One avenue Fox seems to be heading into is a blend of Y.A. fiction and horror for their teen mutant movie “The New Mutants” directed by Josh Boone (“The Fault in Our Stars“). A trailer hit late last year and an April 13 date was looming for a film about a ragtag bunch of mutant outcasts. But the film’s narrative quickly tilted sideways when “New Mutants” was suddenly delayed until 2019. Speculation ran amok about the movie’s qualities and flaws, as it usually does, only to be strengthened by the news of reshoots, rewrites and the addition of an entirely new character (rumored to be the CGI character, Warlock) being inserted into what was an already completed film.
What went wrong? That’s unclear, but 20th Century Fox seems to have panicked with the footage they saw. Now slotted for February 14, 2019, “New Mutants” features an ensemble cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy, known to many as the breakout star of “The Witch.” She also leads the upcoming Focus Features black comedy, “Thoroughbreds,” and during my interview with her about the film (coming soon) I had the chance to ask her about the “New Mutants’ drama.
She was treading carefully, clearly concerned about what she could and couldn’t say; nevertheless, you could hear the disenchantment in her voice.
“Well, the only thing that I could say, without being in trouble, is that it being delayed is disappointing, frustrating in fact,” she admitted. “Because we were all very excited for it to be released on April 13th, and I don’t mean just disappointing for me, but I’m sure there are a lot of other fans that were looking forward to seeing it.”
What’s interesting is that while Taylor-Joy also defends the film’s delay, it appears none of those reshoots have even started yet; it doesn’t sound like she knows where it’s all heading yet.
“I do think that there is a great responsibility to make sure the movie is done right and that we deliver the fans something that they can all feel happy about and excited about,” Taylor-Joy said. “So, I don’t think it being delayed is a bad thing because it’s definitely more important to make sure that we get it right than rushing to make a date. So, hopefully, all of these reshoots and adding of the new character that will give the fans an altogether satisfactory, wonderful product.”
I don’t think fans should lose hope yet and, the cast, especially Anya, are incredibly talented. Furthermore “Deadpool” and “Logan” posted great numbers in February released and received fantastic reviews from critics as well. We’ll keep you posted on the latest in this neverending saga of “New Mutants,” but it looks like things might finally be taking shape and the problematic production a thing of the past.