Byrne, Platt Added to Crowded ‘X-Men’ Cast

Published on August 16, 2010, by Jeff Leins - Posted in Movie and TV News 1

Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, and Jason Flemyng have joined the growing cast of Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class.

The superhero reboot will tell the origins of Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and the creation of the mutant team called the X-Men. Byrne, who stars in the TV series “Damages,” will play Dr. Moira MacTaggert. In the comics, MacTaggert is one of the world’s leading experts on genetic mutation and Xavier’s love interest at Oxford University.

Platt is set to play a non-mutant role called “The Man in Black,” according to Deadline. No connection to the Smoke Monster on “Lost.” It sounds like an ominous figure, though Kevin Bacon is playing the main villain, whoever that might be. Vaughn offered only a cryptic response when MTV asked about Bacon’s role. “He’s not going to be what you expect at all when you first meet him in the film, you will be surprised that it’s him,” he said.

Flemyng, a goon and a prince in Vaughn’s Kick-Ass and Stardust, is set to play Azazel, a teleporting mutant and the father of Nightcrawler, a key member of the X-Men. Winter’s Bone star Jennifer Lawrence is playing Mystique, Azazel’s lover and Nightcrawler’s mother.

Take a look at these cast comparisons and tell us what you think!

James McAvoy and Professor Charles Xavier (Professor X)