John Ottman talks X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

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John Ottman talks X-Men: Days of Future Past

After the success of X-Men: First Class (2011), 20th Century Fox launched production on X-Men: Days of Future Past, a film that served as a sequel not only to First Class, but also to The Last Stand (2006).

Beginning in the future, Days of Future Past shows a world in chaos. Near invincible Sentinel machines are exterminating mutants and any humans helping them. A group of mutants hiding in China include Professor Xavier, Magneto, Wolverine, Storm and Kitty Pryde. With it being only a matter of time before this last hideout is overrun by Sentinels, a plan is made to send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time fifty years to prevent Mystique from assassinating Dr. Bolivar Trask and thereby stop the eventual development of the Sentinels, saving the future in the process.

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This film combined the original X-Men cast with the younger cast introduced in First Class (Wolverine, being essentially immortal, serves as a kind of go-between).

For the music, the score was composed by John Ottman, a longtime collaborator with director Bryan Singer. Ottman became the first composer to work on more than one X-Men film (having scored X2 in 2003) and retained the main theme of X2 for Days of Future Past. As the composer states in the interview, Singer asked that Ottman create something that sounded “more modern” (in the vein of other current superhero films) and move away from the more traditional sounds created by Henry Jackman in the score for First Class.

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I haven’t seen much of the new X-Men films (though I have seen the original trilogy), but the more I see and hear of the music, the more interested I become. Fans of the new trilogy should enjoy this look at how the music of Days of Future Past was created. Enjoy!

*film poster is the property of 20th Century Fox

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