X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Finds Its Banshee And The Beast

According to Variety, 20th Century Fox has cast two more mutants in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.

Caleb Landry Jones will play the Banshee in the origins pic, marking the first time the mutant has been introduced to the big screen franchise. Caleb stars in David Fincher’s upcoming THE SOCIAL NETWORK from Sony, and Eli Roth’s THE LAST EXORCISM, from Lionsgate. Previous credits include NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and CBS pilot “Gimme Shelter,” from producer John Wells.

And in a second key casting, Nicholas Hoult will play the Beast. According to Variety, 20th Century Fox has yet to confirm either casting.

Synopsis:

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-MEN.

Conceived by Bryan Singer and written by Jane Goldman, FIRST CLASS introduces Charles Xavier (MacAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Fassbender) as young men, when discovering their powers for the first time and before taking the names Professor X and Magneto, respectively. James MacAvoy and Michael Fassbender topline FIRST CLASS, directed by Matthew Vaughn.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS will be in theaters on June 3, 2011.