BB Exclusive: Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, and Kodi Smit-McPhee Chat their New Movie, Dark Phoenix w/ BB

Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, and Kodi Smit-McPhee chatted with BeautifulBallad and other members of the press about their brand new movie, Dark Phoenix. Alexandra, Evan and Kodi are set to reprise their roles as Storm, Quicksilver, and Nightcrawler in the movie.

In the interview, the group talks Raven’s death, a possible romance between Storm and T’Challa, the darkness in this film, the funeral scene and so much more.

Did you all know that the Raven death would be spoiled before the movie was released?

Alexandra Shipp: “We were surprised!”

Evan Peters: “I didn’t know that everyone did.”

Alexandra Shipp: “Yeah, Simon let it slip in an interview in February and he didn’t tell nobody.”

Evan Peters: “He just let it slip? On purpose?”

Alexandra Shipp: “I don’t know, probably? He’s pretty calculated.”

Evan Peters: “That seems pretty crazy.”

Alexandra Shipp: “I know.”

Did your teams not tell you to stay quiet on the Raven death?

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “No, they did.”

Alexandra Shipp: “We’re always told not to talk about the death. But we show up to our interviews and a lady is like ‘So, Raven dies?’ And I was like, ‘Nope, I don’t know where you got that.’ She’s like ‘Simon said it’.”

The rest of our interview can be found under the jump. Dark Phoenix will hit theaters on June 7.

How was filming the funeral scene?

Alexandra Shipp: “That was so interesting. And it was funny because on that day, I remember walking up to Simon [Kinberg] and being like, ‘I control the weather”’. And him being like, ‘It’s a movie. It’s all for the drama’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, but I shouldn’t be holding an umbrella’”.

Evan Peters: “You’re mourning.”

Alexandra Shipp: “I’m mourning! That what he said. That was his note!”

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “I think you could have actually turned on a little bit of the rain just to bring a bit more drama.”

Evan Peters: “You should have made it snow … like a really warm snow.”

Alexandra Shipp: “That would have been beautiful. Is that possible? It’s kind of the opposite of ice.”

Evan Peters: “You know what I’m saying. It’s like when it hails on a summer day.”

What made this film different from the previous films?

Evan Peters: “I think it’s darker. I think it’s the darkest one out of the three, for sure. And obviously Jean has a lot of inner demons and that creates conflict within the X-Men and it’s just an intense experience. You’ll be on the edge of your seat.”

Interviewer: “You said Jean’s inner demons changes the dynamic team. How drastically does the dynamic of that team change?”

Evan Peters: “Pretty big.”

Alexandra Shipp: “It shatters it. Completely divides us.”

Evan Peters: “Fissure, giant, earthquake fissure.”

Alexandra Shipp: “Yeah. Hurricane Antoine.”

Storm has always been portrayed as a mentor, what can we expect from her in this film?

Alexandra Shipp: “What you’ll see with Storm is that she’s not afraid to speak her mind, and she’s really trying to keep everyone together. She’s still that person trying to keep everyone together. She is still like ‘Hey, is anyone just down to talk to Jean? You know, we don’t have to go for her.’ She’s constantly trying to bring everyone together and I think that she’s not only doing it for herself but, in my opinion as a third person perspective, I think she’s doing it for the audience, too. She’s like ‘Come on, man. The band can’t break up yet. You know? Come on, it’s okay.’”

What is Quicksilver’s reaction to Jean’s turn?

Evan Peters: “‘She’s going down!’ Bring her down! Like father like son.”

Speaking of Quicksilver’s father, will we see any resolutions between the two in this movie?

Evan Peters: “No, I just kind of wanted to hang onto them, they fuel my rage and power. I help save the world with it.”

Alexandra Shipp: “Does it make you faster?”

Evan Peters: “It does make me faster.”

Do we have any resolutions between Nightcrawler and Raven?

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “I wish we could have had a little bit of that, but I love his answer right there. I’ll just keep that suppressed and keep using it to help save the world. Look how crazy Jean goes when she finds her suppressed trauma. I’m not doing that.

Evan, do you have another showstopper type scene in this one like you did in the other films?

Evan Peters: “They kind of subdued it and brought it a little more down to reality. The seriousness of the situation is pretty drastic. I mean, it’s our teammate that’s going down. It’s not just a bunch of strangers like before.”

Evan, this is your second superhero franchise. From Kick-Ass to this, what’s it like continuing in the superhero universe, in multiple universes?

Evan Peters: “I love this movie so, it’s a dream come true. What more could you ask for?”

Actually, having super speed?

Evan Peters: “I have to say, that has been one of the biggest let downs. You realize that you’re not lightning fast, at all. You’re actually really, really slow.”

Alexandra Shipp: “You’re pretty quick when you walk though.”

Evan Peters: “I walk quick?”

Alexandra Shipp: “Yeah, you’ve got a solid stride.”

Evan Peters: “Really?”

Alexandra Shipp: “Yeah.”

Evan Peters: You should see my run though, it’s literally just my walk.

Alexandra Shipp: “That’s nice though.”

How often do these press junkets just become moments of entertaining yourselves after answering the same fifteen questions over and over again?

Evan Peters: “Unfortunately, you guys got exactly that.”

Alexandra Shipp: “The best interviews come from real conversation, rather than you guys just sticking to the page and us just sticking to the page. “

Would you guys like to continue your characters in the MCU?

Evan Peters: “Yes.”

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “Yes”

Alexandra Shipp: “Yeah, I would. I would and I wouldn’t. Because Storm barely has anything to say as it is. I don’t know about y’all but we’ve never talked. It would be really nice if we weren’t piled into yet another jam-packed cast in which you only see me in the back of shot.”

Alexandra,would you like to do the rom com story arc that they did with T’Challa and Storm in the comics?

Alexandra Shipp: “Nope. I don’t think Storm needs T’Challa. A woman does not need a man in order to give her validity and she has also been around longer than him and is more powerful than him, she don’t need vibranium, homie.”

Would you all like to have your own standalone movies:

Alexandra Shipp: “I think she needs her own movie. It doesn’t have to be me, it just needs to be made. Just give us what we want, which is let us see a powerful woman play such a high-level mutant. We haven’t had that yet.”

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “I don’t think we will see the leading man Nightcrawler movie any time soon.”

Alexandra Shipp: “I could see it. It’s just literally called Bamf.”

Kodi Smit-McPhee: “We’ll see. We’ll see, Disney.”

“How do you use your platforms to speak out?”

Alexandra Shipp: “Let’s talk about changing the world, let’s talk about giving people water, let’s talk about giving people electricity, let’s talk about food, let’s talk about consignment stores in which we can send clothes to people who can’t afford to make their own clothes. I think that that’s what we do in these moments. We can take these moments where we’re on a platform, and we talk about real things.

And I know that we’re just actors, and I didn’t go to school for political science. I told you I grew up in Arizona. I’ve seen a lot of gangs, I’ve seen a lot of Latinos hurt and killed and deported because of what other people think. It’s just depressing and I think that as a human race we should come together.

That’s why I love X-Men, because we shine a light on the other and we say there’s a place for them to go on.”