The movie Alan Cumming called “dangerous” and “abusive”
Over the years, Alan Cumming has delivered some outstanding contributions to the narrative arts, particularly in the realms of theatre and cinema. The Laurence Oliver Award-winning actor has featured in the likes of Accidental Death of An Anarchist, La Bete, Cabaret and Design for Living, which have all brought acclaim.
As for his film career, Cumming has also made significant strides, offering excellent performances in several movies, including Circle of Friends, GoldenEye, Emma, Spice World and Eyes Wide Shut, proving that his versatility as a performer spread far and wide in a broad range of characters.
While Cumming has likely enjoyed the fortune of excellent productions in the widespread features that he’s performed in, it’s fair to say that the Scottish actor has also had to put up with his share of bad ones in the process, and none seem to have had more of a negative impact on him than 2003’s X2, in which he played the Marvel superhero Nightcrawler.
When appearing on the White Wine Question Time podcast with Kate Thornton, Cumming discussed the work environment of the X-Men sequel, noting, “We were really in a very bad working situation. It was dangerous, it was abusive, and the studio didn’t care. All the actors said something, and they still just went: ‘Oh, never mind. It’s only gonna be a few more weeks, don’t worry. And it’s gonna make a lot of money.'”
“They actually said that and also ‘you’re under contract’. And I said: ‘I don’t want to feel dirty about going to work’. I would cry; it was just tragic,” the actor added. X2 was directed by Bryan Singer and saw the likes of Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, and Brian Cox return to their famous superhero roles once again.
The plot tells of the deranged Colonel William Stryker and his assault on the school run by Professor Xavier so he can build his own version of Xavier’s Cerebro computer, which has the ability to track mutants across the world. His plan is to destroy all mutants, so the X-Men must come together to stop his malice.
“I would be in that awful blue makeup,” Cummings continued. “I put on loads of weight during that because I would just eat; I was exhausted. My boyfriend at the time would make all these crazy big meals. I would go home, eat a ton, have a couple of glasses of wine, burst into tears and go to sleep. And then go and be a miserable blue mutant [the next day].”
