Matthew Vaughn and the cast and crew of X-Men: First Class has been slaving away over a hot camera stand for months now, shooting the film. Which is a good thing, because it means there really is no chance for us to get frustrated about new castingannouncemen… Sorry, that’s the phone we just imagined into being in our head. What’s that? He has? You’re kidding. YOU. ARE KIDDING. NOW? Sigh… They’re at it again, folks: Ray Wise has just been added to the line-up.
Talking with IGN, Wise let slip the news of his small role: "I'm playing the Secretary of State of the United States. I'll be going over there in the next couple of weeks.” When prompted as to whether he’ll be getting to interact with big special effect set pieces (since we imagine there will be one or two in the movie), he cryptically replied, “Well, I think I touch on them, yeah, a bit.”
Wise’s casting is actually good news to us (beyond our comedy exasperation), as he’s one of those character actors who has been good in movies as diverse as RoboCop, Good Night, and Good Luck, Bob Roberts, Swamp Thing and Rising Sun. He’s also brought his particular brand of smarmy charm to TV, most notably in Twin Peaks, 24 and Reaper.
He’s joining a hefty cast that includes Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, Nicholas Hoult, Jennifer Lawrence, Jason Flemyng and Oliver Platt, among others. The story of how Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Fassbender) helped kick off the mutant hero team (and saw their friendship crumble) is scheduled to arrive on June 30, assuming they don’t blow the schedule by CASTING 15 PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUAR… Calm blue ocean… Sandy beach… Gently swaying palm trees…