Early buzz – including our review – has pegged Evan Peters’ super-speedy Quicksilver as the breakout star of X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Speaking exclusively to SciFiNow for the massive behind-the-scenes feature in the new issue, the star talked about American Horror Story, Scarlet Witch, returning to the role for X-Men: Apocalypse and the Avengers: Age Of Ultron rivalry…
You’ve mentioned that issue of Peter David’s X-Factor, where Quicksilver reveals that for him the whole world is like being stuck behind slow people using ATMs. Is that your Quicksilver?
Yeah, it is! There’s definitely a huge part of that in him. It’s hard to explain what’s going on in the film – I don’t want to give anything away or ruin and thing – there’s definitely that sort of mischievous side to him, because he does realise that he’s always 20 steps ahead of everybody in terms of everything.
The cops can’t catch him, his friends, his family – he’s quicker than everybody, he’s so fast. I think being that fast, your brain automatically becomes faster as well, in a way. It’s not that he’s super-smart, but he’s already onto the next thing because he’s bored, so there’s kinda… an annoyance at the world, I guess, because it is so slow and he wishes everybody would hurry up and get with it.
In the comics, Quicksilver has always had a complicated relationship with the X-Men and with Magneto – is that the case here?
Yeah, he does. You don’t know if he’s going to be good or bad; he’s kind of on that teetering point. He has a tendency to be excited by mischief and anarchy a little bit, so there’s that side of him as well, but at this point in his life he’s not bad or evil; he just kinda likes breaking the law a little bit.
I know you get a little sister in a reddish – well, pink – dress, but is there a sense that we could be seeing the Scarlet Witch?
I’m not sure, I think we’ll find out in future films to come, but it’s definitely in there as much as it is. You get the feeling that all of these characters are coming from the comic-book world and are all tied together in the same way.
Have you spent much time with the character’s background?
Yeah, it’s awesome. There’s so much to think about and so many interesting places for the character to go. It’s really cool.
Would you play him again if given the chance?
Oh, of course, in a heartbeat.
It must be a bit weird not being the only Quicksilver…
I’m excited to see Aaron [Taylor Johnson in Avengers: Age Of Ultron]’s performance as well. It’s such a cool character and it has such a cool super-power, I think it’s a very cool character to see on the screen so I’m excited to see both of them.
I don’t see any competition really, because it’s two different worlds. This takes place in the Seventies and he’s a kid, so it’s completely different. I’m definitely excited to be able to play the character, you know?
Does it feel a bit like you’ve wandered in on an extended family reunion with X-Men?
Yeah, it is. It was definitely a little daunting being in the room with some of those actors because they’re just the X–Men OGs. I’m the new guy, you know? ‘What’s the new guy gonna do? What’s he gonna bring to the table? Is he cool? I dunno’
It’s interesting to be a part of it, but at the same time they were all super welcoming and really nice people. It couldn’t have been a better set to show up on or a better family reunion to come into. They’re the nicest people I’ve ever worked with.
After American Horror Story it must be nice to get a script in the post where nothing horrible happens to you…
[Laughs] Yeah! It’s really nice to see that! It’s been a pretty torturing three years on American Horror Story, a pretty amazing experience, but I was very excited to see I’d be doing more special effects stuff, having a lot more mischievous fun on set… as opposed to being tortured.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past will be released on 22 May 2014. Read our massive behind the scenes special in the new issue of SciFiNow and find out more about the comics that inspired the film with our awesome new digital magazine Uncanny Comics.
