X-Men: Apocalypse Production Was a ‘Total Nightmare’ With ‘No Third Act’

Film editor John Ottman revealed why finishing X-Men: Apocalypse was a “total nightmare.” The Oscar-winning editor explained how the production started shooting without a completed third act.

John Ottman says finishing X-Men: Apocalypse was a ‘total nightmare’

Film editor and composer John Ottman recently spoke with the Half the Picture podcast about his experience working on 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Ottman, who also served as a producer on the film, revealed that the production entered shooting without a completed third act. He described the final stretch of post-production as a “total, total, total nightmare.”

Ottman had previously collaborated with director Bryan Singer on X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. On that film, he provided real-time feedback during production, allowing writer Simon Kinberg to implement changes while still on set. That approach kept reshoots to a minimum and resulted in a smoother editorial process overall.

However, Apocalypse did not benefit from the same workflow. Ottman said a sense of complacency set in after the success of Days of Future Past. “I was given the script, and I had like pages and pages of notes,” Ottman explained. “I see things are going to blow up in my face, and I got to figure out how to solve them.”

Despite his warnings, the production moved forward. “Then we go into production and we have a film with no third act,” he said. “It was a beat sheet.” Ottman described the final act outline as bare-bones, with simple descriptions like “so and so attacks so and so and they die.”

The editing process required significant improvisation to assemble the climactic battle. “We were huddling with the team and the second unit director and just coming up with stuff the last second,” Ottman recalled. He credited voiceover and Xavier’s telepathic scenes as tools that helped fill narrative gaps. X-Men: Apocalypse grossed $543.9 million worldwide but earned a 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The franchise’s next installment, Dark Phoenix, fared even worse both critically and commercially.

Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.com.

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