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In December 2004, 20th Century Fox hired screenwriter Sheldon Turner to draft a spin-off X-Men film, and he chose to write Magneto, pitching it as "The Pianist meets X-Men". In April 2007, David S. Goyer was hired to direct. Turner said the script was set from 1939 to 1955, and it follows Magneto trying to survive in Auschwitz. He meets Xavier, a soldier, during the liberation of the camp. He hunts down the Nazi war criminals who tortured him, and this lust for vengeance turns him and Xavier into enemies.
The film was planned to shoot in Australia for a 2009 release, but it was delayed by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. In April 2008, concept art, including one of a younger Beast, was being designed. In June 2008, the X-Men Origins prefix also applied to Wolverine was confirmed, and the project was seeking approval to film in Washington, D.C. The following month, Goyer revealed he hoped to turn his attention to Magneto in 2009, but he had another project lined up first.
In May 2006, Ian McKellen said he would reprise the role using the computer-generated facelift applied to him in the prologue of X-Men: The Last Stand. Lauren Shuler Donner stated that the film would need McKellen to anchor the story, which would take place in flashbacks. With Goyer's hiring in 2007, it was said actors in their twenties would play the characters. McKellen reiterated his hope to bookend the film in July 2008 |
