Of interest to us Scrawlers...
AndQuestion: Will the new characters added to the film, did they do any research by way of the comics?
Alan Cumming: Well, I'm a new person and I read some comics. It's quite impressive, actually, because not only am I playing sort of a blue mutant with all these odd physical things, but also everyone in the world apart from me seems to have some idea about how this character should look or read. So there's been a little pressure.
So, yeah, I read some comics and listened to some people. It's kind of hard because halfway through the film, I realized that Mystique is my mother. It's an ongoing learning curve.
Question: For Alan, how do you get prepared for being Nightcrawler?
Alan Cumming: Mentally, it's very difficult. I have to get up very early and I have some lovely, lovely makeup people that do it. You just have to get into a zone where you don't mind grown poking at your face for four hours and spraying you with stuff. Sometimes I watch films in the mirror, which is quite hard if they're sub-titled. (laughs)
I have these tattoos, and I rue the day that I was the one who actually said, "Yeah, let's go with the tattoos. They're really great." They take a lot more time to get stuck on. I'm hoping that maybe if there's a sequel there will be some sort of mutant accident that's taken place and Nightcrawler will have no tattoos and will be white.
The technology in this film is quite incredible with the effects. And I thought maybe the next time I could do the film as me and they could put the makeup on afterwards.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos: That's what I used to think.
Alan Cumming: Yeah. There's this thing with people who contact lenses in the first film. There's sort of a thing where you pay your dues. Halle and Rebecca don't wear contact lenses any more. I noticed afterwards that I am wearing contact lenses. It must be a kind of rites of passage that you go through. Maybe next time I'll have no contact lenses.
Question: What about the tail?
Alan Cumming: The tails - sometimes I'm wearing it and sometimes I'm not. Because sometimes it's done afterwards. There's tails of various consistencies if boinginess. If I don't have the full tail, I have this stub thing with dots on it for special effects people to do things with afterwards. And that's quite popular with the ladies (laughs) and the gentlemen as well. And myself.