We Talked Teen Girls, Bad Tropes And Mutants With Jubilee And Magda From ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’

Spoilers for X-Men Apocalypse.

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This week I flew to Oshawa, Canada, to visit a recreation of the X-Men Mansion where some of the scenes of ‘Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters’ were filmed. While I was there, I got to interview Lana Condor (Jubilee) and Carolina Bartczak (Magneto’s wife, Magda) — along with at least twenty other jet-lagged journalists who were pacing the mansion halls nervously.

The interview times were minuscule, the excitement was high and I even got hugged (Jubilee and I are best friends, no big deal). Here’s what went down at the junket in Canada.

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Lana Condor (Jubilee)

Junkee: Being part of this huge franchise and a very beloved universe, were you nervous at all about an intense fan reaction to the introduction of Jubilee?

Lana Condor: Oh my god, I was so nervous. Because the fans of this franchise in particular are fiercely devoted, and they know more about your character than you know. You try, you read everything, and you try to know, but they just know more. So there’s definitely a pressure for all of us to try and be able to live up to the fan’s expectations.

It was definitely very stressful but for me at least, from what I’ve heard, people have been very positive on my social media and have been very nice to me. Please stay nice to me!

I was very excited to see a deleted scene this week with Jublilee, Scott, Jean and Kurt just hanging out in the mall. The film needed more mall time!

I just saw that last night! I loved it. That was the first day of the whole project and the first day that we all met, so we kind of got to know each other doing fun things at the mall. The mall was real; it was a real mall that we had rented out in Montreal and turned into a complete ’80s mall. Half of the mall was shooting X-Men and the other half were buying groceries.

X-Men Apocalypse is in some ways a teen film, it shares the same themes as many teen movies like feeling like an outsider, trying to figure out your place in the world, considering your gifts burdens, etc. … did you ever think about this way? Do you think that’s one of the reasons why it resonates so much?

Absolutely. Brian (Singer, the director) had told me that this is so important to him, making these films for people who feel like outsiders or people who are different or a little bit weird. These movies mean a lot to all of us and it shows everyone that even if you’re different you will be accepted, you’re going to find your people. You’re not always going to be alone.

And I’m still a teenager — high school was like, the worst! You know, you have your days like, ‘I can’t go onnnnn!’. But this movie shows that being different is cool and people need to know that because not all of us are the Kardashians, you know?

It was especially positive in depicting teenager girls with massive power and autonomy, actually exercising control over their surroundings, which we don’t always see in pop culture. It’s super liberating. 

SO positive! [she clutches her face] It was incredible, because Jubilee is very much her own individual, even in the comics she’s always confident. She knows what she wants. That’s amazing and that’s something that I want other girls to see. She’s 16 in this and I mean, 16-year-old girls? You have so many insecurities. So be yourself, be confident. It’s amazing to see this cast, because all of the women are strong. Moira (Rose Byrne) is strong and she’s not even a mutant!

If you could inject any teen movie with superpowers, what would it be?

Would you say The Devil Wears Prada is a teen movie?

No, but that’s okay. 

Maybe Mean Girls then. Every time you’re mean, you disappear!

Will will see Jubilee in any upcoming movies?

No one has told me anything… [looks at Fox representatives in the room] everything is very secretive with this whole thing. But if there was another one I would be like, ‘Yes! Let me pay you to be in this movie!’

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Carolina Bartczak (Magda)

Junkee: You play Magda, Magneto’s wife, who is tragically murdered early in the film which is a huge event – that must have been a very hard thing to keep secret before the film came out. 

Carolina Bartczak: I wasn’t even allowed to say that I was in the movie. Because it was such an important part of the film, it drives Magneto’s storyline, I wasn’t even allowed to say I was in it. They told me I was only allowed to tell my mum.

Is that like an actor’s worst nightmare, to not be able to say that you’re in a Marvel blockbuster?

It is! I’m like, ‘I swear to god that I’m in the new X-Men‘.

How does it feel to be in easily the most devastating scenes of the film? I remember people seeing it in the cinema actually yelling “No!”

That is so nice! I loved our storyline, even though it was so short. It starts out with the Magda character believing that humanity is good and then she’s horribly betrayed by the people who live in her village and they take away her life and the life of her child. I loved that arc. You can see how at the beginning Eric is afraid and says ‘We have to run’, but when we get to the forrest he makes sure that everyone stays calm… it’s just so sad. No wonder he’s so pissed off.

So many actors in the film had to learn these gruelling physical stunts, but the demand on you was so different because you set the emotional stakes. Was this very taxing, bringing so much emotional weight in a short amount of time? We really care when you die!

We did have three weeks to shoot it, but I kept thinking about how everyday there’s a mother that loses her child, through some horrible accident. I can’t even think about it now without getting emotional. That’s what I wanted to make sure I conveyed, the way a mother loves her child more than anything in the world and that bond is so strong. That’s something Michael (Fassbender) and I talked about.

Your death sets the trajectory for Magneto’s desire to topple the world, and the pain of women is often in film as a trope that inspires male action. How did it feel like embodying that role? Do you think Magda’s death was the only thing capable of turning Magneto evil again? 

I don’t love the trope — it’s called ‘women in refrigerators‘. I think they needed to write something that would fuel a human being into becoming the worst version of themselves. They already killed his parents, they can’t re-kill his parents, so the next logical step is to take away the woman that he loves and his child. And I think that that massive tragedy needed to happen for him to switch sides so aggressively.

It’s funny though because I say ‘evil’, but about halfway through the film you’re kind of like, ‘Hmm, Apocalypse does actually have some interesting points about disarming the world of nuclear weapons, maybe he’s not so bad?’

[laughs] I actually thought that too! I agree with Apocalypse, humanity screwed up the planet so hard! Disarm those nuclear weapons! Apocalypse, you’re on to something.

It’s interesting that in this film Magneto makes it clear that he told Magda who he really was the first time they met. Do you think it’s funny that Magda wouldn’t have been at all put off about him being that crazy White House guy in a helmet?

You’re very attentive! ‘Aren’t you that murderer guy?’ This was the line I kept getting stuck on before I came to set, because if I met a man and he was a murderer I would be like, ‘Byeeee’. But there must of been something there where he opened up to her… I played it out in my mind and imagined that she must have found him and he needed her help. I was picturing some kind of injury, that he would be vulnerable enough that she would feel like she could help him. Michael and I talked about it and he was like, ‘That’s a good idea!’

If you were a mutant, what would your power be?

I made one up today! I think to travel through time — I don’t think that’s a mutant power yet. I would be so interested to be dropped on the planet three thousand years ago and see what was up. And three thousand years in the future — if it’s still around…

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In preparation for Mutant Day on the September 28, X-Men fans can now enrol for the school for the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and digitally immerse themselves in the X-Men experience. Find out more about #MutantDay on September 28 by signing up for Xavier’s School For The Gifted here.

Buy X-Men Apocalypse Now on Digital. Available on 3D, Blu-ray and DVD September 28.