Penn Writing 'X-Men 3'?

New scribe aboard.

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, March 4th 2005 at 1:16 AM

Zak Penn had a writing credit on X2, and he also had some credit come his way for the Elektra and the upcoming Spy Hunter flick, and now Sci-Fi Wire reports he is aboard to pen the script for X-Men 3.

Scribe Simon Kinberg has long been attached to the film, but now Sci-Fi Wire tells a different story without ever mentioning Kinberg's name saying that Penn told SCI FI Wire that he has been hired to draft the script for a third X-Men, which he added presents the same challenges as the second one.

Penn was quoted as saying, "It's not just about including everyone… It's really more about how you give everyone more and better screen time."

As far as the director controversy goes Penn seemed upbeat, "I love our director right now. He's no one. Here's the thing. I actually got along pretty well with Bryan. He's got very strong opinions, but fundamentally, because he did such a good job on the movies, it was hard not to. … There are people involved, I guess, who didn't get along with Bryan, but he clearly did an excellent job with the first two films. So it's going to be difficult to follow in his footsteps. That said, there's no question that because he's got strong opinions it's a little bit easier for me as a writer, because … whatever … it's one less argument you need to have."

Alan Cumming was one of those not too keen on Singer, which he revealed to SuperHeroHype! a while back saying,"I think he's [Singer] really talented and I'm very proud of the film and I think it's a great film. I didn't enjoy working with him on the film."

As for the rest of Penn's comments click here, and I guess we will just have to wait to see if this is a complete rewrite or if Penn will be working off Kinberg's already penned material.