‘The New Mutants’ Director Has Responded To Widespread Assumptions About Reshoots

Since filming completed in 2017, The New Mutants has traveled a long road to theaters and, as of now, the film is scheduled for an April 3, 2020 release date. Unless, of course, the coronavirus has other plans, which would be yet another setback for this movie. However, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Josh Boone wants to set the record straight once and for all about what really happened to New Mutants starting with the persistent rumors that the film went through multiple reshoots:

“Everybody said we did reshoots! We’ve never done reshoots,” he tells EW over the phone in late February. “And I’ll tell you this: if there hadn’t been a merger, I’m sure we would’ve done reshoots the same way every movie does pickups. We didn’t even do that because by the time the merger was done and everything was settled, everybody’s older.”

Boone isn’t exaggerating when he says everyone. X-Men producer Simon Kinberg claimed reshoots were responsible for the delays, and so did Maisie Williams who’s in the movie. However, in Williams’ defense, she was in the dark on the film’s production and was responding to reporters’ questions about planned reshoots. She has since set the record straight with EW:

“The movie is exactly the movie we set out to make. I was nervous when they were talking about reshooting or re-editing that it was gonna be very different, but honestly, it’s exactly what we set out to do.” It was a sometimes aggravating situation with the only information she heard about the film coming from news headlines. “I would be in press for something else and then [reporters would] ask me about [The New Mutants] and the last thing I heard was, ‘Nothing until we know something.’”

According to Boone, here’s what went down. When the Fox/Disney merger happened, The New Mutants was basically shelved before a significant chunk of the visual effects were finished, so he walked away in October 2017. However, just before he began filming The Stand for CBS All Access in 2019, Disney asked Boone if he wanted to finish the movie, which he absolutely did. But, again, there were no reshoots, and he’s happy that The New Mutants hasn’t changed from his original vision:

“It’s very… thriller,” Williams describes. “I think the nature of a bunch of teenagers being trapped at a facility, all with individual powers which they don’t know how to use yet or even summon, that lends itself really well to suspense and scary cuts. It’s all done in a very honest way and it really does come from the characters and the situations that they’re in. It’s not a happy, upbeat superhero comedy film. It’s definitely very dark.”

Boone isn’t the only who’s glad the film is finally coming to theaters. Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Magik in the mutant thriller, recently admit that she felt like The New Mutants was an “imaginary friend” that nobody thought was real. She’ll show them. (Hopefully.)