WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
For someone who stated several times that she loves her superheroes – I didn’t know prior to watching X-Men: First Class that Cyclops even had a brother, I especially don’t remember him in the X-Men cartoon. It’s never been made clear, at least not to my understanding, if the characters in this film are connected to those in the original X-Men trilogy however, if they are – I think it’s a pretty good match for Lucas Till to be related to James Marsden.
The Adventures of Ociee Nash
The one thing I always love to do with these articles is to try and get hold of the first film the actor ever made. Well, thankfully, on this occasion I have been able to do just that. At the age of just 13, Lucas starred as Harry Vanderbilt, who doesn’t appear until 64 minutes to the film however I really don’t mind as it was such a heartwarming film to watch about the sweetest young girl and the impact she has on the people around her, including President William McKinley and the Wright Brothers. When he finally does appear, Harry is a little brat! It’s only one small scene but he irritates me so much, but his attitude just shows the brilliance of Ociee’s character even more – the way she puts him in his place with her swinging skills and her kindness to encourage Elizabeth to swing as well.
The Spy Next Door
Maybe because this was only a few years prior to X-Men: First Class, I thought there was chance this was one of those teenage spy films – a little like Stormbreaker or Barely Lethal – and Lucas would have been a lead character. You can guess by the fact that I’ve said this that I was clearly wrong. This is much more like The Pacifier, with this being said, it’s clear that Lucas doesn’t have that big a role in this film but I guess I’m not too far off on the whole “teenage spy” idea considering his character of Larry is a teenage henchman to Poldark, the main bad guy in this film. Much like his role in The Adventures of Ociee Nash, he is only in this film for one scene that doesn’t last very long. He comes across as your typical teenager, trying to ingratiate himself with the children before getting his arse kicked by Jackie Chan! I couldn’t help but laugh at the end when Jackie roars at him, scaring him out of the window and then treads on his back whilst exiting the Chinese restaurant.
Lightning Bug
It was interesting to me that the opening credits referenced this as “introducing Lucas Till” considering he made The Adventures of Ociee Nash first (obviously as I already said it was his first ever acting role). I didn’t recognise that Lucas was playing Jay Graves, the younger brother to our lead character of Green Graves, considering I’m used to him having blonde hair. With that in mind, his role is very small in the grand scheme of things as the focus of the film is on Green as the film is based on the life of the SFX make-up artist Robert Green Hall. The only moment he really has alone is when he’s left outside while some sort of domestic violence is taking place instead their caravan. The one thing I wonder about his character, is what draws him to the church because it’s not like his mum or brother attend, only Jay seems to be the one to go.
Honorary Mentions
I thought, like many of the other actors that took on roles in X-Men: First Class (except McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence and Hoult of course), that Lucas Till hadn’t actually done that much prior, however he had done more than I expected. He starred as the young Jack Cash in Walk the Line as well as thrillers like The Other Side and Dance of the Dead.
