When the 'X-Men' cast threatened to quit

The X-Men franchise celebrated two decades this year. The films paved the way for the superhero genre to become what it is today. However, recent allegations of misconduct by director Bryan Singer and toxicity on the production set have gone on to tarnish their legacy.

A recent report published on The Hollywood Reporter details how the production of the first film was riddled with issues ranging from a mutiny by the cast and an actor allegedly being sexually assaulted. The former happened when Singer was unable to carry out his duties after reportedly injecting a narcotic.

In spite of his condition, the film-maker went on to shoot a stunt scene with star Hugh Jackman, who was injured during the process. This lead producer Tom DeSanto to shut down filming for the day. However, when the studio ordered DeSanto to leave the set the next day, reinstating Singer once more, the main cast, except Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn, protested by going to the director's trailer and threatening to quit if DeSanto was removed, the report added. On the contrary, Singer has denied this incident and been quoted as saying, “Nothing like that ever happened.”

The other major incident on the set was when Alex Burton - who played Pyro at just 18 - was allegedly sexually assaulted. A few days after the film’s premier, Burton had filed a lawsuit against three of Singer’s friends and associates at the Digital Entertainment Network (or DEN, a media enterprise that Singer was affiliated with at the time).
The actor claimed that he “had been plied with drugs, sexually assaulted, held against his will and threatened with physical harm between July 1999 and May 2000,” while X-Men was in production.

Burton was a DEN employee at the time. He was joined by two other DEN employees in the suit and awarded $6 million. The amount was never paid, leading Burton’s lawyer to reportedly file a renewal judgment in November 2019, bolstered by an additional $4.8 million in accrued interest.

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