Evan Peters Describes Filming Fan Favorite Quicksilver Scene in X-Men Days of Future Past

When the first pictures of Evan Peters as Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past hit the Internet, fans were skeptical to say the least. But the actor and character quickly became one of the fan favorites thanks in large part to a scene in which he helps Wolverine and Charles Xavier break Magneto out of prison.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Peters and asked him if he knew the scene would be the breakout moment of the film.

"No not at all," he said. "I knew the character was cool and they had written was great. But I didn't now any of the special effects they had planned. I had never done anything like this before. They were filming it and said it would look really cool. I'm super happy with it and pleasantly surprised and how awesome it turned out."

He also said it was fairly intimidating to steal scenes from characters such as Wolverine and Magneto.

"I had grown up watching all of the X-Men films and then there's Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in front of me," he recalled. "I was really nervous. They were great and really funny and nice guys -- Hugh and James [McAvoy] and Nicholas [Hoult]. They were awesome." 

Peters also described his conversations with director Bryan Singer and noted he did not have to audition for the role. He also discussed his approach to the character.

"I was trying to find the right attitude for him. You don't want to make him too crazy and too caffeinated," he said. "But it was really the mischievous quality that was something that Bryan and I worked on.  He's faster than the law. He sort of has this attitude that he get away with anything...Bryan Singer called me and said he's a fan of American Horror story and he wanted me for the role. I was blown away because I audition for things all the time and I don't get things - and here I get a role in the new X-Men movie as Quicksilver. I was going 'what the hell is going on? This is awesome!' I think I was actually shooting eight or nine days. It was two different two-week sessions I was up in Montreal."

He further delved into the mechanics of shooting the popular scene.

"It was really cool because in the elevator me and Fassbender got to improvise a lot and just play around, which is so much fun," he said. "He's such a cool guy. Then we get upstairs to the kitchen and it's all very technical. There are a lot of motion capture camera moves and you are shooting with a phantom camera, which shoots in super slow motion - and the room is brighter than any sunny day.  And there are these four guys keeping their eyes open and pretending to be frozen. And I'm just running around pretending to move them...There's a section of the scene where I'm moving the arms of two cops, so their guns will move. Then I'm supposed to sprint to the other end of the room to prevent the bullets from hitting my friends -- but there's water all over the floor and I slip and fall - I just eat shit. They tried to teach me some parkour. They tried to teach me jumping some jumping over shit and that was funny to."

Finally, Peters said he "would love to be back" for X-Men: Apocalypse, "especially the way Simon [Kinberg] is talking." Now that Days of Future Past is out, Peters said he's like "a kid in a candy store" and added he might sneak into a theater to watch it with a crowd.

Was the Quicksilver scene your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.