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SYFY WIRE Dark Phoenix

Jessica Chastain will be channeling Tilda Swinton vibes in Dark Phoenix

By Josh Weiss
Jessica Chastain Dark Phoenix

20th Century Fox's OG X-Men saga will officially come to a close when Dark Phoenix opens to the public. Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, the film loosely adapts the beloved 1980 comic book storyline by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, where Jean Grey heads down a dark path after absorbing a power known as the Phoenix Force.

While there are those that want to help Jean (Game of ThronesSophie Turner) like Charles Xavier (Glass's James McAvoy), there are also those that wish to manipulate her for their own nefarious ends. Enter Jessica Chastain (It: Chapter Two) who is playing a mysterious alien character that wants control over the Phoenix Force. Many have speculated that she may be a member of the Shi'ar, nothing is confirmed just yet. 

While chatting with Empire Magazine for the publication's summer issue, Chastain revealed that her character's final, otherworldly look channels the Ancient One herself, Tilda Swinton (Avengers: Endgame).

"We tested a bunch of different looks," she said. "At first, there was this idea that she would be ethereal ... like an angel. And open. I'm not wearing makeup, which opens the face, opens my eyes. You fall into it in a trusting way. She has to look otherworldly, yet human. Which why the person I thought about is Tilda Swinton."

Dark Phoenix Sophie Turner Jessica Chastain

Kinberg, who helped write 2006's The Last Stand with Zack Penn, is hoping to rectify that movie's mistreatment of the Dark Phoenix Saga with this new feature. It's also important to note that he already retconned the events of X3 out of existence with the script for Days of Future Past.

"It's my favorite of the X-Men stories, because of the moral and emotional complexity" the writer/director told Empire of his thoughts on the beloved storyline. "While there are a great many things in X-Men 3 that I think do work, for me, the tone of that movie wasn't to my taste. My taste is an edgier, more intense kind of filmmaking. And I feel we didn't tell an authentic Dark Phoenix story. I'd always wanted another chance to tell the story the way I had initially intended."

Turner is reprising the role of young Grey from 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, which actually hinted at her devastating abilities in the story's final act when she totally wrecked Oscar Isaac's En Sabah Nur. (aka Apocalypse) during a battle in Egypt.

Jean Grey vs Apocalypse - Fight Scene - X-Men Apocalypse (2016) Movie Clip 4K

Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) all co-star.

Dark Phoenix rises from the ashes and into theaters Friday, June 7.