as the super fast mutant known as Quicksilver. It was rather shocking to hear that a production would add such a significant character nearly two months after cameras had started rolling, but the situation could easily be explained away by studio politics, Fox wanting to use the character before their rivals over at Marvel Studios could (for the full details about the messy situation, scroll to the bottom of this page). That said, there's no explanation for this most recent casting announcement.
While X-Men: Days of Future Past is now coming up on three full months of shooting, The Wrap is now reporting that yet another name has joined the ensemble. Up-and-coming actor Josh Helman, who hales from Australia and has starred in movies like Animal Kingdom, Jack Reacher, and the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road, is the latest name to join the 2014 superhero movie. Unfortunately the site doesn't have any information about what character from the comics Helman might be playing, but offers that it's likely a very significant role, as he is slated to be "on set for several weeks."
The young Aussie actor joins an amazing cast that mixes together both the actors from the original X-Men trilogy as well as Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. The plot will center more on the heroes and villains of the latter film, which included stars James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast), but Sir Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Halle Berry (Storm), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Shawn Ashmore (Ice Man), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), and Daniel Cudmore (Colossus) will all be back to reprise their roles as well. Newcomers to the franchise include Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart and Fan Bing Bing.
Based on the classic comic book story, Days of Future Past begins in a post-apocalyptic future where mutants are being hunted down and exterminated by giant government-built robots called Sentinels. In order to prevent the Sentinels from ever coming to be, the X-Men manage to send one of their own back in time to 1973. Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn wrote the script for the film, which will be in theaters on May 23rd.
I must admit that everything about this situation confuses me. If Helman is such a big part of the story, where has he been for the last three months? And who could he possibly be playing? With any luck we will be getting those answers and possibly more when the film, its cast and its crew makes its way down to San Diego next month to take part in Comic Con.
