There’s this dude whom I’ve never heard of named Josh Schwartz (apparently he created “The OC”) and the future of the X-Men franchise (if there was one thanks to Brett Ratners flaming turd of a third film) is in his hands.

This comes from an article posted here:

Something he can talk about, however, is news that he will pen the screenplay for the next installment of X-Men, a prequel of sorts. “I’m very well aware that I’ll be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck.” Of the project, he beams with excitement about the opportunity to involve lesser known X-Men characters who haven’t yet been portrayed on film. It will center on teenage characters at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. “It’s not like I’m adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that.” Despite his enthusiam, he’s cautious, given the double-edged sword inherent in the seemingly inexhaustible renaissance of the genre. “The Hulk looks like it’s going to be terrible. And why does he look like he’s fighting against the monster from Cloverfield? I mean, with Transformers, it’s not like fans were going to come back saying, ‘You used the wrong car.’ This, however, is a different story. Of his predecessors and their successes (or failures), he says, “Brett Ratner didn’t have a lot of credibility going in to the third X-Men movie, but I think Bryan Singer [who directed the first two installments] got a free pass on Superman Returns because of his work on X-Men.”

So, why is this guy getting the keys to Xavier’s Mansion? And why is someone paying him to do it?

I don’t know, but he probably can’t do worse than Ratner.

UPDATE: Apparently the website that ran this interview has since taken it down.  I’ve had first hand experience with peoples handlers scrambling to have big news and unflattering articles taken down from websites.  I wonder if Schwartz’ arrogant remarks about the franchise and other Marvel properties might be putting his scripting job in jeopardy.  It’s pretty likely.  Why would they want someone working on a movie when they’re out badmouthing their next movie that hasn’t come out yet?  I mean, Ratner’s X-men is fair game, but the new Hulk movie?

Personally?  I think they should just ignore Ratner’s movie and bring a competent director (preferably Bryan Singer) to finish the trilogy.

It’s also doubly interesting knowing that other writers were already attached to this project.

Whatever the reasons for the disappearance of this article, however, the cat is out of the bag.