Bruce Davison: Hello vigilant ones, welcome!

viyada: What interested you in your role in X-Men?

Bruce Davison: Senator Kelly has quite a journey in this film.
Bruce Davison: He's the clothesline story that bridges the mutants with the human conflict.
Bruce Davison: I'd worked with Bryan Singer before in Apt Pupil, and knew he had put a lot of consideration in before he tackled X-Men.
Bruce Davison: When he sent me the script I thought it was great.
Bruce Davison: And signed on.

juniper: Will we get to see you get your butt kicked??

Bruce Davison: LOL! Yes.

garbug: Hi Bruce. How long was this movie in the works before it was scheduled for release?

Bruce Davison: Well it depends on what you mean by works. It's been an idea since X-Men's inception in 1963. There have been numerous attempts over the decades to make a film, and it's taken this long for one to come together.

wolverinegrrl: Were you familiar with the X-Men comic book series (or even cartoon series) before signing on to do this film?

Bruce Davison: I had read some of the comics in college when they first began. I wasn't as rabid a fan as a number of my friends. But I always enjoyed it.
Bruce Davison: Especially the way it held up a mirror to isolation, intolerance, bigotry, etc.

mikedaddy: A lot of comic book movies haven't been all that great. Are you happy with the way the film came out?

Bruce Davison: Yes!

Storm_princess: Was it a difficult job playing Senator Kelly?

Bruce Davison: Villains are great. One would always like to be a super villain like Magneto.
Bruce Davison: But Senator Kelly like all the characters in X-Men has a point of view that makes logical sense. He's operating out of fear and riding that bandwagon.
Bruce Davison: We've all known Sentor Kelly through the generations, and I think he serves an essential part in the film.
Bruce Davison: But if it was up to me, I sure as heck would have liked to have been a hero.

sleepy: Any similarities between you and Senator Kelly?

Bruce Davison: We look alike!

WillWren2000: I know what kind of "change" your character goes through in the movie, do you consider Senator Kelly, overall, a good guy or a bad guy?

Bruce Davison: Senator Kelly is human. At least, he starts out that way.
Bruce Davison: I think all the characters in X-Men can't be defined as good or evil. Some may do evil, some may do what others consider good or heroic. But everyone has a motivation. That's what's so wonderful about the characters and why they've been so universally admired.
Bruce Davison: If not for their actions, for their realism. In spite of the fact that they might be fantastical.

Mattchew: Bruce, did you find it challenging playing a character who has such a self-loathing complex?

Bruce Davison: LOL! Ha! The best characters I've had a chance to play have all kinds of complexities going for them. That's the fun.
Bruce Davison: A lot of dimensions make for interesting acting choices.

vampyra: How much say did you have in your character, and did you read up on The Senator's history?

Bruce Davison: Read up on the Senator's history. I had a great dramaturge in my 14-year-old nephew.
Bruce Davison: We all had collaborative say with Bryan in making the film. However, the vision of the final product was essentially Bryan's, who, I have to add, wanted to remain faithful to the comic and still tell a story that others could enjoy.

juniper: How does the character you play for the film differ from the comic character?

Bruce Davison: The character goes through a journey in this film that I haven't seen in the comics. But Senator Kelly is always the reflection of humanity and its fear and my character remains true to that in this movie.

irishluck: How long were you on the set filming this movie?

Bruce Davison: Started last August. And I'm still here! Is the movie done yet?

gopherjunior: Where was the bulk of the movie shot?

Bruce Davison: Toronto.

WillWren2000: Was there any ad-libbing or was the script used line-by-line?

Bruce Davison: No ad-libbing but the script, and especially a lot of dialogue, went through a metamorphosis every day. Up until last Thursday, I think according to Patrick.

Ghostface02: Were there any problems while filming?

Bruce Davison: Nothing insurmountable except for cold, wet, snow, wet goo, blown lights, airplanes over dialogue, indigestion...
Bruce Davison: ...makeup, cold and wet.

oli: Are there any memorable special effects in the movie?

Bruce Davison: I think you'll find a lot of them memorable, and I don't want to spoil any right now. I think you'll get your money's worth.
Bruce Davison: However, the special effects are not in the film for their own sake, but serve the story and the characters.
Bruce Davison: Some of my favorites are very subtle.

xmenfan2001: If you could change one thing about the movie or your character, what would it be?

Bruce Davison: A shot of me going down a drain.

ice_angel2000: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART IN THE MOVIE?

Bruce Davison: Was finding out the changes that I was experiencing for the first time. You'll realize what they are when you see the film.

ERIC: Bruce, did you get the chance to do any stunts in the film?

Xero: How did it feel to be kicked in the face by the lovely feet of Ms. Stamos? Yum right?

Bruce Davison: Stunts for me were basically hanging off a cliff. But it was inside work so it wasn't too painful.
Bruce Davison: The other stunts were, of course, with Mystique.
Bruce Davison: And there are worse jobs than getting kicked in the face by Rebecca.

xmenfan2001: Bruce, did you have to do anything weird to get into character?

Bruce Davison: Oh, God! LOL! Just bang my head against the wall in my trailer. And eat breakfast burritos with salsa.

WillWren2000: What was the most difficult scene for you to film?

Bruce Davison: Mutating on the beach in front of 500 extras who are trying hard not to laugh.

duck2001: How did you enjoy working with such an amazing cast?

Bruce Davison: Great fun.

Storm_princess: What was it like working with Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry?

Bruce Davison: Favorite time was with Patrick Stewart teaching us photon torpedo acting.
Bruce Davison: Numbers 1 to 10 are the scale of the impact. He'd yell 7 and we'd all try to fall off the barstools in unison.
Bruce Davison: Guess you had to be there.

Essex: I've heard that you might not survive the end of the movie. How does this bode for the future movies involving Sentinels? Does your assistant, Gyrich, take over?

Bruce Davison: That's a really good question. I don't know how things end up, but there are question marks. However, someone named Jim Cameron has already had some dealings with Sentinels. He calls them Terminators.

brae: Is there a female interest associated with Magneto in the movie?

Bruce Davison: Not that I know of.

Pyromaniac: Will you or any other cast members be appearing at any comic or sci-fi conventions? (Dragon*Con, perhaps?)

Bruce Davison: Yes, I know where I'll be tomorrow, but that's as far as I've planned right now. But yes, I'm sure we'll turn up eventually if people are interested.

fortunate: Has the movie premeire happened in New York as yet?

Bruce Davison: It happens tomorrow. There have been a couple of screenings. And some screenings in Australia.
Bruce Davison: And it feels like a big wave coming.
Bruce Davison: Things are really positive.

duck2001: Who is the target audience? Kids/adults?

Bruce Davison: Yes. Everybody.

WillWren2000: Do you think that the mutunt hysteria would actually occur if it occured in real life with a real Senator Kelly?

Bruce Davison: There will always be a real Senator Kelly and there has since the stone age. From pre-war Germany, recently, to McCarthy in the fifties, to our current political scene. And probably always will be.

Mewtwo2868: Mr. Davison, do you think mutants should be judged because they're different or because other people think they're dangerous, if they existed?

Bruce Davison: That's the question that is the basis for the film.
Bruce Davison: I don't know. How would you feel if someone who was in school and seven years old had 10 times the lethal power of any handgun, and got into a fight with another 10-year-old. That's Senator Kelly's question.
Bruce Davison: He may be a fear-monger, but it's because the fear that exists is real. At least in the form of the X-Men comics and this movie.

fortunate: Could you see an extreme anti-mutant movement in Washington if there were such a thing?

Bruce Davison: There is always such a thing in Washington.

cinemacritic: Have you seen the finished film yet?

Bruce Davison: Yes.
Bruce Davison: IT ROCKS!

mikedaddy: What kind of reaction has the X-Men movie been getting so far?

Bruce Davison: The phone calls we've been getting from various sources feel like a building tidal wave, not to knock any other picture currently out. But the enthusiasm is rising.
Bruce Davison: The first positive reviews coming into certain Web sites were first criticized as being plots from the industrial-military complex.
Bruce Davison: But slowly it seems to be becoming a reality that this movie is going to take off. I myself love it, I'm thrilled with it, couldn't be happier.
Bruce Davison: Except for, as I mentioned, that shot of me going down a drain.

Essex: Why is it that the story behind Kelly's wife's murder was left out?

Bruce Davison: X-Men has been writing continuous stories since 1963. We're telling the first movie. It certainly can't include everybody's story or backstory, or even a number of everybody's favorite mutants. But hopefully it may lead to other stories. Kelly's wife is irrelevant to this story, at least in the time we have to tell it.

Xero: Why wasn't Senator Kelly's wife's death explored in the movie? It would've explained his deep hatred towards mutants, don't you think?

Bruce Davison: See the last answer. Can't explain everything this time around. Otherwise it's an X-Men dictionary, not a movie.

oli: Are there any funny moments in the movie? or is it just all action?

Bruce Davison: It's got everything.

Miracleman: Mr. Davison, do you hope that this film will provoke people to examine prejudice and racism in real life?

Bruce Davison: Certainly. That's what's wonderful about the comic. It holds up a mirror and everybody can see a reflection of themselves in it.

ERIC: Bruce, do you feel that X-Men will open bigger that M:I-2, and be the kick-ass summer movie we've been hungry for?

Bruce Davison: Don't want to speculate, but wouldn't be surprised.

InTheMadness: I have heard comments like this movie is really only for people that are familiar with the X-Men, is that true or is accessible to everyone?

Bruce Davison: Not true. Accessible to everyone. Even my wife who never knew what an X-Men was.
Bruce Davison: And hates most everything.
Bruce Davison: This movie is the introduction to X-Men. We get to know the characters. We get to see them in action. And hopefully we get to care a bit about them.
Bruce Davison: I don't think you knew the whole history of everyone in Star Wars when it first hit the screen. That didn't stop it from being accessible to everyone on one level or another.

Xero: Mr. Davison, in your opinion, what makes X-Men different from every other comic book movie out there?.

Bruce Davison: Character. The inherent strength of the X-Men comics themselves. Story.
Bruce Davison: And a great ensemble cast.
Bruce Davison: And Bryan Singer, who is a meticulous filmmaker. And nobody knows quite how talented he is yet. But they will.

Colossus001: Have you seen the X-Men action figures yet, Mr. Davison?

Bruce Davison: Yes! My son calls me Mr. Squishy. But I only come in a box with Jean Grey. But there are worse fates.

Pyromaniac: You seem like such a nice guy. Was it strange to play such a racist character?

Bruce Davison: No it was fun. I get to be all kinds of characters. That's what is great about being an actor. You get to be everyone you wouldn't dream of being in real life. Or wouldn't want to be. Because you wouldn't want to pay the consequences those characters have to pay. Senator Kelly was a lot of fun.

Pyromaniac: Does Senator Kelley really consider mutants a threat to humanity, or does he use the mutant hysteria to further his political career?

Bruce Davison: Good question. I'm sure both.
Bruce Davison: Most evangelical politicians may have an agenda. But they also believe in that agenda. That's what makes them so dangerous.

The_Narc: Would you like to have been a politician?

Bruce Davison: Gawd no!

Vamp: Mr. Davison, if offered the chance to make this into a TV series, would you accept the part?

Bruce Davison: A TV series is something I don't think is going to happen for this one. I think, if anything, there will be other films down the road.
Bruce Davison: But it's like speculating about anything in the future. Who knows who would be involved in any project?

ERIC: BTW, you're a very good actor. Would you consider working with Bryan on any other projects?

Bruce Davison: Anywhere, anytime.
Bruce Davison: I worked with Bryan in Apt Pupil. Obviously, the pictures are very different, but Bryan has always been meticulous in his work.
Bruce Davison: And had a clarity of vision, not always easily explained at the time.
Bruce Davison: But the final result is something that an actor always hopes turns out to be a mutual achievement. And I've felt that in the two times I've worked with Bryan so far.

Essex: Mr. Davison, at any time during the filming, did you wish you could have had "super powers" and be involved in all the incredible special effects? That is, besides becoming liquid and going down the drain!

Bruce Davison: Oh, yeah! Sure, of course, who wouldn't love to be a hero. I'd also love to be 27.

Essex: If you could have ANY super power, what would it be?

Bruce Davison: I wish at certain times I had an ability to be cold-blooded when we were shooting in 33 degree weather and my ass was sticking to a stainless steel chair in the middle of a lake.

Miracleman: Did you ever play any practical jokes on anyone on the set of the film?

Bruce Davison: No but I do remember hanging on a harness from a prison cell 60 feet in the air covered in sweat and slime. Turning around, and realizing that everyone had gone to lunch.
Bruce Davison: Ha, ha.

Storm_princess: What was the most dangerous scene you were in?

Bruce Davison: Nothing really stands out as being outrageously dangerous this time around. I have made films in the past that were infinitely more dangerous.
Bruce Davison: I remember one time having to hang from a real cliff in a movie called High Risk--ha, ha--in which the rope bridge was slowly breaking.
Bruce Davison: And James Brolin and myself would plummet into rapids that didn't exist at this location. So the drop was 300 feet to rocky ground. I remember ad-libbing a lot of expletives that are still in the film.
Bruce Davison: Then there were the rapids. Then there were the snakes. The wild pig, the leopard, the scorpions, etc.
Bruce Davison: Not to mention the Gaboon viper which happened on our set in the middle of a take.
Bruce Davison: But that's another story.

cinemacritic: On the scene when you are in the plane and Mystique is on board was that a real plane?

Bruce Davison: No. There were mockups. It was a real helicopter in one sequence.
Bruce Davison: But like the rest of the movie, there are pieces of puzzle, all put together to create the final illusion.
Bruce Davison: Actually it was shot three different times on two different locations.

norris: Do you think it was sexist of the filmmakers to make Mystique naked when she normally wears that white dress?

Bruce Davison: Wow...as far as I remember, that white dress didn't hide anything in the comic books either.
Bruce Davison: One can assume that comic books are sexist because they show Mystique in the shape that she is. Or reverse sexist every time Wolverine rips off his shirt.
Bruce Davison: But sex is as much a part of the world as intolerance, bigotry and everything else, and is part of the comic book. I don't think people wanted to see Mystique in an overcoat. But then I've always been a sexist pig.

oli: Who would you consider to be the most popular X-Men character?

Bruce Davison: Wolverine seems to have that locked up. But who knows? Everyone has their favorite mutant.

Bighog: Who is your favorite mutant? Why?

Bruce Davison: LOL! Gosh, it's like who is your favorite child...sometimes I feel like Wolverine in a bar, but the claws don't work. Sometimes I feel like Rogue towards commitment.
Bruce Davison: And being an actor, Mystique has always been a favorite of mine.
Bruce Davison: I kind of like Squishy Man, but we don't know him yet...
Bruce Davison: ...that's what my son says.

Essex: Did you develop any lasting friendships with other actors in the film?

Bruce Davison: I hope so.
Bruce Davison: Actors have a tough life. We make a movie together. And work very hard under difficult conditions, in intense ways for extended periods of time. And then go away and sometimes don't see each other for years.
Bruce Davison: Kind of like war buddies.
Bruce Davison: But I have found that when I see old friends that I've worked with again, we can almost pick up where we left off last time.
Bruce Davison: Hi-diddlydee--an actor's life, etc.

ERIC: Bruce, did you ever consider not playing senator Kelly?

Bruce Davison: Not really. I loved the script when I first read it. I was in Africa at the time, shooting the fourth Dogme 95 film.
Bruce Davison: Which is handheld video. And this seemed like a 180.
Bruce Davison: And of course, having worked with Bryan before, I jumped at the chance to work with him again.

Xero: Now that you've been in an X-Men film do you feel that you're an X-Geek/X-Men fan?

Bruce Davison: Well I've always been kind of geeky so...
Bruce Davison: ...sure! I guess, yes, I don't know what you're talking about....

Capt_Tripps: Mr. Davison, were there any other parts in this movie that you would have liked to have played?

Bruce Davison: Sure! Who the hell wouldn't want to play Wolverine. But as I said, I'm not 27 and never looked like that anyway.

tony: Mr. Davison, do U personally like the plot of this movie and how do U think X-Men fans will like it?

Bruce Davison: I really do and I think they'll love it. But you'll have to be the judge of that for yourselves.

FieryWave: Mr. Davison, if Senator Kelly's child were to come out a mutant, what would he do with it? Would he love it and hide it as not to hurt his political campaign or would he disown it?

Bruce Davison: That question will be presented on the special tomorrow night, the 11th, on FOX at 8 PM.
Bruce Davison: Check your local listings.

FieryWave: What can we expect to see in tomorrow's FOX special, X-Men: The Mutant Watch?

Bruce Davison: Senator Kelly's mutant registration hearings.
Bruce Davison: And previews of who these people really are.

Bighog: Do you think that there are mutants among us?

Bruce Davison: Yes. My son. He's only eaten french fries for two years.

Vamp: Mr. Davison...all I can say is from the scenes I've seen, my husband and I are dying to see it and I know fans like us appreciate your taking the time to talk one-on-one to us like this...it's truly a great experience.

Bruce Davison: Thank you, it is for me too. It's certainly mutual.
Bruce Davison: Thanks for the chat everybody, nice to be with you. And hope you love the movie as much as I do! See you soon, take care.

FOXcom Host: Thanks, everybody, for joining FOX.com in the chat tonight!